Download lesson 3 - Arabic Gems

Lesson 3: Case
Some important aspects of English grammar which is essential to understand in order to
understand better Arabic grammar inshallahSubject: The person or thing that is performing the action of the verb.
Object: The person or thing that is receiving the action of the verb.
Verb: An action or a doing word (ie: sat, swim, run, read, write etc)
For example:
The boy read the book.
subject
verb
object
In Arabic, words take on different status: “cases” – what this means is that they will display
different vowels on their final letter depending on what “case” they are in.
Word case will be altered depending on its grammatical status in a sentence: for example, words
following a preposition will in general, display kessrah; words which are the subject, will in general
display dummah; words which are the object, will in general display a fatha.
(that which effects words to display different cases is explained in following lessons – lesson 3 is
primarily to show and explain the concept of case and what it does).
There are different factors which ultimately effect or determine which case a word will be and how
exactly its case is displayed While in general certain vowels are used to show case, sometimes it happens that a word cannot
display it as such and so will take on a different appearance….therefore you cannot rely on solely
looking at which final vowel a word takes to identify its case. Rather, look also to grammatical
status in the sentence. (this becomes clearer in following lessons).
Identifying case and sentence meaning
If we were to say in English:
The man hit the wrongdoer.
Then from the structure of the sentence, we can see that it is the “man” who is the subject; the one
who performs the action of hitting. And the “wrongdoer” is the object; the one whom is receiving
the action – being hit.
If however, we switch the words around a little and say instead:
The wrongdoer hit the man.
Now, we understand that it is the wrong doer who is the subject: doing the action of hitting, and it
is the man who is the object: the one being hit.
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 1
In English we have a clear word order- the position of words in a sentence, tell us its grammatical
status or meaning.
In Arabic however, this is not quite so. Grammatical status is not necessarily identified by a words
position in the sentence. Rather, it is the case which tells us this (identified by the the final vowel /
word ending).
If we write our sentence in Arabic, we have:
ُ‫ب الظَالِ َم‬
َُ ‫ض َر‬
ُُ ‫الر ُج‬
َ ‫ل‬
Object:
The wrongdoer
Verb:
hit
Subject:
The man
Take a look at the final vowel for each word: It is this final vowel which tells us the grammatical
status of each word - which word is the subject or the object.
– The dummah on
ُ‫ الر ُج ُل‬tells us that this is the subject. The Fatha on ‫ الظَالِ َُم‬tells us that this is
the object.
So…..if we mix the word order up a little…like this:
ُ‫ب الر ُج ُل‬
َُ ‫ض َر‬
َ ‫الظَالِ َُم‬
ُ‫الر ُج ُل‬
ُ‫ب‬
ُُ ‫الظَالِ َُم الر ُج‬
َ ‫ض َر‬
َ ‫ل‬
ُ‫ل الظَالِ َم‬
ُُ ‫ب الر ُج‬
َُ ‫ض َر‬
َ
ُ‫ب‬
ُُ ‫الر ُج‬
َ ‫ض َر‬
َ ‫ل الظَالِ َُم‬
ُ‫ب الظَالِ َُم الر ُج ُل‬
َُ ‫ض َر‬
َ
Then all these sentences mean the same thing: The man hit the wrongdoer!
Look at the final vowel on each word to determine its grammatical status: In each sentence
ُ‫ الر ُج ُل‬has the dummah- therefore this dummah tells us this word is the subject. Like wise in each
sentence, ‫م‬
َُ ِ‫ الظَال‬takes fatha- therefore this fatha tells us this word is the object.
Remember:
The grammatical status of a word is not based on its position in a sentence, but
rather, how the end of the word looks.
The word “inflection”
‫ إعراب‬refers to the ending of a word which represents its
case.
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 2
Lets take another example:
Subject
Object
Possessive
They sat down.
I saw them.
That is their house.
The man sat down.
I saw the man.
That is the man’s son
Notice the noun man: no matter how it occurs in the sentence its form does not change. In Arabic,
the word will change grammatically (and not structurally) when the above three sentences are
rendered in Arabic:
Subject
Object
Possessive
ُ‫س الر ُج ُل‬
َُ َ‫َجل‬
ُ‫الرج َُل‬
ُُ ‫َرأَي‬
َ ‫ْت‬
ُ‫ابن الرج ُِل‬
ُُ ‫ك‬
َُ ِ‫َذل‬
It is clear to see, that a word shows its grammatical status by displaying different word endings.
So, it is understood that grammatical status is indicated by the way a word ends – this is the way
in which its final vowel is displayed, as shown above – however some words may express their
state in alternate ways:
For example:
Here we can see that in each of these sentences, the word highlighted is the subject. – Although
the grammatical position of each word is the same (in that they are all the subject), they are
different “word types” (explained further in lesson) and therefore have different word endings to
represent or display its status (case).
Subject
Subject
Subject
ُ‫جا َُء الر ُج ُل‬
ُ‫ُالن‬
ِ ‫جا َُء الرج‬
ُ‫مون‬
َ ِ‫جا َُء ال ُمسل‬
The man came.
The two men came.
The Muslims came.
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 3
Classifying Case
Each of the different states / cases have a name, and there are 4 in total.
‫َمجْ رُور‬
Nominative ‫مرْ فُوع‬
َ
Accusative ‫م ْنصُوب‬
َ
ُ ْ‫َمج‬
Jussive ‫زوم‬
1. Genitive
2.
3.
4.
Although there are 4 cases in total, nouns
ُ‫ اِسْم‬and verbs ُ‫ فِعْل‬each will apply only 3 of the cases
to their word types:
[Term 1 only deals with cases for nouns.]
Genitive
‫َم ْج ُرور‬
Inflection
Nominative
‫َم ْرفُوع‬
Accusative
Jussive
‫صوب‬
ُ ‫َم ْن‬
‫َم ْج ُزوم‬
‫إعراب‬
The word “inflection”
‫ إعراب‬refers to the ending of a word to represent or display its case.
Word endings can be divided into 2 categories:
1. Fully inflected
2. Partially inflected
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 4
Inflection
Fully inflected
Partially inflected
These are words in vocab list that end in
tanween when indefinite
These are words that cannot take tanween
when indefinite, showing instead just a single
vowel.
i.e.
‫َرسُول‬
i.e.
Can display all three vowels on the end to
correspond to the different cases
‫َم َنافِ ُع‬
Cannot always display all three vowels –
sometimes have to make substitutions
Word type
There are 5 “word types” – each of them having different ways to demonstrate their case.
Words ending in taa’marbootah
Fully inflected
Act as any normal noun
‫ة‬
Partially inflected
(proper nouns only)
When
‫ َمجرور‬display fathah
instead of kasrah
Definite in meaning so no
or tanween.
‫ال‬
Type 1 partially inflected words refer only to proper nouns. (a proper noun is the name of a specific
person (Maryam), place (Masjid al-Haram) or thing (Mercedes Benz).
Because a proper noun is the name of someone/thing specific, it is automatically definite in
meaning, therefore just as in English we would not say “the Maryam” or “Maryam”, there is no
need for ‫ ال‬or tanween.
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 5
Examples of Type 1 partially inflected proper names ending in
ُ‫فاط َم ُة‬
ِ
Fatima
Proper noun, therefore no ‫ ال‬or
tanween, as is definite by
meaning.
‫ة‬
َ‫فاط َم ُة‬
ِ ‫قَلَ ُُم‬
ُ‫فاط َم ُةَ اللَ ِطيفَ ِة‬
ِ ‫قَلَ ُُم‬
The pen of Fatima
The pen of gentle Fatima
Two nouns together form a
Mudaf the 2nd noun in this
Fatima is type 1 partially
inflected – therefore cannot
construction should be‫ُ َمجْ رور‬
(taught in lesson 7)- therefore
should have kessrah –
however because this is a
partially inflected word, it
displays a fatha instead.
display kessrah when ‫َمجْ رور‬
and instead displays a fatha.
Notice:
‫ ُم َح َّمد‬is a proper
noun- however does not end
-therefore it is not a type 1
word, so can and does take
kessrah, unlike
‫فاط َمة‬
ِ
ُ‫قَلَ ُُم ُم َح َّمد‬
‫ُة‬
Remember, although it
displays fatha, it is still majroor
case here, so therefore, as we
learnt in lesson 1, an adjective
must agree with the noun it
describes in case. So, here,
‫ لَ ِطيفَة‬must
agree with the case of َ‫ة‬
ُ ‫فاط َم‬
ِ
the adjective
which we know is majroor.
‫لَ ِطيفَة‬
is not a type 1 word,
therefore has no problem
displaying the kessrah to
indicate it is majroor along with
Fatima.
Nouns and adjectives that are not of any of the other types
Fully inflected
Act as any normal noun – but you must add an
alif as a seat for the
when indefinite
‫ا‬
Partially inflected
(only when indefinite- when definite functions
normally with all three vowels)
‫َمجْ رُور‬
When genitive
display fathah instead
of kasrah, and cannot take tanween
eg
‫مُسْ لِما‬
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 6
Examples of Type 2 partially inflected nouns
ُ‫فَوا ِك ُه‬
َ‫صحْ ُنُ فوا ِك ُه‬
َ
(a) fruit
Is a partially inflected noun; it
cannot display tanween
even though it is indefinite.
ُ‫ن الفوا ِك ِه‬
ُُ ْ‫صح‬
َ
A plate of fruit
The plate of fruit
As we will learnt in lesson 7,
this construction is an idafa –
which means that the 2nd noun
must be majroor.
It is no longer partially inflected
as is now definite, therefore
can display kessrah as normal.
َ‫فوا ِك ُه‬
However, because
is a
partially inflected word (it can
not take tanween even when
indefinite), it can not display
kessrah as most majroor words
do – instead it shows fatha.
If we make
‫ فوا ِكه‬definite
Words that end kessrah-tanween when
they are indefinite and marfu in vocab list: for example
‫مرفوع‬
Definite
Indef
‫مرفوع‬
Singular
Indefinite
‫ي‬
‫واد‬
‫منصوب‬
‫مجرور‬
Definite
Indefinite
Definite
ُ‫ي‬
َ
‫ُيا‬
ُ‫واديا‬
‫ي‬
Indefinite
ends in
–in eg
‫واد‬
Plural
‫الوادي‬
‫الجواري‬
َ
ُ
‫واد‬
ُ‫جوار‬
ُ‫ي‬
َُ
‫ي‬
‫الوا ِدي‬
َ ‫الواد‬
َُ ‫يُ الجوار‬
‫ي‬
َ ‫الجواري جوار‬
ِ
ُ
‫واد‬
ُ‫جوار‬
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 7
ً‫ىً ا‬
Words that end or
The ending never changes for case, but the word losesits tanween when definite
(which is normal!)
Definite
‫مرفوع‬
indefinite
ُ‫َرجُل‬
ُ‫الر ُج ُل‬
ُ‫قُرى‬
ُ‫ى‬
َ ‫القُر‬
ُ‫ن َرجُال‬
َُّ ِ‫إ‬
ُ‫ن الر ُج َل‬
َُّ ِ‫إ‬
As this is a word quoted in isolation, it
will be in the default case – ‫ – مرفوع‬and
so
should carry a dammah
As this is a word that ends in ‫ ا‬, the
ending will not change, the tanween is
simply removed in the definite
In this type of construction (which we
will learn later) the second noun should
be
‫ منصوب‬therefore carry a fathah
‫منصوب‬
ُ‫ن قُرى‬
َُّ ِ‫إ‬
ُ‫ى‬
َُّ ِ‫إ‬
َ ‫ن القُر‬
ُ‫مع رجُل‬
ُ‫مع الرج ُِل‬
As this is a word that ends in ‫ ا‬, the
ending will not change, the tanween is
simply removed in the definite
In this type of construction (which we
will learn later) the second noun should
be
‫ مجرور‬therefore carry a kasrah
‫مجرور‬
ُ‫مع قُرى‬
ُ‫ى‬
َ ‫مع القُر‬
As this is a word that ends in ‫ ا‬, the
ending will not change, the tanween is
simply removed in the definite
َ‫ىً ًا‬
َ
Words that end or
The ending never changes for case, other than adding ‫ ال‬when definite
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 8
Sound Masculine Plural
The last letter stays the same, whether definite or indefintite ًَ‫ن‬
‫مرفوع‬
End
ُ‫ون‬
َ
‫منصوب‬
‫مجرور‬
ُ‫ين‬
َ
End
To know whether a word is mansoob or majroor you must look
at the context to determine which of the two it is – as both
display the same
To identify case look at the second to last letter – is it
‫ و‬or ‫ي‬
Sound Feminine Plural
The ending functions the same way as any normal word;
When it is indefinite it will have tanween and when definite will have ‫ ال‬and one vowel removed
‫مرفوع‬
End
ُ‫ات‬
‫منصوب‬
‫مجرور‬
ُ‫ات‬
End
To know whether a word is mansoob or majroor you must look
at the context to determine which of the two it is – as both
display the same
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 9
Independent pronouns
Pronouns are words which take the place of a noun, such as I, he, she, they etc.
Ppl you
are
talking
about
/absent
Ppl you
are
talking
to
self
Singular
Plural
3rd person masculine
ُ‫هُ َو‬
ُ‫هُ ْم‬
They 3+
3rd person feminine
ُ‫ِه َي‬
ُ‫هُ َّن‬
They 3+
2nd person masculine
َ ‫أَ ْن‬
ُ‫ت‬
ُ‫أَ ْنتُ ْم‬
You 3+
2nd person feminine
ُ‫ت‬
ِ ‫أَ ْن‬
ُ‫أَ ْنتُ َّن‬
You 3+
1st person
‫أَنا‬
ُ‫نَحْ ُن‬
I / we 2+
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 10
Lesson 3: Quick revision summary
The grammatical position of a word is demonstrated by its case: its final vowels.
The 3 cases which deal with nouns are
‫ َمجْ رُور‬generally (but not always) end kessrah
Nominative ‫مرْ فُوع‬
َ generally (but not always) end dummah
Accusative ‫م ْنصُوب‬
َ generally (but not always) end fatha
1. Genitive
2.
3.
Word ending will
ultimately depend on
what word type the said
word is:
Check the case chart!
Fully inflected: end tanween when definite – can display all 3 vowels
Partially inflected: Cannot take tanween when indefinite (show just single vowel). Cannot display all 3
vowels representing each case
.
Type 1: words ending taa’marbootah
Fully inflected: takes all 3 vowels
Partially inflected:
 Proper nouns only (so no “al” or tanween as proper nouns are definite in meaning)

ُ
when‫ َم ْج ُرور‬display fatha not kessrah
Type 2: nouns and adjectives not of other types
Fully inflected: act like any normal noun- but when indefinite must add an alif” for tanween to sit on
ُ
Partially inflected: when‫ َم ْج ُرور‬display fatha not kessrah, and cannot take tanween
Type 3: words end kessrah-tansween when indef & marfu ie: ‫واد‬
When all 3 cases both definite/indefinite and singular/plural: end
‫َم ْج ُرور‬
and
‫ َم ْرفُوع‬-When indefinite and singular / plural: end
‫صوب‬
ُ ‫ َم ْن‬When indefinite and singular end:
ُ‫ي‬
َ
‫ي‬
(kessrah-tanween)
When indefinite and plural end:
ُ‫ي‬
َ
ً‫ىً ا‬: ending never changes for case, other than losing tanween when definite
Type 4: words end or
َ‫ىً ًا‬
َ : ending never changes for case, other than adding ‫ ال‬when definite
Type 5: words end or
Sound masculine plural:
when ‫ َم ْرفُوع‬end
ُ‫ون‬
َ
when
‫صوب‬
ُ ‫َم ْن‬
ُ‫ين‬
َُ
َ and ‫ َم ْج ُرور‬end ‫ين‬
when
‫صوب‬
ُ ‫َم ْن‬
ُ‫ ات‬and ‫ َم ْج ُرور‬end ُ‫ات‬
Sound Feminine plural:
when ‫ َمرْ فُوع‬end
ُ‫ات‬
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 11