Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Author (s): Yusuf Mullan

Table of Contents

The Science of نحو. 4

Definition, Purpose and Subject Matter 4

Mapping the Arabic Language. 4

كلمة: 4

The Sentence ( جملة/مركّب مفيد ) 5

إسمِيّه/فعلِيَّه : 5

The Two Parts of the إسميّه Sentence: 7

The Two Parts of the فعليّه Sentence: 7

Grammatical States. 8

Introduction. 8

Reflection of Grammatical States - إعراب... 9

Statelessness -  مبني vs. معرب... 9

Process of Reflection - إعراب أسماء و أفعال.. 12

The 20% of Verbs that are معرب... 12

Types of ن. 14

Essential Note on بناء. 15

The 20% of أسماء that are مبني.. 16

Personal Pronouns - ضماﺋﺮ. 17

Relative Pronouns - الأسماء الموصولة. 21

Demonstrative Pronouns -   الأسماء الإشارة 23

Verbal Nouns - أسماء الأفعال. 24

Adverbs of Time or Place - أسماء الضروف... 24

Words Denoting Sounds or Noises - أسماء الأصوات... 24

Numbers 11-19 - مركّب بناء. 24

Words denoting vagueness - كنايات... 24

Appendix A - Expressiveness of the Arabic Language. 25

The Science of نحو

Definition, Purpose and Subject Matter

نحو is the science of classical Arabic which deals with how to identify the grammatical positioning of the three parts of speech; إسم, فعل and حرف by recognizing the changes which occur at their end.  In addition to this, it discusses how to connect the parts of speech with one another and make meaningful sentences.

The purpose ofنحو is to guard one from making errors when articulating and understanding the language of the Arabs.  From the various sciences associated with the Arabic language, نحو is by far the most important.

All discussions inنحو are centered upon words, phrases, and sentences. 

Mapping the Arabic Language

The most basic utterance which comes out of the human beings mouth is termed ‘لفظ ’.  If it has no established meaning, it is known as ‘ مُهمَل ’ (meaningless), whereas if it does convey established meaning, it is called ‘ مَوضوع ’ (meaningful).  مَوضوع could be either one word, termed مُفرَد (single) also known as ‘ كلمة’ (word) or a group of words;مُرَكَّب (compound).  The group of words can be linked together so as to result in a complete sentence; مركَّب مفيد/جملة/كلام (beneficial combination/sentence), or it may constitute a phrase; مركَّب غير مفيد (non-beneficial combination).

كلمة:

The Arabic ‘word’ ( كلمة) is divided into three types; إسم, فعل and حرف.  Stated otherwise, every word in the Arabic dictionary falls into one of these three categories.  Unlike English which has eight parts of speech, in Arabic there are only three.  This inconsistency will become clear only after precise definitions are given to the three types:

1. إسم: is the ‘ كلمة’ that gives a full independent meaning in itself and is not linked to time, e.g.رجل (man), بيت (house).  The category is broader than ‘noun’ in that it also includes three others from the eight English parts of speech, namely pronouns, adjectives and adverbs.

2. فعل: is the ‘ كلمة’ that gives a full independent meaning in itself and is also linked to time, e.g.كَتَبَ (wrote), يَنصُرُ (helps).  This is exactly the same as the ‘verb’ in English.

3. حرف: is the ‘ كلمة’ which has no independent meaning of its own i.e. can only be understood after coupling either a noun or a verb to it, e.g.في (in), على (on), و (and).  This category includes prepositions, conjunctions, and articles.

The Sentence (جملة/مركّب مفيد )

A sentence is a group of words that conveys to the point of satisfaction either information or desire e.g.الرَّجُلُ طَويلٌ (The man is tall), خُذْ الكِتابَ (Take the book), رَبّي إرزُقْنِي (My lord!  Give me sustenance).  It is primarily of two types:

1. جُملةٌ خَبَرِيّةٌ : is the جُمله wherein the possibility of truth and falsehood exists: e.g. البِنتُ عاقِلَةٌ (The girl is intelligent), المُعَلِّمُ حاضِرٌ (The teacher is present).

2.جُملةٌ إنشاﺋِﻴَّﺔٌ : is the جُمله whose meaning does not support the possibility of truth and falsehood e.g. هل عِندَكَ قَلَمٌ (Do you have a pen?), إشرَب الماء (Drink the water!).

A sentence, essentially, is the conveyance in words of a specific linkage made between two ‘ideas’; one primary, the other descriptive within the mind of the speaker.  Now if the two ideas also exist in the outside world and what the speaker is saying corresponds to the outer reality, it is termed true.  If it does not correspond it is called false.  For instance the sentenceزَيدٌ ناﺋِﻢٌ ( زَيدٌ is sleeping) in which the idea of sleeping has been linked affirmatively to زَيدٌ can be verified by judging it with the reality.  When looking towards what exists in the world, if we see زَيدٌ is actually sleeping, it would mean the affirmation is correct, and hence the statement is true.  Otherwise, it would be false.  In a جُملةٌ إنشاﺋِﻴَّﺔ no such external reality exists.  It is the words of the speaker which for the first time are bringing the two ideas together.  إنشاء literally means to originate.  Now we see clearly why sentences such as questions and commands do not support truth and falsehood; confirmation and non-confirmation to external reality can not occur due to there being no such reality.

Keeping in mind the above explanation, EVERY possible sentence can be easily classified into eitherخَبَرِيّةٌ or إنشاﺋِﻴَّﺔ , including sentences about which we know with absolute certitude that they are true, such as ‘Allah created the heavens’, or likewise with certitude we know their falsehood, such as ‘The sky is below us’.  Both these and similar statements are without doubt خَبَرِيّةٌ sentences, for they have external realities to which they either confirm or not confirm.  It is the existence of this reality (or non-existence) which determines whether the sentence will be classified خَبَرِيّةٌ or إنشاﺋِﻴَّﺔ

إسمِيّه/فعلِيَّه :

We said every sentence is essentially made up of two parts; a primary one and a descriptive one.  First they link together in the mind of the speaker.  Then they are conveyed through the medium of words.  This linkage which results in a sentence is termed ‘إسناد ’.  The primary part or subject of the sentence is called ‘ مُسنَد إليهِ ’ and the descriptive part or predicate is known as ‘ مُسنَد ’.  To illustrate, consider a boy ( وَلَدٌ ) and the idea of laziness ( كَسلٌ ).  There are several ways these two ideas can be linked together.  Some will result in sentences while others will form only phrases:

1.الوَلَدُ الكَسلانُ , the lazy boy: a descriptive phrase

2.كَسَلُ الوَلَدِ , the boy’s laziness: a possessive phrase

3.الوَلَدُ كَسلانُ , The boy is lazy: a full sentence ( إسناد- جملة إسميّة ).

4.كَسِِلَ الوَلَدُ , The boy became lazy: also a full sentence ( إسناد- جملة فعليّة ).

In the third example “الوَلَدُ كَسلانُ ” the إسم ‘الوَلَدُ ’ which appears first is the مُسنَد إليهِ i.e. the primary part of the sentence.  The إسم (in this case adjective)كَسلانُ is the predicate and it appears second.

In the fourth example “كَسِِلَ الوَلَدُ ” again it’s the إسم : الوَلَدُ which is being talked ‘about’, so it is the مُسنَد إليه .  Only here it does not appear first, but second.  The فعل (verb)كَسِِلَ , appearing first, is the descriptive part and therefore the مُسنَد

We see there is no consistent order in which they must appear.  Subject and predicate do not mean first and second.  They mean primary and descriptive.  When the sentence comprises of just two words, as in both the above examples, identifying the two is still relatively easy.  However, like in all languages, sentences in Arabic are not restricted to just two words.  They can be very long.  Having sentences which are between ten and say twenty words long is quite normal in Arabic.  It is in such complex sentences that the process of identifying the subject, (made up of multiple phrases) from the predicate (also compound) becomes somewhat difficult.  A great portion ofنحو is devoted to parsing and analyzing sentences in order to determine the subject from the predicate, for even the basic translation of a sentence depends entirely on it.  It is for this reason great scholars like Ibn Khaldun say “ أهَمُّها النَّحوُ إذ لَولاه أصلُ التَفاهُم ”.  (The most important of the sciences associated with the Arabic language is نحو , for without it no communication can exist).  لُغَه which is knowledge of vocabulary, according to him is the least important aspect of Arabic.

To make recognition of theمُسنَد إليه and مُسنَد  somewhat easier the scholars of نحو further classify the sentence into two categories based on the first word in the sentence:

1.جمله أسميّه : the sentence which begins with an إسم e.g.الوَلَدُ قاﺋِﻢٌ (The boy is standing).  The two parts are known as مُبتَدا and خَبَر (subject and predicate).

2.جمله فعليّه : the sentence which begins with a فعل e.g.ذَهَبَ حامِدٌ (Hamid went).  The two parts are known as فعل andفاعل (verb and subject).

The Two Parts of the إسميّه Sentence:

Theمُسنَد إليهِ , when it appears in an إسميَّه structure, is calledمُبتَدا .  With rare exception, it will be first in the sentence.  The مُسنَد in this type of sentence is called خَبَر

The Two Parts of the فعليّه Sentence:

Theمُسنَد إليه , when it appears in the فعليَّه sentence, it is called فاعل or subject of the verb preceding it.  Unlike in English, the verb ALWAYS precedes the subject in Arabic.  Therefore, in this type of sentence the مُسنَد إليه i.e. the فاعل will always come after the descriptive part or predicate.  The predicate ( مُسنَد ) is known simply as فعل.  These ideas are summarized below in Table 1-A.

Table Error! No text of specified style in document. - A -إسناد

Grammatical States

Introduction

Human beings experience emotional states based on interaction with one another.  People make us happy, angry, and sad etc.  These states are then reflected on our faces by our facial expressions i.e. smiles, frowns etc.  Arabic words behave in a similar fashion.  They enter grammatical states because of interaction with surrounding words.  These ‘grammatical states’ are then reflected on the last letter of the word.  Unlike human emotions, grammatical states in Arabic are just four:

رفع - the nominative case.

نصب - the accusative case.

جر - the genitive case.

جزم - the jussive case.

We see this in the English language to a very restricted degree in pronouns.  Take for example the three variations of the third person masculine pronoun; he, him and his or for the feminine; she, her and her, for the second person masculine; you, you and your and for the first person; I, me and my.

The reason why the same meaning is being conveyed using three different words is to reflect grammatical state.  When the pronoun is intended to be subject of the verb, ‘he’ or ‘she’ is used.  Likewise for object, one must use ‘him’ or ‘her’.  In the English language this discussion is restricted to pronouns.  For nouns, regardless of how the noun is used, there will be no difference in the way the noun is pronounced.  In Arabic this process is extended to ALL nouns.

Reflection of Grammatical States - إعراب

The name given to this process isإعراب .  Therefore,إعراب is the process by which grammatical states are reflected on the last letter of words by change in vowelling or lettering, either explicitly or assumed.

The need for this occurs because in Arabic, we have no other way of determining whether a given noun is being made the subject of the verb or the object, or whether it is in the possessive case.  There is no rule in Arabic which states the subject HAS to come before the object.  A verb followed by two nouns can have any of the following three possibilities:

The first is subject and second is object.

Vice versa.

The two nouns together form a possessive phrase

For instance, if the verbضَرَبَ (hit) is followed by the two nounsوَلَد (boy) andزَيْد (a person’s name), the sentence can have three possible meanings:

A boy hit Zaid.

Zaid hit a boy.

Zaid’s boy hit…  (Someone else)!

It is apparent from the above that some sort of system of reflection is needed to determine the intended structure while excluding the other two.  In Arabic this is done by giving the last letter a distinct vowelling or lettering.[1]

Before moving further it is important to know which of the three parts of speech experience these states and reflection process, and which do not.  This is important because every word will have some sort of ending including state-less words.  There is a sub-set of words that do not enter grammatical states and hence there endings have no grammatical significance.  One may liken them to a ‘stoic’ person who remains emotionless.  When confronted with this state-less type of word, one should be fully aware of its state-less nature and not assume grammatical meaning from the ending.

Statelessness -  مبني vs. معرب

Now, returning back to our discussion, we said it is important to understand from the outset which of the parts of speech experience ‘إعراب ’ (i.e. areمعرب ) and which don’t (i.e. areمبني ), so that false grammatical assumptions may be effectively avoided.  (Refer to the previous section.)

Recall that the purpose ofإعراب was to determine between various grammatical usages, such as subject, object, and possessive case, by way of last letter reflection.  A simple pondering on the three definitions given above will reveal that only إسمs have the capacity of ever becoming subject, object, or being used in the possessive case.  To illustrate further, let’s try making aفعل (i.e. verb) the subject of another verb and see how it sounds, while contrasting it to when a noun is made subject.  Went was quick!  Going was quick; meaning the act of going was quick.  Primarily, the reason why ‘went’ did not make sense and ‘going’ did is because ‘went’ has a tense in it, preventing it from becoming subject, whereas going is an act with no tense.  In any case, from the above explanation and example it becomes clear that verbs can not be made subject, object etc., and the same goes for particles. So when these two categories will never become subjects, objects etc., they have no need for reflection.  They should be state-less ( مبني ) in their entirety.   Therefore, the logical division should have been as follows:

أسماء : allمعرب .

أفعال : allمبني .

حروف : allمبني .

Had the division been like this, things would have been easy and the discussion would have ended.  Unfortunately, the existing reality is a bit different from this.  The reality is as follows:

حروف : Allمبني .  (the way they’re supposed to be)

أفعال : 80%مبني (the way they’re supposed to be), 20%معرب .  This 20% needs to be accounted for.

أسماء : 80%معرب (the way they’re supposed to be), 20%مبني .  This 20% also needs to be explained.

It is this very explanation which will be the focus of the rest of this discussion, إن شاء الله .

The scholars ofصرف (Arabic Morphology) have classified theفعل into 4 types, namely:

ماضي , the past tense verb e.g.كَتَبَ (wrote).  This category isمبني in its entirety i.e. No governing agent will ever enter upon a past-tense conjugation and alter its ending.

مضارع , the present and future tense verb e.g.يَنصُرُ (helps, or will help)…or one may refer to the first as ‘perfect’ i.e. occurred and the second as ‘imperfect’, meaning ongoing, either presently in the process of occurring or will begin at a future time.

أمر , imperative or command verb e.g.إشرِبْ (Drink!)

نهي , negative command or prohibition e.g.لا تَشرِبْ (Don’t drink)

To more easily explain the 20% of verbs that do enter grammatical states and therefore areمعرب , we need to modify this classification slightly.  This will be done by examining the last two verbs in a somewhat detailed manner in the next chapter.

Process of Reflection - إعراب أسماء و أفعال

Recall from the discussion of the 4 types ofفعل in the previous section, that theماضي (the past tense verb) isمبني in its entirety i.e. no governing agent will ever enter upon it and alter its ending.  Skippingمضارع and leaving it for last, let’s take a look at the remaining two verbs:أمر andنهي .

The 20% of Verbs that are معرب

Recall thatأمر , which is the command verb, like all verbs, will have an active as well as a passive.  Each table will have 14 conjugations.  (Refer to theصرف book)  However, when contemplating the reality of Amr, we see something unique not found in the other types of verbs, namely, the fact that literally speaking commands have to be directed to someone being addressed.  By literal definition,أمر must be second person and in the active voice, such as Sit!  Drink!  Read!  Etc...  Does that mean you can’t use anأمر verb in the passive voice or in other than the second person?  Well you can, but it won’t be a literalأمر , it would be a figurative way of speaking.  Take for instance second person passive with the verb ‘to help’ i.e. You must get helped, or third person active, He must help, or third person passive, He must get helped.  Now contrast these three with just Help!  You will see a sharp difference in literal and figurative application of the term ‘command’ upon the various conjugations of theأمر tables.  For this reason, the scholars of Sarf tend to break down the table of 14 into two smaller tables, the first being just the middle six conjugations of the second person, and the other being the remaining 8, a combination of the third person 6 plus numbers 13 and 14.  When they did this, to keep things level, they also broke down the passive table into two similar tables, although the above reasoning does not apply to the passive table.  Now, instead of two big tables of 14 and 14, we have four small tables:

أمر حاضر معروف   (second person active command) e.g.إضرِب , Hit!

أمر حاضر مجهول (second person passive command) e.g. لِتُضرَب , You must get hit.

أمر غاﺋﺐ و متكلّم (third & first person active command) e.g.لِيَضرِب , He must hit

أمر غاﺋﺐ و متكلّم مجهول (third & first person passive command) e.g.لَِيُضرَب , He must get hit.

Keeping in mind the whole above discussion, now look at the four small gardaans of theنهي verb which is the negative command:

نهي حاضر معروف (second person active prohibition) e.g.لا تَضرِب , Don’t hit!

نهي حاضر مجهول (second person passive prohibition) e.g.لا تُضرَب , You must not get hit.

نهي غاﺋﺐ و متكلّم   (third & first person active prohibition) e.g.لا يَضرِب , He must not hit.

نهي غاﺋﺐ و متكلّم مجهول (third & first person passive prohibition) e.g.لا يُضرَب , He must not get hit.

Note the structure of the eight examples:

إضرِب was the first, then we had three that began with ‘لِ ’, followed by four that began with ‘لا ’.

Significant?  From a pureصرف perspective, not really, because verb conjugation, more than anything else, has to do with the designated letters at the end of the verbs which make the conjugations slightly different in how they look and sound, and that’s why we memorize them, with particular attention given to those slight differences.

However, from aنحو point of view, the difference betweenإضرِب and the rest is very profound.  (If you understand this, you’ve understood a lot, insha Allah.)

What the scholars ofنحو did, is they looked at the above 8 examples, noting that all end with a ْ   ‘سكون ’.  Then they saw, seven of them have particles i.e. governing agents in front of them, either ‘لِ ’or ‘لا ’.  From this, they deduced that the sukoon at the end of all exceptإضرِب is a reflection of grammatical state.  Therefore, these gardaans are not separate verbs, but rather THE SAMEمضارع (present-tense verb) in the state of ‘جزم ’.  In other wordsلِتُضرَب ,لِيَضرِب ,لِيُضرَب and the fourنهي tables are nothing more thanيَضرِبُ ,يُضرَبُ ,تَضرِبُ andتُضرَبُ with either ‘لِ ’or ‘لا ’ in front of them, both of which are ‘جزم ’ giving particles.

As for ‘إضرِب ’ i.e. the second person, active command, they said this is different for two reasons:

It does not begin with a recognized prefix of the present-tense verb,ي ,ت ,ء , orن .  Therefore, it cannot be incorporated into theمضارع category, as we did to the others.

Furthermore, it does not have a governing agent before it which could explain away the sukoon at the end of it, meaning no grammatical reflection can be attributed to this last letter sukoon.

For these two reasons, the scholars ofنحو have classified theفعل somewhat different than the scholars ofصرف .  This happens by taking seven of the above eight tables and incorporating them intoمضارع and keepingأمر حاضر معروف as the third distinct type ofفعل .  The breakdown is as follows:

ماضي , the past-tense verb.مبني in its entirety, as mentioned previously.

مضارع , the present and future-tense verb.  Predominantlyمعرب , as will be seen shortly.

أمر حاضر معروف , the second person, active-command verb, alsoمبني in its entirety.

The present-tense verb (مضارع ), like all verbs, also has 14 conjugations.  From the 14, two conjugations, namely the two feminine plurals (number 6 and 12) areمبني i.e. will never change despite the governing agent entering upon them.  The final ‘ن’ at the end of these two conjugations is actually the pronoun, and from it we get the plural feminine meaning.

As for the other 12 conjugations of the present-tense verb, they are allمعرب PROVIDED THAT THEY ARE FREE OF THE ‘ن ’ OF EMPHASIS.  These 12 conjugations can be split into two groups:

Those that end in aُ   in the state ofرفع .  This would include 5 conjugations; numbers 1, 4, 7 and the last two, 13 and 14.

Those that end with aُ   in the state ofرفع , the remaining seven conjugations i.e. the four duals, plus numbers 3, 9 and 10.

Types of ن

Before we proceed, it is important to note that in total there are three different types of ‘ن ’!

The first is the ‘ن ’ of feminine plurality. This is actually a pronoun (and not a reflection ofرفع ).  It comes at the end of conjugation numbers 6 and 12 and will never drop.

The second is what they call, the ‘ن إعرابي’.  The function of this ‘ن ’ is to reflect that theمضارع verb is in its default state ofرفع .  The presence of this ‘ن ’ at the end of the seven conjugations mentioned above will indicateرفع .  The pronoun is the letter before the ‘ن ’ i.e. an ‘ا ’ for the four duals, a ‘و ’ for the two masculine plurals, and ‘ي ’ for number ten, the second person singular feminine.  Inنصب andجزم , this ‘ن ’ will drop.

The third and final ‘ن ’ is what we referred to as the ‘ن ’ of emphasis.  This is a special ‘ن ’ which is a particle and is attached to the end of theمضارع .  It comes in both aساكن form as well as aمشدد form.  Its meaning function is twofold.  Firstly it eliminates the present tense and makes the verb specific to the future.  Secondly it adds emphasis to the future tense meaning (verily or surely).  All conjugations of the present-tense verb becomeمبني as a result of it.

Now we can clearly see the 20% of verbs which areمعرب and distinguish them from the 80% that areمبني :

ماضي -مبني in its entirety.

أمر حاضر معروف -مبني also.

مضارع with the ‘ن ’ of feminine plurality (6 and 12)-مبني

مضارع with the ‘ن ’ of emphasis (all 14 conjugations)-مبني

مضارع empty of  the above mentioned both ‘ن ’ -معرب

Note that from a total five only one isمعرب and four areمبني .  Four from five is 80% and one from five is 20%.

Essential Note on بناء

Thus far we have covered five types ofمبني words.

Allحروف .

ماضي .

أمر حاضر معروف .

مضارع with the ‘nun’ of feminine plurality.

مضارع with the ‘nun’ of emphasis.

Depending on the reason of ‘بناء ’ (statelessness),مبني words are of two types:

مبني الأصل - words that are trulyمبني   i.e. They never enter grammatical states and therefore have no need for the process of reflection calledأعراب .  The first three from the above five areمبني الأصل .

مبني مشابه - words that areمبني   due to a secondary reason such as resemblance to the first category, meaning they do enter grammatical states and hence need the reflection thatأعراب provides. However, owing to some external reason, their last letters remain constant despite the many governing agents that enter upon them. مضارع with the ‘ن ’ of feminine plurality isمبني   because the final ‘‘ن ’ at the end of these two conjugations RESEMBLES the ‘ن ’ ofفَعَلنَ i.e. conjugation number 6 of the past-tense table, whereas the emphatic tables areمبني   in their entirety due to the ‘ن ’ of emphasis being a particle and particles do not give way to last letter change.

The 20% of أسماء that are مبني

From the perspective ofأعراب andبناء , the ‘إسم ’ is classified into two categories:

أسم مُتَمَكِّن :أسماء that do not resembleمبني الأصل and are thereforeمعرب . This category comprises of the vast majority ofأسماء (about 80%), divided into 16 types to be discussed at a later time.  Grammatical state in them will be reflected on the last letter as mentioned previously.  This reflection can be via ‘حركات ’ i.e. short vowels;ضمّة ,فتحة andكسرة , and also by means of letters such as long vowels (ا , و and ى).  It may be explicit or assumed.  For the most part, there will be a full separate reflection for each grammatical state.  Occasionally, there will be just two reflections for all three of the statesأسماء enter.  From this we see thatرفع does not necessarily meanضمّة , nor doesنصب orجر meanفتحة andكسرة . رفع ,نصب andجر are the states andضمّة ,فتحة andكسرة are just one method of their reflection.  There may be others.  In human beings happiness is usually reflected by smiles, but it doesn’t have to be like that.  Sometimes it’s through tears.  In animals happiness is reflected by tail-wagging for instance ….  In total forمعرب أسماء (the 16 types ofأسم مُتَمَكِّن ), there are nine methods of reflection.  These will be covered in detail once we are done explaining theمبني nouns, insha Allah.

أسم غير مُتَمَكِّن :أسماء that do resembleمبني الأصل and are thereforeمبني . مبني nouns are 8 types.  Under each are just a fewأسماء .  Together they account for less then 20% ofأسماء .

The eight categories are listed below.

ضما ﺋﺮ orمضمرات    : Personal Pronouns.

الأسماء الموصولة       : Relative Pronouns.

الأسماء الإشارة           : Demonstrative Pronouns.

أسماء الأفعاال            : Nouns in the meaning of verbs!

أسماء الضُروف           :أسماء   which indicate on time or place (type of Adverb).

أسماء الأصوات          : Words which are used to refer to sounds or noises.

مركَّب بناء      : A small group of words which were originally phrases, namely the numbers from eleven to nineteen.

كِنايات          : Words that refer to vagueness in speech or number etc. (Like ‘so many’ in English.)

Personal Pronouns - ضماﺋﺮ

Pronouns in Arabic are much more than what we have in English.  To fully understand all the groupings of Arabic Pronouns, contrasting them with their English counter-parts will be helpful.  In English, primarily we have three groups of pronouns: nominative, accusative and genitive.  They are listed below:

Nominative: he, she, they, you, I and we

Accusative: him, her, them, you, me and us

Genitive: his, her, their, your, my and our

Note that in the plural third person (they), gender is irrelevant, meaning the same pronoun is used for feminine and masculine, while in the second person both gender AND plurality are not considered.  Likewise, the singular feminine third person (her) is used twice in accusative as well as genitive.  So basically the total number of pronouns in English is only 18 and after dropping the ones which are used twice 16.

In Arabic, the total number is very high at 84: six groupings, each of which has a full 14 pronouns.  To understand the significance of the number 14 here, recall what we mentioned when explaining the conjugation tables.  Six groupings is because in addition to the three groupings mentioned above Arabic also has governing agents.  If a pronoun is said to be inرفع due to being subject for instance, there must be something to cause theرفع preceding the pronoun, which in this case would be the verb.  Thus the verb inنحو is called the ‘عامل ’ (governing agent).  This will happen in all three of the statesأسماء enter into;رفع ,نصب andجر .  Now the pronoun may be attached (مُتَّصل ) to the agent and both written as ONE WORD, or the agent could be a separate word and the pronoun written by itself (مُنفَصل ).  In each case the pronoun will look different.  Forجر there is noمُنفَصل , because the agents ofجر are just two, namely prepositions andمضاف , which puts theمضاف إليه in the state ofجر .  Both agents REQUIRE that the pronoun after them be attached.  This leaves us with a total of five groups.  Then because theمجرور one can have only two agents, it is mentioned twice, thus making the number of groupings six (with 14 under each):

مرفوع متّصل   : Nominative pronoun attached to its agent e.g. theت ُ inضَرَبتُ (I hit).

مرفوع منفصل             : Nominative pronoun separate from its agent.هُو َ which means ‘he’.

منصوب متّصل            : Accusative pronoun attached to its agent e.g. theﻪُ inرَأيتُهُ (I saw ‘him’)

منصوب منفصل          : Accusative pronoun separate from its agent e.g.إيّاكَ (you alone).

مجرور متّصل withحرف جر    : Genitive pronoun attached to preposition e.g. theﻪُ inلَهُ (for him).

مجرور متّصل withمضاف       : Genitive pronoun attached toمضاف e.g. theهُ inدارُهُ (his house).

All of these 84 pronouns areمبني due to their dependency upon nouns.  In order to be used in speech, third person pronouns need to be preceded by nouns and so forth.  Dependency is a characteristic of particles: one of the threeمبني الأصل .

The following is a full table of all theضَماﺋﺮ discussed in this section:

Table Error! No text of specified style in document. -B - Personal Pronouns

Relative Pronouns - الأسماء الموصولة

In order to fully understand what relative pronouns are, one needs to be informed about theموصوف- صفة phrase which in Arabic grammar is the noun-adjective phrase, an expression of usually twoأسماء in which the secondإسم describes the first.

e.g. رَجُلٌ كَرِيمٌ (a noble man), or

 الرَّجُلُ الكَرِيمُ (the noble man)

From the aspects in which theموصوف andصفة have to correspond, is beingمعرفه orنكره (definite or indefinite).  In most cases both words areأسماء and correspondence is fairly simple.  Adding ‘ال’ to both words will make it ‘the noble man’ whereas keeping both words empty will leave it ‘a noble man’.  However, occasionally the need arises to describe a noun using a whole sentence.  Take for instance the phrase ‘a man who I met yesterday’.  ‘I met yesterday’ is a full sentence.  It was used in the above example to describe the indefinite noun ‘a man’.

The scholars ofنحو have attached a value to the informative sentence (جملة خبرية ) and have told us it’s ‘نكره ’.  Therefore, if the above example were to be rendered into Arabic it would read as follows:رَجُلٌ لَقِيتُهُ أمسِ .  No extra word is needed between the noun being described i.e. theموصوف ‘رَجُلٌ ’ and the sentenceلَقِيتُهُ أمسِ , for they are bothنكره and correspondence is complete.  On the other hand, were theموصوف to beمعرفه , we would have had a problem of matching the two.  To convey the meaning ‘the man who I met yesterday’, merely adding an ‘ال’ to theموصوف would not suffice.  We would be left with aمعرف موصوف (الرَّجُلُ ) and aنكره صفة (theجملة خبرية ).  The only way this meaning could be validly conveyed is if somehow that value attached to theجملة خبرية could be transformed into aمعرفه value.  This is where theمَوصول comes into play….

الأسماء الموصولة or Relative Pronouns are like which, what, that, or who in English, not the question which, what etc. but the pronouns ‘which’ come between nouns and the sentences ‘that’ describe them.  Read that again!  “pronouns ‘which’ come between nouns” and “the sentences ‘that’ describe them”.  In English these pronouns MUST be brought in every such structure.  In Arabic they are brought ONLY when theموصوف isمعرفه .  If it isنكره , there will be no need for aمَوصول , in which case the grammatical structure itself will join the sentence to the noun being described.

This is the primary purpose why we have these words in the language.  If the noun being described is of a very general meaning such as man, woman, thing etc, often the noun is not mentioned.  Theمَوصول itself will convey the entire meaning, such as in the following sentence:

جاء الّذي علَّمَكَ في المسجدِ (The person who taught you in the masjid came).

In this sentence theمَوصول ‘الّذي ’ not only means ‘who’ but actually ‘the person who’.

The sentence which follows theمَوصول i.e. the describingجملة خبرية is calledصِله . Together with theمَوصول , both parts becomeصفة for the preceding noun, or if the noun is of a general nature and implicit as mentioned above, theمَوصول andصِله together will directly become part of the greater sentence.  Within theصِله there MUST be a third person pronoun referring back to theمَوصول .  This pronoun will always correspond to theمَوصول in gender and plurality.  In the above example the implicit pronounهو hidden in the verbعَلَّم َ is referring toالّذي theمَوصول .

Besidesالّذي and its dual, plural, and feminine variations, the following relative pronouns are in use:

مَنْ - the person who…

ما - the thing that….  Bothمَنْ andما have no duals our plurals.  The same word is essentially used for all gender and plurality.  ‘مَنْ ’ is for human beings while ‘ما ’ is for non-humans.

أيٌّ , أيَّةٌ -which….  Bothموصولان will always beمضاف to theأسماء after them.  The second word of the possessive phrase may be singular or plural e.g. أيُّ كِتابٍ (which book) and,    أيُّ الكُتُبِ (which of the books).  Both meanings are almost identical.  Just two ways of saying the same thing. أيٌّ andأيَّةٌ are bothمعرب and there grammatical state will be subject to the governing agent before them similar to normal إسمs.

The ‘ال ’ which is attached to the active and passive participles (إسم فاعل andإسم مفعول ) is also considered to beمَوصول and in the meaning ofالّذي .  Hence,الضارِبُ would meanالّذي ضَرَبَ (one who hits).  Likewise,المَضروبُ is akin toالّذي ضُرِبَ (one who is hit).  In other words the ‘ال ’ at the beginning of both literally means ‘one who’.

ذُو in the dialect of the clan ofبَن طَي - also in the meaning ofالّذي according to this particular tribe of Arabs e.g.جاﺋﲎ ذُو ضَرَبَكَ (the man who hit you came to me).

Except forأيٌّ ,أيَّةٌ , and the duals ofالّذي andالّتي , allمَوصول areمبني due to there dependency upon theصله .  You will never encounter aمَوصول except with itsصله .  As mentioned repeatedly, dependency is a characteristic ofحرف : one from theمبني الأصل .

Demonstrative Pronouns -   الأسماء الإشارة

Descriptive Pronouns (this/that) are devices used to refer or point towards nouns.  While the pronoun in Arabic is calledإسم إشاره , the noun is known asمُشارٌ إليه .  In the phraseذٰلِكَ الكِتابُ (that book),ذٰلِكَ is theإسم إشاره andالكِتابُ is theمُشارٌ إليه .  The pronoun coupled with the noun will always be a phrase.  However, there are instances when the noun being referred to is of a very general nature such as thing, man, or woman, in which case the pronoun itself will convey both meanings i.e.هٰذا can mean ‘this thing’ or ‘this person’ as apposed to just ‘this’.  When this happens the following word will be the remaining part of the sentence (the predicate).  In order to determine whether the following word is connected toهٰذا and forming the second part of the descriptive phrase or whetherهٰذا is independent of a separate ‘مُشارٌ إليه and conveying the entire meaning itself as mentioned above, one will need to look at the next word.  If it begins with an ‘ال ’, the two words will become a descriptive phrase (this book), otherwise a full sentence.  When theمُشارٌ إليه can not take ‘ال ’ do to beingمضاف and a descriptive phrase is intended, such as ‘this book of his’, in order to avoid confusion with theإسميّه sentence, theإسم إشاره will be brought after the possessive phrase.  Consider the following three ways of using this device:

1.هٰذا الكِتابُ : this book

2. هٰذا كِتابٌ : This is a book.

3.كِتابُهُ هٰذا : this book of his 

Verbal Nouns - أسماء الأفعال

These are a group of words in the language which are very few in number.  They have the meanings of verbs, meaning that their meanings are linked to time.  They have tenses.  However, besides the tense, they have no other characteristic of verbs such as conjugation tables and suffixes.  They do not fall under any recognized pattern of verb.  They come in two types; a group that has a past tense meaning e.g.هَيهاتَ (became distant), and a group consisting of words that have command-verb meanings e.g.رُوَيدَ (give respite), the first being identical toبَعُدَ (a past-tense verb), and the second to ‘أمهِل ’ (a second person active command verb). 

Although these words do have the meanings ofأفعال due to the absence of all other characteristics of recognized verbs, they were not categorized as such.  The other two parts of speech also do not apply, but because there number is so less in the Arabic language, the scholars of grammar did not see it appropriate to give them a separate category and call them the fourth part of speech.  Instead they said these areمبني أسماء which contain the meaning of verbs, treating this tense as a ‘resemblance’ to verb, hence theirمبني nature.  Recall both ماضي andأمر حاضر areمبني الأصل . 

Adverbs of Time or Place - أسماء الضروف

Words Denoting Sounds or Noises - أسماء الأصوات

These are essentially sounds rendered into words e.g.أُح أُح , a coughing sound.  They are allمبني due to sounds not having true grammatical positioning, in terms of being subject, object etc.

Numbers 11-19 - مركّب بناء

Words denoting vagueness - كنايات