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This article contains Arabic text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Arabic letters written left-to-right, instead of right-to-left or other symbols instead of Arabic script. |
ʾIʿrab (إﻋﺮﺍﺏ) is a word in the Arabic language, the stem IV masdar of ع-ر-ب, meaning "Arab" or "Arabic". It literally means "making [the word] Arabic", and designates the system of nominal and adjectival suffixes of Classical Arabic. The term is cognate to the word Arab itself. These suffixes are written in fully vocalized Arabic texts, notably the Qurʾān or texts written for children or Arabic learners, and they are articulated when a text is formally read aloud, but they do not survive in any spoken dialect of Arabic. Even in formal Arabic, these suffixes are often not pronounced in pausa (الوقف al-waqf), i.e. when the word occurs at the end of the sentence, in accordance with certain rules of Arabic pronunciation. (That is, the nunation suffix -n is always dropped at the end of a sentence or line of poetry; the vowel suffix may or may not be, depending on the requirements of metre.) Depending on the knowledge of iʻrāb, some Arabic speakers may omit case endings when reading out in Modern Standard Arabic, thus making it similar to spoken dialects. Many Arabic textbooks for foreigners teach Arabic without a heavy focus on iʿrāb, either omitting the endings altogether or only giving a small introduction. Arabic without case endings may require a different and strict word order, similar to spoken Arabic dialects.
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Grammatical Cases
Case is not shown in standard orthography, with the exception of indefinite accusative nouns ending in any letter but ta marbuta or hamza, where the -a(n) "sits" upon an alif added to the end of the word (the alif still shows up in unvowelled texts). Cases, however, are marked in the Koran, children's books and to remove ambiguous situations. If marked, it is shown at the end of the noun. Further information on the types of declensions is discussed in the following section, along with examples. Grammatical case endings are not pronounced in pausa and in less formal forms of Arabic. Note that in vocalised Arabic (where vowel points are written), the case endings may be written even if they are not pronounced. Some Arabic textbooks or children's books skip case endings in vocalised Arabic, thus allowing both types of pronunciation.
Nominative case (al-marfū‘, المرفوع)
- Subjects of a verbal sentence.
- Subjects and predicates of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, with some notable exceptions.
- Certain adverbs retain the nominative marker.
- The citation form of words is (if noted at all) in the nominative case.
For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a usually unwritten ضمة ḍamma (-u) for the definite or ḍamma + nunation (-un) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed by adding ـان -ān(i) and ـون -ūn(a) respectively (just ـا -ā and ـو -ū in the construct state). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding ـات -āt(u) in the definite and ـات -āt(un) in the indefinite (same spelling).
Accusative case (al-manṣūb, المنصوب)
- The subject of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, if it is initiated with إن 'inna, or one of her sisters. These particles are subordinating conjunctions which require that the subject of the subordinate (complement) clause be in the accusative case.
- The predicate of كان / يكون kāna/yakūnu "be" and its sisters (there are 13 of these verbs[1]). Hence, البنت جميلة al-bintu jamīlatun "the girl is beautiful" but البنت كانت جميلة al-bintu kānat jamīlatan "the girl was beautiful" (note that "beautiful" is spelled the same way in both cases).
- Both the subject and the predicate of ظن ẓanna and its sisters in an equational clause.
- As the complement of verbs of "seeming".
- The object of a transitive verb
- Most adverbs.
- Semi-prepositions.
- Internal object/cognate accusative structure
- The accusative of specification (Al-tamyiiz, التمييز).
- The accusative of purpose (al-Maf‘ūl li-'ajl-i-hi, المفعول لأجله).
- The circumstantial accusative (al-Ḥāl, الحال).
- Objects of (kam, كم) "how much/many" and أي ayy "any".
- Numbers from 10-19
- Objects of numbers 11-99
- Exclamation of astonishment. i.e.: mā 'ajmalahā!, !ماأجملها "Oh, how beautiful she is!"
- Vocative first term of construct. يا عبد الله yaa `abd-a-llāh-i! "Oh, Abdullah!
- Nouns following exceptive particles in non-negative sentences.
- The noun following the absolute, or categorical, negation لا laa "No".
For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a usually unwritten فتحة fatḥa (-a) for the definite or fatḥa + nunation (-an) for the indefinite. For the indefinite accusative, the fatḥa + nunation is added to an ا alif, e.g. ـًا, which is added to the ending of all nouns not ending with a hamza or ta marbuta. Note, that this is the only case (when alif is written), which affects the unvocalised written Arabic (e.g. بيتاً bayt-an). The dual and regular masculine plural are formed by adding ـين -ayn(i) and ـين -īn(a) respectively (spelled identically!) (ـي -ay and -ī in the construct state, again, spelled identically). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding ـات -āt(i) in the definite and -āt(in) in the indefinite (spelled identically). Some forms of indefinite accusative are mandatory even for spoken and pausal forms of Arabic, sometimes -an is changed to a simple -a in pausa or spoken Arabic.
Diptotes never take an alif ending in the written Arabic and are never pronounced with the ending "-an".
Genitive case (al-majrūr, المجرور)
- Objects of prepositions.
- All, but not necessarily the first member (the first nomen regens), of an iḍāfa (إضافة genitive construction).
- The object of a locative adverb.
- Elative (comparative/superlative) adjectives behave similarly: أطول ولد "ʼaṭwalu waladin" "the tallest boy".
For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a usually unwritten كسرة kasra (-i) for the definite or kasra + nunation (-in) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed by adding ـين -ayn(i) and -īn(a) respectively (spelled identically!) (ـي -ay and -ī in the construct state, again, spelled identically). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding ـات -āt(i) in the definite and -āt(in) in the indefinite (spelled identically in Arabic).
- Note: diptotic nouns receive a fatḥa (-a) in the genitive and are never nunated.
- Note: there is no dative case; instead, the preposition لـ "li-" is used.
Types of declension
Fully declined nouns (triptote منصرف munṣarif)
The suffixes are -u, -a, -i for nominative, accusative and genitive case, respectively, with the addition of a final /n/ (nunation, or tanwīn) to produce -un, -an and -in when the word is unmarked for definiteness (that is, when it is not preceded by al-).
This system applies to most singular nouns in Arabic, including feminine nouns ending in ة -a/-at (tāʾ marbūṭa) and ء hamza but ا alif is not written after them in the accusative case. It also applies to many "broken plurals". The affect on words ending in -a/-at (tāʾ marbūṭa) is that the "t" is pronounced in this case, thus رسالة risāla ("message") in pausal or colloquial form becomes risālatun, risālatan and risālatin with case endings (all usually spelled رسالة when written without the vowel points).
The final /n/ is also dropped when the noun is in iḍāfa (construct state). Thus:
Nominative (مرفوع marfūʿ; literally, "raised") :
baytun بَيتٌ : a house
al-baytu البَيتُ : the house
baytu 'r-rajuli بَيتُ الرَّجُلِِ : the house of the man.
Accusative (منصوب manṣūb):
baytan بَيتًا : a house (note the written ا alif!)
al-bayta البَيتَ : the house
bayta 'r-rajuli بَيتَ الرَّجُلِِ : the house of the man.
Genitive (مجرور majrūr; literally, "dragged"):
baytin بَيتٍ : a house
al-bayti البَيتِ : the house
bayti 'r-rajuli بَيتِ الرَّجُلِِ : the house of the man.
Diptotes (الممنوع من الصرف al-mamnūʻu mina 'ṣ-ṣarf)
A few singular nouns (including many proper names and names of places), and certain types of "broken plural", are known as diptotes (Arabic: الممنوع من الصرف, al-mamnūʿu mina 'ṣ-ṣarf, literally meaning both "those forbidden purity" and "those forbidden case endings", as the same word, ṣarf, refers to both) meaning that they only have two case endings (Greek ptosis, case).
When the noun is indefinite, the endings are -u for the nominative and -a for the genitive and accusative with no nunation. The genitive reverts to the normal -i when the diptotic noun becomes definite (preceded by al- or is in the construct state)).
Diptotes never take an alif in the accusative case in written Arabic.
Duals (المثنى al-muṯannā)
The endings of the dual are ان -ān(i) in the nominative, and ين -ayn(i) in the accusative and genitive. The "n(i)" is dropped in iḍāfa (construct state). In less formal Arabic only ين -ayn(i) is used for all cases. The final "i" is dropped in pausa and in less formal Arabic.
Nominative:
والدان wālidān(i): (two) parents
الوالدان al-wālidān(i): the (two) parents
والدا الرجل wālidā 'r-rajul(i): the parents of the man
Accusative and genitive:
والدين wālidayn(i): (two) parents
الوالدين al-wālidayn(i): the (two) parents
والدي الرجل wāliday 'r-rajul(i): the parents of the man. Which becomes wāliday ir-rajuli for euphonic purposes.
Note: ending ين -ayn(i) is spelled identically to ين -īn(a) (see below).
Sound masculine plurals (الجمع مذكّر سالم al-jamʻu 'l-muḏakkaru 's-sālim)
In the case of sound masculine plurals (mostly denoting male human beings), the suffixes are respectively ون -ūn(a), ين -īn(a) and ين -īn(a). These stay the same whether or not ال al- precedes. The final a is usually dropped in speech. In less formal Arabic only -īn(a) is used for all cases and "a" is dropped in pausa and in less formal Arabic.
The ن "na" is dropped when the noun is in iḍāfah (construct state). Thus:
Nominative:
والدون wālidūn(a): parents (more than two)
الوالدون al-wālidūn(a): the parents
والدو الرجال wālidū 'r-rijāl(i): the parents of the men
Accusative and genitive:
والدين wālidīn(a): parents
الوالدين al-wālidīn(a): the parents
والدي الرجال wālidī 'r-rijāl(i): the parents of the men
Note: ending ين -īn(a) is spelled identically to ين -ayn(i) (see above).
Sound feminine plurals (الجمع مؤنث سالم al-jamʻu 'l-mu'annaṯu 's-sālim)
In the case of sound feminine plurals, the suffixes are respectively ات -ātu(n), ات -āti(n) and ات -āti(n) (identical spelling). The n is only there when the noun is indefinite (not preceded by al-). Again the final vowel is dropped in speech and pausa, leaving only ات -āt, making all cases pronounced identically.
The final "n" is dropped when the noun is in iḍāfah (construct state).
Nominative:
مدرسات mudarrisāt(un): (female) teachers
المدرسات al-mudarrisāt(u): the teachers
مدرسات الأولاد mudarrisātu 'l-ʼawlād(i): the teachers of the children
Accusative and genitive:
مدرسات mudarrisāt(in): (female) teachers
المدرسات al-mudarrisāt(i): the teachers
مدرسات الأولاد mudarrisāti 'l-ʼawlād(i): the teachers of the children
Sentence structure
A noun's case depends on the role that the noun plays in the sentence. There are multiple sentence structures in Arabic, each of which demands different case endings for the roles in the sentence. "Subject" does not always correspond to "nominative", nor does "object" always correspond to "accusative".
Verbal Sentences (الجملة الفعلية al-jumlatu 'l-fiʻliyya)
In a verbal sentence, there is Verb Subject Object word order. This is the preferred word order of Classical Arabic.
In a verbal sentence, the subject takes nominative case and the object takes accusative case. Such a sentence ("This writer wrote the book") would be formed as follows (read from right to left):
| Verbal Sentence | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| grammatical role | Object | Subject | Verb |
| Arabic label | مفعول به mafʻūlun bi-hi |
فاعل fāʻil |
فعل fiʻl |
| case | accusative | nominative | (verb) |
| example | الكتابَ al-kitāb(a) (the book) |
هذا الكاتبُ hāḏā 'l-kātibu (this writer) |
كتب Kataba (wrote) |
Nominal Sentences (الجملة الإسمية al-jumlatu 'l-ʼismiyya)
In a nominal sentence, there is Subject Verb Object word order.
Equations (no verb)
If the verb would be "is" (that is, the predicate merely attributes something to the subject—see Predicative (adjectival or nominal)), then there is no verb used. Both the subject and the predicate take nominative case when there is no overt verb. Such a sentence ("This writer is famous") is formed as follows (read from right to left):
| Nominal Sentence without Verb | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| grammatical role | Object | (no verb) | Subject |
| Arabic label | خبر ḫabar |
(no verb) | مبتدأ mubtadaʼ |
| case | nominative | (no verb) | nominative |
| example | مشهورٌ mašhūrun (famous) |
(no verb) | هذا الكاتبُ hāḏā 'l-kātibu (this writer) |
Overt Verb
If there is an overt verb, the subject takes nominative and the predicate takes accusative. Such a sentence ("This writer wrote the book") is formed as follows (read from right to left):
| Nominal Sentence with Verb | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| grammatical role | Object | Verb | Subject |
| Arabic label | خبر ḫabar |
فعل fiʻl |
مبتدأ mubtadaʼ |
| case | accusative | (verb) | nominative |
| example | الكتابَ al-kitāb(a) (the book) |
كتب kataba (wrote) |
هذا الكاتبُ hāḏā 'l-kātibu (this writer) |
With Sisters of Inna (أخوات إنّ ʼaḫawātu ʼinna)
There is a class of words in Arabic called the "sisters of ʼinna" (أخوات إنّ ʼaḫawātu ʼinna) that are cognates/derivatives of أنّ ("that"). Among them are:
- إنّ ʼinna (particle for emphasis, close to "it is the case that")
- أنّ ʼanna ("that")
- لكنّ lākin(na) ("but")
- لأنّ liʼanna ("because")
- كأنّ kaʼanna ("as if", "as though")
If one of the sisters of إنّ begins a clause, then the subject takes accusative case instead of nominative.
Such a sentence using the particle إنّ ("Verily, this writer wrote the book") would be formed as follows (read from right to left):
| Nominal Sentence with Verb with إنّ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| grammatical role | Object | Verb | Subject | Sister of ʼinna |
| Arabic label | خبر ḫabar |
فعل fiʻl |
مبتدأ mubtadaʼ |
أخت إنّ ʼuḫtu ʼinna |
| case | accusative | (verb) | accusative | (sister of ʼinna) |
| example | الكتابَ al-kitāb(a) (the book) |
كتب kataba (wrote) |
هذا الكاتبَ hāḏā 'l-kātiba (this writer) |
ّإن ʼinna (verily) |
Note that although there was an overt verb in the above example, a nominal sentence without an overt verb will also have its subject take accusative case because of the introduction of one of ʼinna's sisters. (The predicate of an equation is unaffected and will remain in the nominative.)
Consider the following example ("Verily, this writer is famous"):
| Nominal Sentence without Verb with إنّ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| grammatical role | Object | (no verb) | Subject | Sister of ʼinna |
| Arabic label | خبر ḫabar |
(no verb) | مبتدأ mubtadaʼ |
أخت إنّ 'uḫtu ʼinna |
| case | nominative | (no verb) | accusative | (sister of ʼinna) |
| example | مشهورٌ mašhūrun (famous) |
(no verb) | هذا الكاتبَ hāḏā 'l-kātiba (this writer) |
إنّ 'Inna (verily) |
With Sisters of Kāna (أخوات كان ʼaḫawātu kāna)
The verb kāna (كان) and its sisters form a class of 12 verbs that mark the time/duration of actions, states, and events.
Sentences that use these verbs are considered to be a type of nominal sentence according to Arabic grammar, not a type of verbal sentence. Although the word order may seem to be Verb Subject Object when there is no other verb in the sentence, note that it is possible to have a sentence in which the order is Sister-of-Kāna Subject Verb Object. Such a non-equation sentence clearly shows Subject Verb Object word order.
Among the sisters of kāna are:
- كان kāna ("was")
- ليس laysa ("not")
- ما زال mā zāla ("still"; literally, "has not ceased to be")
- أصبح ʼaṣbaḥa ("to reach a state")
- ظلّ ẓalla ("to remain")
If one of the sisters of كان begins a clause, then the subject takes nominative case and the object takes accusative case. (Note that because of this, Arabic contrasts [The man]NOM is [a doctor]NOM in the present tense with [The man]NOM was [a doctor]ACC in the past tense.)
Such a sentence using the verb كان ("This writer was famous") would be formed as follows (read from right to left):
| Nominal Sentence with كان | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| grammatical role | Object | (no verb) | Subject | Sister of Kāna |
| Arabic label | خبر ḫabar |
(no verb) | اسم ism |
أخت كان ʼuḫtu kāna |
| case | accusative | (no verb) | nominative | (sister of kāna) |
| example | مشهوراً mašhūran (famous) |
(no verb) | هذا الكاتبُ hāḏā 'l-kātibu (this writer) |
كان Kāna (was) |
In a sentence with an explicit verb, the sister of kāna marks aspect for the actual verb. A sentence like كان الكاتب يكتب الكتاب (was the.writer he.writes the.book, "the writer was writing the book"), for instance, has both a main verb (يكتب) and a sister of kāna that indicates the non-completed aspect of the main verb.
Verbs
The imperfective tense of the verb also has suffixed vowels, which determine the mood of the verb. Thus:
- yaktub(u), indicative (مرفوع marfūʿ), means "he writes" or "he will write";
- yaktub(a), subjunctive (منصوب manṣūb), is used in phrases such as "so that he should write";
- yaktub, jussive (مجزوم majzūm, literally meaning "clipped off"), means "let him write". This can become yaktubi when required for euphony, e.g. when followed by two consonants.
All three forms are spelled يكتب in unvocalised Arabic and the final vowel is not pronounced in pausa and in informal Arabic, leaving just one pronunciation: yaktub.
Traditional Arab grammarians equated the indicative with the nominative of nouns, the subjunctive with the accusative and the jussive with the genitive, as indicated by their names (the only pair that is not borne out in the name is the jussive-genitive pair, probably because the -i vowel is usually dropped). It is not known whether there is a genuine historical connection or whether the resemblance is mere coincidence, caused by the fact that these are the only three short vowels available.
References
- ^ Hasan, 1987, I:545
- Brustad et al., A Textbook for Arabic: Part Two: Washington, DC 1997, ISBN 0-87840-350-7
- Haywood and Nahmad, A new Arabic grammar: London 1965, ISBN 0 85331 585 X
- Aryeh Levin, "The Fundamental Principles of the Arab Grammarians' Theory of `amal", in: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 19 (1995), pp. 214–232.
- John Mace, Arabic Grammar: A Reference Guide: Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0 7486 1079 0
- Ryding, Karin C., A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic
See also
External links
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