Arabic Grammar Simplified

[Abrars]

Qur’an is written in Classic Arabic. To understand Qur’an more accurately there is no alternative but to understand it in its own Language, i.e., Arabic . This fact is emphasized by the Author of the Qur’an , the Almighty GOD-ALLAH in Qur’an itself:

[012:002] Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran in order that you may understand.

[020:113] And thus We have sent it down as a Quran in Arabic, and have explained therein in detail the warnings, in order that they may fear Allah, or that it may cause them to have a lesson from it

[039:028] An Arabic Quran, without any crookedness (therein) in order that they may avoid all evil which Allah has ordered them to avoid, fear Him and keep their duty to Him.

[041:003] A Book whereof the Verses are explained in detail; A Quran in Arabic for people who know.

[043:003] We verily, have made it a Quran in Arabic, that you may be able to understand

Keeping this essential requirement to study Qur’an in mind, we would like to open this thread for English speaking members/visitors to learn basic Arabic grammar and it's implication in Qur'an on a fundamental level and going up to the higher level in process. Sometimes it may frustrate the reader as new posts may not going to come in an expected time due to the limitation of time of the thread creator but gradually ( slowly but surely) we will be reaching there . Let us get started. Thanks in advance.

NB : This assuming that you have basic skill of reading Qur'an in Arabic .

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01 Arabic Grammar (Al-Qawaid Al-Arabiyah / القَوَاعِد العَرَبِيَّة ) :

Arabic Grammar consists of 2 main branches, namely Syntax (An-nahw/ النَّحْو ) and Morphology (As-sarf /الصَّرْف ) , though in broad it may have been divided into 5 distinguished fields of study :


· al-lughah اَللُّغَة (language/lexicon) concerned with collecting and explaining vocabulary.

· at-taṣrīf اَلتَّصْرِيف (morphology) determining the form of the individual words.

· an-naḥw اَلنَّحْو (syntax) primarily concerned with inflection (i‘rāb).

· al-ishtiqāq اَلاشْتِقَاق (derivation) examining the origin of the words.

· al-balāghah اَلْبَلَاغَة (rhetoric) which elucidates stylistic quality, or eloquence.


However, Syntax of Arabic grammar mainly deals with the formation of the sentences and the structures and deals with nouns and particles while morphology deals with the patterns of the verbs mainly and their changes.

[Abrars]

02 The Sun and the Moon Letters (Al-Huruf Ash-Shamsiah , Al-Huruf Al-Qamariyah/الحروف الشمسية, الحروف القمرية )


The Arabic alphabet (Al-abjadiyah Al-Arabiyah/ الأبجدية العربية) contains 28 letters, which are classified into 14 sun letters (الحروف الشمسية) and 14 moon letters (الحروف القمرية). This classification is based on the way these letters affect the pronunciation of the definite article (ال) at the beginning of words.

The definite article is assimilated into the sun letters and loses its distinctive sound. As a result, the sound at the beginning of the word is doubled. It is observed in writing ‘The Sun’ in Arabic Ash-shams/الشمس , hence called Sun letters .

The 14 sun letters are: (The 14 sun letters are ﻥ ,ﻝ ,ﻅ ,ﻁﺽ ,ﺹ ,ﺵ ,ﺱ ,ﺯ ,ﺭ ,ﺫ ,ﺩ ,ﺙ ,ﺕ).

Examples of words that begin with sun letters are:

(التاج) /at-taj/ “the crown”,

(الثلج) /ath-thalj/ “the ice”,

(الدب) /ad-dub/ “the bear”,

(الرجل) /ar-rajul/ “the man”,

(الرجل) /ar-rajul/ “the man”,

(الزمن) /az-zaman/ “the time”,

(الشمس) /ash-shams/ “the sun”, etc.

The definite article retains its distinctive sound when it comes before one of the moon letters. It is observed in writing ‘The Moon’ in Arabic Al-qamar/ الْقَمَر , hence called Moon letters .

The 14 moon letters are: ( ه ,ﻱ ,ﻭ ,ﻡ ,ﻙ ,ﻕ ,ﻑ ,ﻍ ,ﻉ ,ﺥ ,ﺡ ,ﺝ ,ﺏ ,أ).

Examples of words that begin with moon letters are:

(الأب) /al-abb/ “the father”,

(الباب) /al-bab/ “the door”,

(الجدار) /al-jadaar/ “the wall”,

(الفارس) /al-faaris/ “the knight”,

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03 Parts of Speech (Aqsam Al-kalimah/ أقسام الكلام) :

The Arabic ‘word’ (Kalimah/ كلمة) is divided into three types (Stated otherwise, every word in the Arabic dictionary falls into one of these three categories.) :


1. Noun (Ism/ 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. Verb (Fil/ 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.Particle (Har'f/ 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.
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04 Arabic Diacritic ( Al-Harakah , At-Tashkeel/ الحركات و التَشْكِي ) :

The Harakaat الحركات which literally means “motions” are the short vowel marks but Tashkeel refers to other vowel or consonant diacritics..

* Fathah / ـَ /

The Fatha is a small diagonal line placed above a letter and represents a short /a/. The word Fatha itself means “opening” and refers to the opening of the mouth when any letter with this mark; e.g. كَـتـَبَ /kataba/ = to write.

* Kasrah / ـِ /

A similar diagonal line below a letter is called a Kasrah and refers to a short /i/. The word kasrah literally means “breaking”; e.g. مـِـن /min/ = from.

* Dammah / ـُ /

The Dammah is a small curl-like diacritic placed above a letter to represent a short /u/ or /o/; e.g. كـُـتـُـب /kotob/ = books. If the dammah is written with a following (و) /waw/, it designates a long /u:/ = /oo/ (as in the English word “blue”); e.g. بـُـومة /boomah/ = an owl. However, if the و /waw/ is pronounced as diphthong /aw/, a fatha should be written on the preceding consonant to avoid mispronunciation; e.g.

يـَوم /yawm/ = day.

* Sukoon / ـْ /

The Sukoon is a circle-shaped diacritic placed above a letter. It indicates that the consonant to which it is attached is not followed by a vowel. The sukoon is a necessary symbol for writing consonant-vowel-consonant syllables which are very common in Arabic; e.g. مَدَدْ /madad/ = supply or support or aid. The sukoon may also be used to help represent a diphthong. A Fatha followed by the letter ى /yaa/ with a sukoon over the yaa indicates the diphthong /ay/ e.g. بـَـيـْت / bayt/ = home and the same with the other diphthong و /aw/ like in يـَوم /yawm/ = day.

Note : The harakaat or vowel points serve two purposes:

(1) They serve as a phonetical guide. They indicate the presence of short vowels (fatha, kasra, or damma) or their absence (sukoon).

(2) At the last letter of a word, the vowel point reflects the inflection case or conjugation mood.

– For nouns, The damma is for the nominative, fatha for the accusative, and kasra for the genitive.

– For verbs, the damma is for the imperfective, fatha for the perfective, and the sukoon is for verbs in the imperative or jussive moods.

* Hamza / ئ ؤ إ أ and stand alone ء /

The Hamza indicates a glottal stop accompanied by any of the above harakaat (fatha, kasra, damma or sukoon); e.g. أحمد = ‘Ahmad , هدوء = quietness

* Maddah / آ /

The Maddah is a tiled-like diacritic (like the shadow of a bird flying) which can appear only on top of an alif / آ / and indicates a glottal stop (Hamza) followed by another alif representing the long /a:/ or /aa/ ;e.g. قـُرآن /Qur’aan/ = قرءان .

* Dagger Alif / ـٰ /

The superscript or dagger alif الألف الخنجرية is written as a short vertical stroke on top of a consonant. It indicates a long alif /a:/ or /aa/ sound but the alif is normally not written. The dagger alif occurs only in a few words, but these words include some very common ones; e.g. الله /Allaah/

* Tanween / ـٌ ـٍ ـً /

The three vowel diacritics may be doubled at the end of a word to indicate that the vowel is followed by the consonant /n/. These may or may not be considered harakaat and are known as Tanween or Nunation. The signs from left to right indicate /un/ or /on/ and /in/ and /an/. These symbols are used as non-pausal grammatical indefinite case endings in literary or classical Arabic.

* Shaddah / ـّ /

The Shaddah or Tashdeed is a diacritic shaped like a small written Latin “w“. It is used to indicate germination (consonant doubling or extra length), which is phonemic in Arabic. It is written above the consonant which is to be doubled. It is the only harakah that is sometimes used used in ordinary spelling to avoid ambiguity .

[Abrars]

02 The Sun and the Moon Letters (Al-Huruf Ash-Shamsiah , Al-Huruf Al-Qamariyah/الحروف الشمسية, الحروف القمرية )


The Arabic alphabet (Al-abjadiyah Al-Arabiyah/ الأبجدية العربية) contains 28 letters, which are classified into 14 sun letters (الحروف الشمسية) and 14 moon letters (الحروف القمرية). This classification is based on the way these letters affect the pronunciation of the definite article (ال) at the beginning of words.

The definite article is assimilated into the sun letters and loses its distinctive sound. As a result, the sound at the beginning of the word is doubled. It is observed in writing ‘The Sun’ in Arabic Ash-shams/الشمس , hence called Sun letters .

The 14 sun letters are: (The 14 sun letters are ﻥ ,ﻝ ,ﻅ ,ﻁﺽ ,ﺹ ,ﺵ ,ﺱ ,ﺯ ,ﺭ ,ﺫ ,ﺩ ,ﺙ ,ﺕ).

Examples of words that begin with sun letters are:

(التاج) /at-taj/ “the crown”,

(الثلج) /ath-thalj/ “the ice”,

(الدب) /ad-dub/ “the bear”,

(الرجل) /ar-rajul/ “the man”,

(الرجل) /ar-rajul/ “the man”,

(الزمن) /az-zaman/ “the time”,

(الشمس) /ash-shams/ “the sun”, etc.

The definite article retains its distinctive sound when it comes before one of the moon letters. It is observed in writing ‘The Moon’ in Arabic Al-qamar/ الْقَمَر , hence called Moon letters .

The 14 moon letters are: ( ه ,ﻱ ,ﻭ ,ﻡ ,ﻙ ,ﻕ ,ﻑ ,ﻍ ,ﻉ ,ﺥ ,ﺡ ,ﺝ ,ﺏ ,أ).

Examples of words that begin with moon letters are:

(الأب) /al-abb/ “the father”,

(الباب) /al-bab/ “the door”,

(الجدار) /al-jadaar/ “the wall”,

(الفارس) /al-faaris/ “the knight”,

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[Abrars]

03 Parts of Speech (Aqsam Al-kalimah/ أقسام الكلام) :

The Arabic ‘word’ (Kalimah/ كلمة) is divided into three types (Stated otherwise, every word in the Arabic dictionary falls into one of these three categories.) :


1. Noun (Ism/ 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. Verb (Fil/ 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.Particle (Har'f/ 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.
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[Abrars]

04-a Different Vowels :

The Arabic Alphabetical Systems includes 28 letters. Nearly all of them are consonant (I'jam/ إِعْجَام . The others are vowel which are two types:

a) Long Vowels (Al-harakah At-tawillah/ الحَرَكَات الطَّوِيْلَة )
b) Short Vowels (Al-harakah al-qsirah/ الحَرَكَات القَصِيْرَة)

Long vowels are represented by letters, while the short ones are represented by diacritical marks. Each letter has four pronunciations based on the short vowel that accompanies it.

As far as pronunciation, the long vowels are basically prolonging the short vowels. For example, فَ (with fatHah) is pronounced as fa. If followed by the alif (i.e. فَا), it is pronounced as faa. Likewise, نِ (with a kasrah) is pronounced as ni; if followed by the corresponding long vowel (i.e. نِي), it is pronounced as nii. Also, كُ (with a DHammah) is pronounced as ku; if followed by the corresponding long vowel (i.e. كُو), it is pronounced as kuu.

[Abrars]

04-b Diphthongs/ Soft Vowels (Ma'ad Al-Lin / مد الليـــن) :

Diphthongs in Arabic are special category of vowels because, in essence, they’re monosyllabic sounds that begin with one vowel and glide into another vowel. Fortunately, Arabic has only two diphthong sounds used to distinguish between the ي yaa’ and the و waaw forms of long vowels (Harfu Elah/ حَرْف عِلّة – one of these tricky letters namely و or ي ). When you come across either of these two letters, one of the first questions to ask yourself is:“ Is this a long vowel or a diphthong?” There’s an easy way to determine which is which:

When either the yaa’ or the waaw is a diphthong, you see a sukun above the consonant. A sukun is similar to the main vowels in that it’s a little symbol (a small circle ْ ) that you place above the consonant. However, unlike the vowels, you don’t vocalize the sukun-it’s almost like a silent vowel. So when a waaw or a yaa’ has a sukun over it, you know that the sound is a diphthong:

• waaw diphthong: yawm يوم, nawm نوم, sawtصوت .

• yaa’ diphthong: bayt بيت, ‘ayn عين, laylah ليلة.

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05 Sentences ( Jumlah/ جملة ) :


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. Informative Sentence ( Jumlah Khabriyah/ 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. Non-informative Setncen ( Jumlah Inshayah/ 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!).


The primary part or subject of the sentence is called ‘ Musnad ilaihi/ مُسنَد إليهِ ’ and the descriptive part or predicate is known as ‘Musnad/ 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

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


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

2.Verbal Sentence ( Jumlah Fa'ilyah/ 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:

The مُسنَد إليهِ , when it appears in an إسميَّه structure, is called Subject (Mubtada/ مُبتَدا . With rare exception, it will be first in the sentence. The مُسنَد in this type of sentence is called Predicate (Khabar/ خَبَر )

The Two Parts of the فعليّه Sentence:

The مُسنَد إليه , when it appears in the فعليَّه sentence, it is called Active particle/Doer (Fa'ail/ 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 Action/Verb (Fil/ فعل) .



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Detailed divison of Sentences in Arabic:

[Abrars]

06 Noun (Al-Ism/الاِسْمُ) :

By definition Arabic noun is same like of the English one , viz., names , more specifically a word that shows a meaning by itself and not bound by time . But it is more in details and sub-divided than the English counterpart . In Syntax/ Ilm Nahw , it occupies a vast varieties of topics to discuss with . All will be discussed InshALLAH under the sub-category of 6 gradually .

Noun comprises living things and non-living things .

Living things are: Aqal/عَقْل (have a brain) and Gayr Aqal/ غَيْرُ عَقْل (have no brain) .Example of عقل o: : أَحْمَدُ (Ahmad), مُسْلِمٌ (Muslim person) . Example غير عقل o : أَسَدٌ (lion), قِطٌّ (cat).

Non-living things are: concrete noun (Ism Ayn-Dhat اِسْمُ عَيْن/ذات) and abstract noun (Ism Many اِسْمُ مَعْنىً).Example of a concrete noun : قَلَمٌ (pen), كِتَابٌ (book).Example of an abstract noun :مَنْفَعَةٌ (benefit), عِلْمٌ (knowledge).

الاسم (al-ism) can be identified in a sentence by following ways :

1. al-ism (noun) usually has a nunnation (تَنْوِين) on it.Examples: بَيْتٌ (a house) , كُرْسِيٌّ (a chair)

2. al-ism (noun) can be added by prefix ال (al).Examples: البَيْتُ (the house), الْكُرْسِيُّ (the chair)

3. al-ism (noun) can be preceded by a preposition (حَرْفُ الجَرّ). Examples: فِي البَيْتِ (in the house), إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ (to the mosque).

Note : فِي (fii) and إِلَى (ilaa) are prepositions (حَرْفُ الجَرّ), so المسجد and البيت are a noun (ism).

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06-a Four attributes of Nouns :

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06-a(i) Erab/Case Ending of the Noun (اعراب) :

The I’rab of word is a peculiar characteristic of Arabic language, which does not have an equivalent in English. Therefore, it requires particular attention to grasp the subject. The Arabic noun changes its original form or the case ending under different grammatical conditions. In Arabic, there are three types of I’rab for Nouns.

1. Rafa [Nominative : رفع] – Use Dammah at the end and is used as Subject
2. Nasb [Accusative : نصب] – Use Fatha at the end and is used as Object
3. Jarr [Genitive : جر] – Use Kasra at the end .

So ,
1- In a verbal sentence, the word that takes the I’rab of Rafa [رفع] if identified as the Subject .

Ex. Mohammed came.

جاء مُحمّدٌ

2- A word in the Nasb [نصب] case is identified as the direct object of the verb.

Ex.I saw Mohammed.

رأيت مُحمّدًا

3- A word with the I’rab of Jarr [جر] is either associated with a preposition or function in a role of possession.

Ex.I went to Mohammed.

ذَهبْت إلى مُحمّدٍ

[Abrars]

6-a(ii) Definite Noun ( Marifah/ الاسم المعرفة) and Indefinite Noun ( Nakirah/الاسم النكرة) :

- Indefinite Noun : It generalizes and does not specify a noun . For example , a man (Rajulun/ رَجَلٌ) , a woman (Amratun/ امْرَأةٌ) . Remember the end Harakah will always be Tawin ( double Fatha-an/dammah-un/kasra-en) .

- Definite Noun : It is used to denote a specific Noun and not be used in general . For example , the man (Ar-rajulu/ الرَجُلُ) ,the woman (Al-amratu/ ال اَمْرَاةُ) . It always starts with Al (ال) suffix and it abolishes Tanwin and leave with single Haraka (a-u-e).

[Abrars]

6-a (iii) Gender of Nouns ( Jins/الجِنْس):

The gender الجِنْس of noun الاِسْم in Arabic is either masculine (Mujakkar/ مُذَكَّر ) or feminine (Muannath/ مُؤَّنَّث).

The masculine المُذَكَّر is the basic form; therefore, it does not require a marker عَلاَمَة. The feminine المُؤَنَّث is derived from the masculine; it requires a feminine marker .

There are two types of masculine: real masculine and unreal masculine.

Likewise, the feminine has three types: real, unreal, and marked. Instead of discussing it through , We will provide couple of tables to make Arabic gender as simple as possible…

[Abrars]

6-a(iii) Cont..

[Abrars]

[Abrars]

6-a(ii) Definite Noun ( Marifah/ الاسم المعرفة) and Indefinite Noun ( Nakirah/الاسم النكرة) :

- Indefinite Noun : It generalizes and does not specify a noun . For example , a man (Rajulun/ رَجَلٌ) , a woman (Amratun/ امْرَأةٌ) . Remember the end Harakah will always be Tawin ( double Fatha-an/dammah-un/kasra-en) .

- Definite Noun : It is used to denote a specific Noun and not be used in general . For example , the man (Ar-rajulu/ الرَجُلُ) ,the woman (Al-amratu/ ال اَمْرَاةُ) . It always starts with Al (ال) suffix and it abolishes Tanwin and leave with single Haraka (a-u-e).

[Abrars]

6-a(iv) Number of Noun ( ‘Adad/ءدد):

Unlike English , which has 2 numbers , Arabic nouns can be expressed into 3 number systems such as :

1) Singular مفرد /Mofrad

2) Dual مثنى /Mothanna or Thathniya

3) Plural جمع /Jamaa’

(1) The Singular Noun الاسم المفرد /Al-Ism Al-Mofrad: It is the Noun that refers to only ONE person or thing.
Examples:

– Mohammad محمد – man رجل /rajul/

(2) The Dual Noun الاسم المثنى /Al-Ism Al-Mothanna: It is the Noun that refers to two persons or things, speaking about Both of them together.

How it is formed: Add the letters (Alif + Noon) ـان ( –ani) or ( Ya’a + Noon) ين (–ayni) to the end of the singular.

Examples:

– Two Mohammads محمدان /Mohammadaani/ or محمدين /Mohammadayni/
– Two men رجلان /rajulaani/ or رجلين /rajulayni/
– Two boys ولدان /waladaani/ or ولدين /waladayni/
– Two books كتابان /kitabaani/ or كتابين /kitabayni/


(3) The plural Noun الاسم الجمع /Al-Ism Al-Jama’: It is the Noun that refers to three or more persons or things speaking about them as a whole.

There are three types of the plural:

(a) The Masculine Sound (Regular) Plural جمع المذكر السالم /Jama’ Al-Mozakkar Al-Salim:

How it is formed: Add the letters (Waw + Noon) ون (-una) or (Ya’a + Noon) ين (-iyna) to the end of the Masculine Singular.

Examples:
– Mohammad محمد to Mohammadoon محمدون
– He Teacher مدرس to Teachers مدرسون/Mudarrsuna or مدرسين/Mudarrasiyna
– He Engineer مهندس to Engineers مهندسون/Muhandasuna or مهندسين/Muhandasiyna

(Note: determining which plural suffix to apply to a noun depends mainly on the Case of that noun)

(b) The Feminine Sound (Regular) Plural Nouns جمع المؤنث السالم /Jama’ Al-Mo’annath Al-Salim/

How it is formed: Add the letters (Alif + Ta’a) ت ا (-at) to the end of the Feminine Singular by removing the Ta Marbuta (ة).

Examples: – Fatimah فاطمة to Fatimaat فاطمات/Fatimat
– She Teacher مدرسة to Teachers مدرسات/Mudarrasat
– She Student طالبة to Students طالبات/Talibat



(3) The Broken (Irregular) Plural جمع التكسير /Jama’ Al-Takseer/

How it is formed:It has No Rule and , so it can’t be predicted and has to be memorized by its various forms. Grammarians established 13 popular patterns of the formations of this verbs which we will discuss in advanced level . For now we have to remember that Arabic broken plurals are all to memorize by practice and experience .

Examples: – Heart قلب / Qalb to Hearts قلوب / Qulub

– Book كتاب /Kitab to Books كتب/Kutub
– Mosque مسجد /Masjid to Mosques مساجد/Masajid

– School مدرسة/Madrasa to Schools مدارس / Madaris

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6-a(iv) Number of Noun ( ‘Adad/ءدد):

Unlike English , which has 2 numbers , Arabic nouns can be expressed into 3 number systems such as :

1) Singular مفرد /Mofrad

2) Dual مثنى /Mothanna or Thathniya

3) Plural جمع /Jamaa’

(1) The Singular Noun الاسم المفرد /Al-Ism Al-Mofrad: It is the Noun that refers to only ONE person or thing.
Examples:

– Mohammad محمد – man رجل /rajul/

(2) The Dual Noun الاسم المثنى /Al-Ism Al-Mothanna: It is the Noun that refers to two persons or things, speaking about Both of them together.

How it is formed: Add the letters (Alif + Noon) ـان ( –ani) or ( Ya’a + Noon) ين (–ayni) to the end of the singular.

Examples:

– Two Mohammads محمدان /Mohammadaani/ or محمدين /Mohammadayni/
– Two men رجلان /rajulaani/ or رجلين /rajulayni/
– Two boys ولدان /waladaani/ or ولدين /waladayni/
– Two books كتابان /kitabaani/ or كتابين /kitabayni/


(3) The plural Noun الاسم الجمع /Al-Ism Al-Jama’: It is the Noun that refers to three or more persons or things speaking about them as a whole.

There are three types of the plural:

(a) The Masculine Sound (Regular) Plural جمع المذكر السالم /Jama’ Al-Mozakkar Al-Salim:

How it is formed: Add the letters (Waw + Noon) ون (-una) or (Ya’a + Noon) ين (-iyna) to the end of the Masculine Singular.

Examples:
– Mohammad محمد to Mohammadoon محمدون
– He Teacher مدرس to Teachers مدرسون/Mudarrsuna or مدرسين/Mudarrasiyna
– He Engineer مهندس to Engineers مهندسون/Muhandasuna or مهندسين/Muhandasiyna

(Note: determining which plural suffix to apply to a noun depends mainly on the Case of that noun)

(b) The Feminine Sound (Regular) Plural Nouns جمع المؤنث السالم /Jama’ Al-Mo’annath Al-Salim/

How it is formed: Add the letters (Alif + Ta’a) ت ا (-at) to the end of the Feminine Singular by removing the Ta Marbuta (ة).

Examples: – Fatimah فاطمة to Fatimaat فاطمات/Fatimat
– She Teacher مدرسة to Teachers مدرسات/Mudarrasat
– She Student طالبة to Students طالبات/Talibat



(3) The Broken (Irregular) Plural جمع التكسير /Jama’ Al-Takseer/

How it is formed:It has No Rule and , so it can’t be predicted and has to be memorized by its various forms. Grammarians established 13 popular patterns of the formations of this verbs which we will discuss in advanced level . For now we have to remember that Arabic broken plurals are all to memorize by practice and experience .

Examples: – Heart قلب / Qalb to Hearts قلوب / Qulub

– Book كتاب /Kitab to Books كتب/Kutub
– Mosque مسجد /Masjid to Mosques مساجد/Masajid

– School مدرسة/Madrasa to Schools مدارس / Madaris

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7 Subject (Mubtada/ مُبْتَدَأٌ) and Predicate(Khabar/ خَبَرٌ) :

In Arabic, the subject of the sentence is called mubtada' (مُبْتَدَأٌ) whereas the predicate is named khabar (خَبَرٌ).

Mubtada generally comes at the beginning of the sentence while khabar comes at the second part of the sentence.

The rules of mubtada' and khabar :

1. The mubtada must be a definite noun (إِسْمٌ مَعْرِفَةٌ).


Example:

The man is smart.
In Arabic, we say: الرَّجُلُ ذَكِيٌّ

2. Mubtada must have an agreement with khabar, consequently, if the mubtada is feminine, then the khabar is also feminine.

Example:

Maryam is smart.
In Arabic: مَرْيَمُ ذَكِيَّةٌ

Also to remember :

a. If mubtada singular masculine noun, khabar will be singular masculine noun.

b. If mubtada singular feminine noun, khabar will be singular feminine noun.


3. Mubtada and khabar are always marfuu' (الْمَرْفُوْعُ).

It means mubtada and khabar bears dammah ( ُ ) or tanwin dammah ( ٌ ).

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8 Pronouns (Damair/ الْضَّمَاْئِرُ ) :

Pronouns in Arabic الْضَّمَاْئِرُ belong to the category of "nouns." Therefore, everything that applies to nouns will apply to them. Pronouns have genders, numbers, and grammatical case. Pronouns are always definite nouns.

Pronouns in Arabic are four categories:

1-Subject Pronouns (Damair Al-Fail/ضمائر الفاعل) :

a-Detached Subject Pronouns (Munfasil/مُنْفَصِل) : As in English , this is the subject of a sentence .
Ex. I am Ahmad (Ana Ahmad/ أَنَاْ أَحْمَد)

b-Attached Subject Pronouns ( Muttasil/مُتَّصِل) : These are contained within the declensions that appear at the end of verbs, both perfective and imperfective.
Ex. I wrote ( Katabtu/ كَتَبْـتُ )

2-Object Pronouns (Damair Ma’aful Bihi/ضمائر المفعول به):

a-Detached Object Pronouns (Munfasil/مُنْفَصِل)
Ex. You only we worship (Iyyaka na'budu/ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ)

b-Attached Object Pronouns ( Muttasil/مُتَّصِل)
Ex. He heard me ( Samiyani/ سَمِعَنِـي)

Arabic pronoun systems are more complicated than what we think . There is no standard rule to form these pronouns and only we have to depend on our memory and practice . We are providing as many tables as possible here for different conjugations of pronouns to master them with ease .

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8-a Detached Subject Pronouns :

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8-b Possessive Pronouns attached to Nouns :

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8-c Detached Object Pronouns

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8-d Attached Subject Pronouns

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8-e Important Pronouns Table

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09 Persons of Pronouns :

Very similar to Persons of Pronouns of English Grammar , Arabic grammar has also 3 Persons :

a- First Person (Mutakallim/المتكلم)

أَنَا (Ana) – I (sing.Male/Female)
نَحْنُ (Nahnu) – We (pl.Male/Female)

b- Second Person ( Mukhataab/المخاطب)

أَنْتَ (Anta) – You (sing.Male)
أَنْتِ(Anti) – You (sing.Female)
أَنْتُما (Antuma) You (dual. Male/Female)
أَنْتُم(Antum) – You (pl. Male)
أَنْتُنَّ(Antunna) – You (pl.Female)

c- Third Person (Ghaaib/الغائب)

هُوَ (Huwa)-He (sing.Male)
هِيَ(Hiya)-She (sing.Female)
هُمَا (Huma) – They (dual. Male/Female)
هُم(Hum) – They (pl. Male)
هُنَّ (Hunna) – They (pl. Female)

[MazharShafiq]

This is beneficial for learning

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10- Idafa Construction (Idafa/الإضافة):

It is a very simple but important construction of a Arabic sentence where 2 nouns sitting together showing a relation of possession ( The book of John/Joh’n book – for example) . Let us see the following example :

كِتَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ ( Kitabu Muammadin) – Muhammad’s book.

Rule:

01- The first noun which is possessed called Mudaf (مُضَافٌ ) , Here the book (كِتَابُ) is the Mudaf .

02- The second noun who is a possessor is called Mudaf Ilayhi (مُضَافٌ إِلَيْهِ ). Here Muhammad (مُحَمَّدٍ) is a Mudaf Ilayhi .

03- Mudaf is always without Tanwin and without ال

04- Mudaf Ilayhi is always Majrur/Genitive , meaning the end letter always take Kasra (Muhammadin ) . If it is not a Proper Noun it must start with ال and also take kasra at the end (ex. قَلَمُ المُدَرِّسِ = Teacher’s pen) . .

Few more examples :

1. A university professor (a professor of a university)	١. أستاذُ جامعةٍ
2. The office director (the director of the office)	٢. مدير المكتبِ
3. A teacher’s house (a house of a teacher)	٣. بيتُ مدرسٍ
4. The teacher’s house (the house of the teacher)	٤. بيتُ المدرسِ
5. An office director’s car (a car of a director of an office)	٥. سيارةُ مديرِ مكتبٍ
6. The office director’s car (the car of the director of the office).	٦. سيارةُ مديرِ المكتبِ

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10- Idafa Construction (Idafa/الإضافة):

It is a very simple but important construction of a Arabic sentence where 2 nouns sitting together showing a relation of possession ( The book of John/Joh’n book – for example) . Let us see the following example :

كِتَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ ( Kitabu Muammadin) – Muhammad’s book.

Rule:

01- The first noun which is possessed called Mudaf (مُضَافٌ ) , Here the book (كِتَابُ) is the Mudaf .

02- The second noun who is a possessor is called Mudaf Ilayhi (مُضَافٌ إِلَيْهِ ). Here Muhammad (مُحَمَّدٍ) is a Mudaf Ilayhi .

03- Mudaf is always without Tanwin and without ال

04- Mudaf Ilayhi is always Majrur/Genitive , meaning the end letter always take Kasra (Muhammadin ) . If it is not a Proper Noun it must start with ال and also take kasra at the end (ex. قَلَمُ المُدَرِّسِ = Teacher’s pen) . .

Few more examples :

1. A university professor (a professor of a university)	١. أستاذُ جامعةٍ
2. The office director (the director of the office)	٢. مدير المكتبِ
3. A teacher’s house (a house of a teacher)	٣. بيتُ مدرسٍ
4. The teacher’s house (the house of the teacher)	٤. بيتُ المدرسِ
5. An office director’s car (a car of a director of an office)	٥. سيارةُ مديرِ مكتبٍ
6. The office director’s car (the car of the director of the office).	٦. سيارةُ مديرِ المكتبِ

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11 Arabic Comparative and Superlative Degree / Elative Degree (Tafdeel/التفضل):
In Arabic Superlative and Comparative constructions both follow the same spelling/form أفعل ( Prefixed Alif with the original word) . For example :

سهل – أسهل

صعب – أصعب

جميل – أجمل

سعيد – أسعد

كبير – أكبر

Differentiating between comparative and superlative degree:

- For the comparative degree we use the noun on the pattern أَفْــعَــلُ followed by مِــنْ.

Mohammed is better than Hamid.
مُحَمَّدٌ أَحْــسَــنُ مِــنْ حَامــِدٍ

- For the superlative degree as well, we use the same noun on the pattern أَفْــعَــلُ followed by a noun in مَجْرُور case ( Kasra sign to be observed )

Ibrahim is the best student in the school.
إِبْــراهِيــمُ أَحْــسَــنُ طَــالِــبٍ فِي الــمَــدْرَسَــةِ

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12 Verbal Noun (Masdar/مَصْدِرٌ ):

In Arabic verbal noun is a noun which is derived from other words and other words can be derived from it . It has no tense and it has no subject . For example:

‘Murder’ (قَتْلٌ) is a verbal noun because:

-It has no tense and it has no subject

-It is derived from ‘To Murder’ (قَتَلَ)

- It is going to derive to other words like ‘Murderer’ ( قَاتِلٌ) and ‘Murdered’ ( مَقْتُوْلٌ).

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13 Rigid Noun (Jamid/جَامِدْ):

Opposite to the Masdar as discussed in section 12 , Jamid are nouns which are not derived from any words nor any words would derive from it. It inflexible and frozen , always . The defective noun is either person اسم ذات or abstract اسم معنى

Examples: Elephant = فِيْلٌ
Horse = فَرَسٌ

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12 Verbal Noun (Masdar/مَصْدِرٌ ):

In Arabic verbal noun is a noun which is derived from other words and other words can be derived from it . It has no tense and it has no subject . For example:

‘Murder’ (قَتْلٌ) is a verbal noun because:

-It has no tense and it has no subject

-It is derived from ‘To Murder’ (قَتَلَ)

- It is going to derive to other words like ‘Murderer’ ( قَاتِلٌ) and ‘Murdered’ ( مَقْتُوْلٌ).

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14 Noun of Instrument (Ism Alah'/ اِسْم آله):

As the name suggests, this noun is acting as the instrument to execute an action. Simply in English ‘to open’ is an action and for this you need an instrument called ‘key’ . In Arabic it is more systematic and logical .

Examples:

Miftah/مِفْتَاح (Key) from Fatha/فَتَحَ (Open)

Miqas/مِقَص (Scissor) from Qassa/قَصَّ ( Cut)

These nouns use mainly three forms :

مِفْعَالٌ (Mif-alun)

مِفْعَلَةٌ (Mif-altun)

مِفْعَلٌ (Mif-al)

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15 Subject Noun/Doer Noun/Active Participles (Ism Faail / اسم فاعل):

These nouns are the nouns which are subjects or doers of an action in the sentence . As in English (eg. Killer = Kill+er , Doer= Do+er) , Arabic Subject Nouns are also formed by adding ‘alif’ between the 1^st and 2^nd letter . Examples:

- كتب – كاتب ( Kataba/to write – Kaatib/Writer)

- حمل – حامل (Hamala/to bear- Haamil/bearer)

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16 Passive Participle / Object Participles (Ism Mafool/ اسم المفعول) :

It is a specific noun using specific form to denote the object of a subject in the sentence. As the name offers, ‘Mafool’ / المفعول , it is formed by adding ‘mim’ in beginning and ‘waw’ before the last letter of the original word . Examples:

- Daraba/ ضرب ( To hit) – Madroob / مضروب (The one who was hit)

- Nasara/ نصر ( To help) – Mansoor / منصور ( The one who was helped)

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17 Noun of attributes (Ism Sifah/ اسم سفة) :

It is also called Ism Musabbaha (المشبَّهة) . It is an adjective same like Ism Fa’il as discussed earlier section (15) , but the difference is :

01- It’s common form is فعيل unlike Ism Faail whose common form is فاعل

02- Ism Faail denotes a quality which is not permanent and inherent while Islm Musabbaha denotes a permanent and inherent quality. For example , عالم ( Aalim/Knowing ) could be a quality of a person but when it takes the form Ism Sifah , the spelling عليم (Aliim/All-Knowing) , most of the cases in Qur’an it is only reserved for the Quality of ALLAH swt .

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18 Hyperbole Noun ( Ism Mubaalagah/ اِسم مُبَالَغَةْ):

While we study Ism Faail and Ism Sifah , we must also study the Ism Mubaalagah as they are very close buy yet different subtly , especially when we read the attributes of persons and ALLAH swt in Qur’an . So,

01- These Ism are not permanent and inherent like Ism Sifah rather temporary and humanly like Ism Faail .

02- The difference between Ism Faail and Ism Mubaalagah is that Ism Faail denotes a simple quality of a person while Ism Mubaalagah denotes a exaggerate or hyperbole quality of a person . For example , كاذب/ Kadhib is simply a liar while in Ism Mubaalagah it spells كَذَّابْ/Kadhdhab means an incessant liar . Thus عالم/Alim is just a knowing person but عَلَّامَ/Allama is an intensively knowing person .

03- It takes common forms are :

فَعُول
فَعَّال
فَعلَان

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19 Demonstrative Pronouns (Ism Isharah/اسم الاشاره):

Demonstrative Pronouns are used to indicate noun/pronouns in Arabic using this , that , those etc. . In Arabic sentence it sits before the noun and differs as per the gender of the noun . Similar to English , it also changes as the object is near or far .

Examples :

1.That is a ship - تِلْكَ سَفِينَةٌ

2. This is a man - هَذَا رَزُلٌ

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20 Relative Pronouns (Ism Ma'suul/الأسماء الموصولة):

In the English Language the main relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, which and that. Their main function is to link a relative clause to a preceding noun. Similarly, in Arabic the relative pronoun – الإسْم المَوْصُوْل is a Pronoun that something is connected to. For example:

: The book that I read - الكتاب الذي قرأته

:This is the school I go to - هذه هي المدرسة التي أذهب إليها