What is fail in arabic grammar?

The active participle is literally just that: the doer of the action that is going to be done in the sentence. Arabic grammar lesson right here.اسم الفاعل /ism al fa’il/, which translates to the name of the doer, is the active participle that is our lesson for today.  It takes the verb and changes it to the same form or structure or the word فاعل. In other words, it makes it look and sound like the word فاعل.Let’s take a look at this example:

كسر /kasara/ Break

كاسر /kasir/ Breaker

كتب /kataba/ Write

كاتب /katib/ Writer

Notice that an alif أ is added to make the active participle resemble the word فاعل.

Now some words don’t function the same such as the following:

صرّح /sarrah/ (he) stated

مصَرِح /mosarrih/ Stater

استأنف /ista’nafa/ (he) appealed

مستأنِف /mosta’nif/ Appealer

Notice that in these examples, it is not possible to turn them into فاعل form so we add a م /meem/ and place a kasra to the second last letter.

This is similar to the English verb tenses where an –ing is placed for an ongoing action, or an –ed for something that happened in the past. Also, the addition of have or had and pretty much any change onto the verb to allow its use according to the proposed meaning.

The science of the Arabic language known as نحو – basically translated as Arabic grammar and Arabic syntax – is a topic through which we learn to correctly convey meaning in Arabic, form coherent sentences, and protect ourselves from verbal error. Where Lexicology and Arabic Morphology are concerned with being able to work with the internals of words, Arabic grammar is concerned with being able to work with the endings of words in order to read and comprehend in a sentential milieu.

Arabic grammar (نحو‎ /naḥw/) is centered around a single topic; grammatical inflection. Anything studied in the language is studied only because it relates to this issue. It is a feat of staggering genius on the part of medieval grammarians that almost all aspects of the Arabic language are covered just by concentrating on the issue of grammatical inflection. In studying the rules of Arabic grammar, we start with this topic, and it branches out to cover the entire language.

The following is a breakdown of how we approach and study Arabic grammar here at Learn Arabic Online. This approach allows us to cover all the core issues.

1.       some basics

a.       Arabic words – a look at the different types of words in the language and how they’re divided and categorized

b.      Arabic phrases – a close look at some of the more common phrasal structures, serving to introduce some key concepts and terminology

c.       Arabic sentences – a look at the different types of sentences as preparation for more advanced Arabic grammar rules

2.       grammatical inflection – the study of what grammatical inflection is, how it works, and the different grammatical states

3.       inflection in Arabic words – a deep look at those words in the language that inflect and those that do not

4.       reflection and diptotes – the study of how grammatical states are represented on different types of words that do inflect

5.       the grammatical states – the study of each grammatical state and when it is used

a.       nominal sentences – this topic covers about 30% of the grammatical states

b.      verbal sentences and Arabic adverbs – this topic covers about 20% of the grammatical states

c.       other verbal associates (circumstantial adverb, exclusion, Tamyiz) – this topic covers about 10% of the grammatical states

d.      the genitive states – this topic covers about 5% of the grammatical states

e.      grammatical states of verbs – this topic covers about 30% of the grammatical states

f.        grammatical extension – this topic concludes the discussion on grammatical states

6.       side topics and advanced Arabic grammar rules

a.       definiteness

b.      gender in Arabic

c.       plurality in Arabic

d.      Arabic numbers

The rest of this tutorial gives some introductory data dealing with the different types of words, phrases, and sentences in the language. This paves the way for the study of further grammar topics and helps put further tutorials into perspective. But one must realize that an essential part of learning the grammar of any language is practicing through reading. In order to learn Arabic grammar correctly, theory must be supplemented by reading texts with and without vowels in front of a teacher. This can only be achieved through Arabic courses such as the Shariah Program.

If you’d like a video intro on these Arabic grammar topics, click the image below and fill the short form for free instant access:

Any sound released from the mouth of a human is termed by the Arabs as ‘utterance’ (لفظ) /lafz/. Now utterance may be sensible or it may not be. Sensible utterance is that which makes sense to the Arabs, and it is termed ‘coined utterance’ (موضوع) /maudhoo3/. Non-sensible utterance is that which does not carry any meaning for the Arabs. This includes things like foreign speech, awkward sounds, and so forth, and it is termed ‘unpointed utterance’ (مهمل) /muhmal/.

Coined utterance is then either realized as single words (كلمة) /kalima/, or as multiple words (كلام) /kalam/. If these multiple words have a copula (a link between the subject and predicate) then the speech is termed a ‘sentence’ (جملة) /jumla/. Otherwise, the speech is known as a phrase (كلام غير مفيد)/kalam ghayr mufeed/. Examples of sentences are “he is back” and “I ate the apple”, where “is” is the copula in the first sentence and the copula in the second sentence is abstract. Examples of phrases include “the old woman across the street”. Within these words there is no copula, hence the speech is a phrase.

Words are divided into three categories which are mutually exclusive and cover all words in the language. The first category is called ‘noun’ (اسم) /ism/ and it includes what we know in English as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. The second category is that of verbs (فعل) /fe’l/. And finally, the third category is that of particles (حرف) /harf/ which include English prepositions, articles, conjunctions, and particles. Note that particle is a catch-all term that includes things like interjections and other words that are not well-categorized.

Practice: Under which of the three categories in Arabic would the following English words fits?

·         boy

·         cheap

·         within

·         an

·         lifted

·         brownies

·         silently

·         Oh no!

·         our

There are many types of phrases in the language. Most of them are introduced at calculated points in time, but two are of very special interest due to their productiveness and pedagogical benefits. These are covered below under the heading Arabic Phrases.

There are two main types of sentences; nominal and verbal. The former is that sentence which effectively begins with a noun, and the latter is that which effectively begins with a verb. There are actually other ways in which we can categorize different types of sentences, but this method is by far the most productive and by far the most relevant. Other methods of categorization will be introduced in subsequent tutorials as needed.

Having now introduced the 3 parts of speech in Arabic by comparing them to the English parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc.), we’ll now proceed to develop them further.

As mentioned in the introduction above, words in Arabic are divided into three categories. The following is a more detailed treatment of this.

·         اسم pl. أسماء (noun): This category is defined as those words that impart a single meaning on their own  and do not afford a tense. Roughly speaking, this is equivalent to what we know in English as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

·         فعل pl. أفعال (verb): This category is defined as those words that impart a single meaning on their own  and afford a tense. This is exactly what we in English know as verbs.

·         حرف pl. حروف (particle): This category is defined as those words that do not impart a meaning on their own . Roughly speaking, this is equivalent to what we know in English as prepositions, conjunctions, articles, and other particles.

Particles don’t impart a meaning on their own. This means that they are only understood when other words are mentioned along with them. In fact, their very purpose is to expose certain attributes in the words around them. For example, the word “and” cannot be understood fully unless it has something to its right and left, as in “you and I”. The purpose of “and” in this example is to expose the attribute of conjunction in the words “you” and “I”. Another example is the word “from”. On its own, it doesn’t give a clear meaning and it needs to have something after it, as in “from Basra”. In the example, the word “from” exposes the attribute within Basra of being an origin. Without “from”, this attribute would not have otherwise been apparent.

Hence any word that does not impart a meaning of its own accord, rather it helps expose attributes of other words, is a particle. If this is not the case, then the word is either a noun or a verb.

Now, nouns do not afford a tense whereas verbs do. Consider the word “yesterday”. This is either a noun or a verb since it imparts a single meaning on its own. But which of the two is it? The word “yesterday”, although its meaning has something to do with time, does not afford a tense. Hence it is a noun. On the other hand, a word such as “go” does afford a tense (the future in this case). Hence it is a verb.

These three categories cover all of the words in the Arabic language and they are mutually exclusive. That is to say, any given word must fit into one, and only one, of the above.

Nouns are categorized in many ways. Here is a short lesson on the types of noun in Arabic grammar. It gives you a list of all the useful ways in which a noun can be classified. This includes based on gender (masculine vs. feminine), based on plurality (singular, dual, and plural), based on grammatical reflection (those that reflect and show their grammatical case and those that do not), definiteness, gender and other considerations.

·         gender: all nouns are either

o   masculine or

o   feminine

·         plurality: all nouns are either

o   singular,

o   dual, or

o   plural

·         derivation: all nouns are either

o   not derived and nothing is derived from them,

o   a source of derivation (also known as a gerund), or

o   derived from a gerund

·         definiteness: all nouns are either

o   indefinite or

o   definite

·         grammatical reflection

o   many sub-categories

Arabic morphology has its own way of classifying and dealing with verbs. The main topic of grammar, however, is grammatical inflection. In light of this concept, grammar divides verbs into the following categories.

·         ماضي (perfect): the past tense verb

·         مضارع (imperfect): this includes the present, future, prohibition and all variations

·         أمر حاضر معروف (imperative): this includes only the active, second-person conjugations of the command verb

The Grammatical Inflection tutorial discusses which of the above types of verbs inflect for grammatical case, and the Grammatical Reflection tutorial discusses how that inflection is reflected on the verb.

There are less than 80 particles in the entire language. Due to the number being so small, it is possible to categorize them based on their meanings and their effects, explaining the meaning of each particle one by one.

Particles are divided into the following 15 categories.

1.       حروف الجر: genitival particles

2.       الحروف المشبهة بالفعل: the particles that resemble verbs

3.       الحروف العاطفة: conjunctions (e.g. “and”)

4.       حروف التنبيه: particles used for alerting (e.g. “Hey!”)

5.       حروف النداء: vocative particles (e.g. “O”)

6.       حروف الإيجاب: particles for affirmative answers (e.g. “yes”)

7.       حروف الردع: particles used for negative answers (e.g. “never”)

8.       الحروف الزائدة: extra

9.       حروف التفسير: particles that introduce an explanatory sentence (e.g. “i.e.”)

10.   حروف المصدر: gerundival particles

11.   حروف التحضيض: particles use for prodding

12.   حروف القرب: particles used to indicate nearness in time or certainty (e.g. “has/had”)

13.   حروف الإستفهام: interrogative particles

14.   حروف الشرط: conditional particles

15.   Miscellaneous

Since there are so many categories, they will not be discussed at this point.

Having now developed the 3 parts of speech to some extent, let’s now speak about the phrase in Arabic grammar. The rest of this tutorial will deal with the most common phrase structures in Arabic grammar.

When we talk about speech in Arabic grammar, we typically divide it into three categories:

·         words

·         phrases

·         sentences

There are many types of phrases in the language – over a dozen, in fact. Each of these are introduced slowly and gradually as a student studies sentences and grammatical structures. They are studied as needed and as encountered.

Two types of phrases, however, are of fundamental importance and they are very productive in the language. These are:

·         the adjectival phrase (a noun and an adjective describing it)

·         the possessive phrase (two nouns, one “belonging” to the other)

Examples of this type of phrase in English include “the ferocious lion”, “the slow children”, “an unfortunate accident”.

Notice that we have two words – the first is an adjective and the second is the noun that it describes or qualifies. And needless to say, the adjective will always stay the same while the noun that it describes can be of any gender, plurality, or definiteness. For example, we can say

·         Gender: “the ferocious lion” and “the ferocious lioness”

·         Plurality: “the ferocious lion” and “the ferocious lions”

·         Definiteness: “the ferocious lion” and “a ferocious lion”

So let’s take a look at how this adjectival phrase works in Arabic. In order to do this, consider the example below.

الأَسَدُ الضَارِيْ the ferocious lion

The first thing to notice is that, in Arabic, the noun comes first and the adjective follows it (reading from right to left, of course). In the example, the word “الأسد” is the noun and it is called مَوْصُوْف (one being described) and “الضاري” is the adjective and it is termed صِفَة (description).

A single noun may have many successive adjectives, as in the following example.

الأَطْفَالُ البِطَاءُ السِمَانُ

the slow, fat children

Unlike in English, where the adjective stays the same and the noun inflects for gender, plurality, and definiteness, both parts in Arabic must match. And the aspects in which they match are four:

1.       gender – masculine or feminine

2.       plurality – singular, dual, or plural

3.       definiteness – definite or indefinite

4.       grammatical case – nominative, accusative, or genitive

That is to say, if the noun being described is masculine, then the adjective(s) will also be masculine. If it is feminine, then the adjective(s) will also be feminine. And similarly, the adjective(s) will follow the noun in being singular, dual, plural, definite, indefinite, nominative, accusative, and genitive. The grammatical case of the noun will be based on the circumstances of the sentence. But the case of the adjective will have to match.

Below are a few examples. Confirm that the noun and its adjective(s) are matching in gender. There are 4 ways in which a noun could be feminine but, usually, words in Arabic are feminine if they end in the round ة, and they are masculine otherwise.

Below are a few more illustrations of the noun and adjective. Confirm that they match in plurality. If a noun is dual, it will end in either the ـانِ or the ـيْنِ suffix. Plurality is more complicated.

Confirm that the words below match in definiteness. A word can be definite in 7 ways. Some of these include having the الـ prefix, being a proper noun, and being possessive.

Finally, confirm that the words below match in grammatical case. Grammatical case can be reflected in 9 ways but, usually, a word is said to be nominative if it’s last letter has a ضمة, accusative if it has a فتحة, and genitive if it has a كسرة.

But it is important to understand that all of gender, plurality, definiteness, and grammatical case are non-trivial issues. They have their rulings and their place in Arabic grammar. To get an idea of this, below is a  noun-adjective phrase which does not seemingly match in three of the four mentioned aspects. In reality, the words do match, but this will only become apparent after studying more grammar.

The English equivalent of a possessive phrase is, for example, “the pelican’s bill” or one can say “the bill of the pelican”.

Notice that two nouns are used here. With the adjectival phrase, one noun and one adjective was used. Moreover, both nouns will inflect for gender, plurality, and definiteness and each worries about its own inflection. In the adjectival phrase, it was only the noun that inflected for these things and the adjective simply followed suit.

Consider the phrases below for tangible examples of gender, plurality, and definiteness. Read these examples, but do not spend too much effort analyzing them; they are here simply to illustrate a point and are not meant to be the topic of discussion.

·         Gender:

o   both masculine: a man’s son

o   1st masculine and 2nd feminine: a man’s daughter

o   1st feminine and 2nd masculine: a woman’s son

o   both feminine: a woman’s daughter

·         Plurality

o   both singular: the pelican’s bill

o   1st singular and 2nd plural: the pelican’s eyes

o   1st plural and 2nd singular: the pelicans’ home

o   both plural: the pelicans’ bills

·         Definiteness

o   definite: the pelican’s bill

o   indefinite: a pelican’s bill

Consider the example below.

مِنْقَار البَجَعَةِ

the pelican’s bill

Notice that in Arabic, we follow the “X of Y” structure, where the thing being possessed comes first and the one possessing it comes second. In the example, the first noun – the thing possessed – is “منقار” and it is termed the مُضَاف. The second noun – the possessor – is “البجعة” and it is termed the مُضَاف إلَيْه.

A point worth noting here is that this phrase doesn’t always denote possession; it merely establishes a form of association between the two nouns that’s a lot like possession. Compare the translations in the examples below for an idea of what this really means. Sometimes the second noun genuinely doesn’t “possess” the first, and sometimes it’s the translation that distorts the “possession”.

When speaking about the adjectival phrase, recall that we considered four aspects:

·         gender

·         plurality

·         definiteness

·         grammatical case

Both the first and second noun in a possessive phrase worry about their own gender and plurality, just as in English. Consider the examples below.

As for definiteness, however, the first noun derives its definiteness from the second. If the second is definite, so too will the first be definite. And  if the second is indefinite, then the first will be indefinite also. This is the same in English. Consider the following.

Aside: A small point to note here is that even when the second noun is indefinite, the first noun may be indefinite, but it does have some specificity. For example, in the phrase “a pelican’s bill” the word “bill” may be indefinite, but it’s still slightly specific in the sense that we know it’s a pelican’s bill and not an eagle’s, or a sparrow’s, or any other bird’s.

As a result of this definiteness situation, the first noun in a possessive phrase will never have the definite article الـ, nor will it have nunation (تنوين). Moreover, the نون that is the suffix for duality and masculine sound plurality will also drop.

Consider the examples below. Notice that the first word does not have any of the four mentioned affixes.

When we talked about the adjectival phrase, we said that the grammatical case of the noun – whatever it may be – will carry over to the adjective. Here however, the first noun – whatever it’s grammatical case may be – will always render the second noun genitive. And this is clear from all the examples above; the first noun will be reflected based on the circumstances of the sentence, and the second noun will be fixed genitive.

الأَسَدُ الضَارِيْ the ferocious lion

Adjectival Phrase

·         the noun comes first and the adjective(s) follow

·         the adjectives must match the noun in

o   gender

o   plurality

o   definiteness

o   the grammatical case of the noun will be determined by external factors; the case of the adjectives will be determined by the noun (they will match it)

مِنْقَار البَجَعَةِ

the pelican’s bill

Possessive Phrase

·         the thing possessed (a noun) comes first and the owner (also a noun) comes second

·         the meaning of this structure is not always that of possession as it’s generally understood

·         the two nouns worry about their own gender and plurality

·         the definiteness of the first noun is determined by that of the second noun

·         the first noun will never have الـ, تنوين, nor the نون suffix of the dual or sound masculine plural

·         the grammatical case of the first noun will be determined by external factors; the case of the second noun will always be genitive

These three words cause more than their fair share of trouble. The following explanation will try to avoid some of the pitfalls in other texts when they try to explain how these words are used. My explanation will be practical and not theoretical and it will cover all you need to know about these funny little words.

إِنَّ is used in such a way when the subject of the following clause is indefinite. The subject comes after هناكَ or the preposition, but it remains accusative as if it had come immediately after إِنَّ. The subject of the clause after إِنَّ is known as اسم إِنَّ (the noun of إِنَّ) and the predicate is called خبر إِنَّ (the predicate of إِنَّ). The اسم of إِنَّ is always accusative.

إِنَّ is never immediately followed by a verb. A noun or a pronoun suffix must come between it and a verb. You will see examples of this below.

إِنَّ is also used to mean “that” with the verb قال. For example:

The minister said that the questions of the reporter were ridiculous. قال الوزير إِنَّ اسئلةَ المراسل سخيفةٌ

The next word to be discussed is أَنَّ . أَنَّ also means “that” as a conjunction. It is used with verbs of cognition or which are used to state a fact. For example.

Note that in both sentences أَنَّ is followed by a noun in the accusative. It can also be followed by a pronoun suffix. In other words, أَنَّ works the way إِنَّ does. However, إِنَّ is only used with the verb قال.

Students are often confused about what verbs can use أَنَّ . They are also often confused about the meaning of life. Here I can only deal with the former issue. Basically, any English verb which uses “that” and is then followed by a noun and a non-subjunctive verb has an Arabic counterpart that uses أَنَّ. “I heard that,” “I learned that,” “I believe that,” etc. Here are more examples.

The English sentences above all use “that” as a conjunction. “That” is followed by a noun or a pronoun (just like the Arabic) and the noun or pronoun is followed by a verb in any tense or mood except the subjunctive.

Notice the last sentence has a verb which requires a preposition. When that is the case, the preposition is written and then أَنَّ is written after it. If the preposition has only one letter, it will be attached to أَنَّ. On some occasions, the preposition can be dropped without changing the meaning. For example اخبرني بأنهُ مسافر غدا and اخبرني أنهُ مسافر غدا both mean the same thing.

Like إِنَّ, أَنَّ has two spellings and pronunciations when the first person singular -and plural pronouns are attached. أَنّي and أَنّني (“anni” and annani”), are for the singular, while أنَا and أنّنا (‘anna’ and annana”), are for the plural.

The English and Arabic verbs are all verbs of cognition or relate to the statement of fact. So, if you are trying to produce Arabic, and you are not sure whether or not to use أَنَّ , think of the English. If it uses “that” as discussed above, then most likely the Arabic will use أَنَّ.

Now, when you are reading an Arabic text (something you should do every day), there is no excuse for not being able to spot أَنَّ . If it is used without قال and is followed by a pronoun suffix or a noun, then it must be أَنَّ. It cannot be the third word we are about to discuss, أَنْ , because that word is followed only by a verb and never by a pronoun or a noun.

Now we come to أَنْ. أَنْ also means “that”; it can also mean “to.” أَنْ is used with verbs which imply doubt, desire, fear, or some other emotion, or even commands which must be carried out. Students often desire a list of these verbs. However, the best way is to learn them is through exposure to the language. Below are some examples. Look at them closely.

We can replace أَنْ يَدْرُسَ with the verbal noun of درس which is دراسةَ The verbal noun will be in the accusative case in this sentence because it is the object of the verb. The meaning will stay the same.

You should realize that this use of the verbal noun parallels the substitution of the verbal noun for the subjunctive used with لِ as was discussed in Chapter One of Part II. The difference is that both أَنْ and the subjunctive verb are replaced by the verbal noun. In constructions using لِ and the subjunctive verb, the verb is replaced by its verbal noun, but the لِ remains. To clarify and refresh your memory, look at the examples below.

Sentences one and two demonstrate again that the verbal noun replaces both أنْ and the subjunctive verb. Also, they show that the verbal noun is going to be definite when it replaces a verb, as was discussed in Chapter Two of Part II. Sentence three shows an exception to the verbal noun’s being made definite. Here it is used in an indefinite idaafa. This was also discussed in Chapter Two of Part II.

Sound Verbs

As indicated by the name of the AP in Arabic, اسم الفاعل, the AP is formed by inserting an alif between the first and second radicals and a kasra between the second and third radicals. For example, the AP of دَرَسَ is دارِس Likewise, the AP of كَتَبَ is كاتِب The APs of all sound Form I verbs are derived in this way. They are all made feminine by adding ة. As adjectives referring to human beings, they will usually take sound masculine or feminine plurals. However, when used as nouns, either referring to human beings or to non-human things, they often take broken plurals. For each AP you learn, you will have to learn its plural(s).

Hollow Verbs

Hollow verbs follow the same pattern as sound verbs. A hamza is inserted in place of the middle radical. For example, the AP for قال is قائل and the AP for زار is زائر They are made feminine with ة and their plurals follow the same rules as the APs of sound verbs. Again, for each AP you learn, you will have to learn its plural(s). The identity of the middle radical as a و or ي is irrelevant in forming the AP of a hollow verb. They are all done the same way.

Assimilated Verbs

These verbs are completely regular in forming the AP. The AP of وَلَدَ is والِد. So these verbs are no problem at all.

Doubled Verbs

When the AP for a doubled verb is formed, the second and third radical remain together. For example, the verb رَدَّ has an AP of رادٌّ (and not رادِد). Note that when we form the AP of a doubled Form I verb we have a long vowel followed by a consonant in the same syllable. In other words, there are two sukuuns in a row for the AP, the hidden sukuun after the alif and the sukuun after the first daal. The sound plural of this AP is رادّونَ Except for the doubling of the second and third radicals, the APs of doubled verbs are quite regular.

Defective Verbs

The active participle of the verb نجا is ناجِ. Every defective Form I verb, regardless of whether the final radical is a و or a ي, has an active participle of exactly the same pattern. The AP for قضى is قاضٍ and the AP for نَسِيَ is ناسٍ. Note that these APs end with two kasras. This is the ending for both the nominative and genitive indefinite forms. The accusative form for all of them will look like ناجِياً

When these words are made definite, they all end in a long yaa’ pronounced as a long vowel, القاضي (“judge”) for example. In the nominative and genitive, when these words are definite, there is no inflection for case. In the accusative, a fatha is added as it would be to any noun or adjective. For example, the accusative of القاضي is القاضِيَ

Any adjective or noun whose last radical is either a و or a ي, and which ends in two kasras is known as a defective noun or adjective. Many defective nouns and adjectives are not participles. In this section I will focus only on those that are. For more on defective nouns and adjectives see the appropriate section in Part III, Chapter Two, of this book.

Look at the chart for singular masculine and feminine defective APs below.

You can see from the charts that the feminine forms are perfectly regular. The feminine forms take regular feminine sound plurals as well. The masculine forms can take either a sound plural if they are adjectives, or they will take a broken plural if they are being used as nouns referring to human beings. I will show how this is done presently.

For Form I defectives, if the AP is used al a noun referring to masculine human beings, the plurals are all formed like that for قاضٍ. Its plural is قضاة. All of the other Form I defective masculine plurals have the same pattern. The pattern takes normal case endings, just like the plural word اساتذة does.

If the AP is being used as an adjective modifying a human plural, it will usually have a sound plural. Whenever a sound plural ending is added to the defective masculine singular AP, the ي of the singular is dropped and the sound plural ending is attached. For example, we have قاضٍ. We wish to make it a sound plural. Theoretically we should have قاضيونَ However, the ي (represented by the two kasras), will be dropped leaving us with قاضونَ. Look at the chart below.

Masculine Plurals for Defective Form I APs

What Does This All Mean?

With respect to defective active participles, here is what you will usually see. You will see them usually in the definite masculine singular, i.e. القاضي . You will also see them in the definite feminine singular and you will see them occasionally in the indefinite masculine and feminine singular accusative (قاضيا and قاضية ) when these words are used in what are called “haal” constructions (see Chapter Six). The human plural forms will be rare, and the plural forms modifying human nouns will be rarer still.

طالب is the active participle derived from the Form I verb طَلَبَ All other sound Form I APs are derived the same way. That is, an alif is inserted between the first two radicals, and a kasra is the stem vowel. The AP of دَرَسَ is دارِس, the AP of سَكَنَ is ساكن and the AP of بَحَثَ is باحِث Active participles are made feminine by adding ة, as in طالبة and ساكنة

مُدَرِّس is the active participle derived from the Form II verb دَرَّس. All other Form II APs are derived the same way. That is,مُ is always added as a prefix and the ,stem vowel is always a kasra. The AP of صَدَّق is مُصدَّق , the AP of مَثّلَ is مُمَثل , and the AP of عَلَمَ is مُعُلّم Like all active participles, these are made feminine by adding ة.

The APs of Form II hollow, assimilated, and doubled verbs are all regular. The AP of صَوَّر is مُصَوِّر, the AP of وكل is موكل, and the AP of جدَّدَ is مُجَدِّد

The pattern of adding and making the stem vowel a kasra is not just used in Form II, but also is the pattern for forming the APs of all verbs in Forms III-10. This will be mentioned when we deal with each form in future chapters.

This is core of what you need to know. For items not covered above, refer to the two previous sections, preferably while you do Drill 30.

The AP is essentially an adjective which refers to the action of the verb. In many cases, it may also become a noun which is closely related in meaning to the action of the verb. Presently I will give you some guidelines on how the AP is used and what it can mean. Practically speaking, however, you will have to learn the uses of any particular AP as you come across it. Almost always, the meaning is clear from context.

First of all, the AP can be used as a regular adjective modifying a noun. In such circumstances the AP will take a sound masculine or feminine plural if the noun it modifies is a plural human noun. Look at the examples below.

Note that in all three sentences the active participles have a sort of verbal quality to them, although they are clearly adjectives. In fact, sometimes active participles are referred to “verbal adjectives.” Sentence two shows that an AP can even take a direct object in the accusative case, if the verb from which it is derived is transitive, as in the second sentence.AP’s often function as the predicate of an equational sentence. Again, the AP will take a sound masculine or feminine plural if it refers to a human plural. Again, APs from transitive verbs can take direct objects.

Some active participles, when used as adjectives with a verbal meaning, can have present progressive meaning; some will have present tense meaning; some may have future meaning; some will have present perfect meaning. You will have to learn the meaning(s) of each one. Again, more often than not the meaning will be clear from the context.

Normally, verbs referring to motion, location, or the passage of time, have APs which are present progressive in meaning. These are verbs such as ذهب , مشى , جلس , سكن , and انتظر See examples 1-3 below.

APs with future meaning are rare, but they often refer to motion as well. The most common example is from سافر which is a Form III verb. See example 4 below.

APs which refer to physical or mental states, sometimes called “stative” verbs, can often have normal present tense meaning. For example, the verb عَرَفَ has an AP of عارف . which can mean simply “to know” and which will not be noticeably different in meaning from the verb used in the present tense. See example 5 below.

A few APs have present perfect meaning; most commonly حاصِل and ناجِح are used as examples. Also the verb دَفَعَ when used to mean “to pay” has an AP which is used in the present perfect. See example 6 below.

Below are more examples of how APs are used as adjectives with a verbal meaning.

Sometimes an AP may have more than one meaning, as is the case with عامل above. In such cases you will have to learn each plural as you learn each AP.

The passive participle refers to something having undergone the action of the verb. Like the AP, it can be either a noun or an adjective, but it usually will not have the verbal meanings of the AP. If it refers to human beings, the passive participle will have a regular sound plural most (but not all) of the time. If it is used as a plural noun referring to non-human things (like graduate students), it will usually take a feminine sound plural. However, some of these will have broken plurals. You will have to learn the plurals of each passive participle as you would with any other noun or adjective in this language,

The Form I passive participle is of the pattern مَفْعول. Thus for كَتَبَ we get مكتوب meaning “written” or “a letter.” From حَكَمَ we get مَحكوم meaning “one who has been judged.”

For hollow verbs, if the middle radical is a و, the و will appear in the passive. For example, for زارَ we get مَزور “visited.” If the middle radical is a ي you will see it in the passive participle. Thus for باعَ we get مَبيع “sold.”

The passive participles of assimilated verbs are completely regular. وَجَد َ gives us مَوجود .

The passive participles of doubled verbs are also completely regular. رَدَّ gives us مَردود (“return” or “yield”).

The passive participles of defectives are also easy to derive. If the verb belongs to the first category of defectives, such as يَدعو , دعا then the passive participle is like مَدْعُوُّ “invited.” Note the shadda over the final و.

Verbs belonging to categories two and three form their passive participles differently from the first type. The passive participle of يقضي , قضى is مَقضيُّ “decreed.” The passive participle for يَنسى , نَسِيَ is مَنسِيَ “forgotten.” Again, note the shadda over the final ي on these passive participles. Also, again note that the third category here, for which we have used يَنسى , نَسِيَ as a model, can have either a و or a ي as its final radical. However, the passive participle will always show a ي. Thus the mere presence of the ي in the passive participle does not necessarily indicate the identity of the third radical.

The reason that I stress that the final و or ي of the passive participles of these verbs has a shadda is because that shadda means that these final letters do not disappear when these words are made plural. The plural of the three verbs discussed above are  مَقضيّونَ , مَدعُوّونَ and مَنْسيّون

Passive participles of derived verbs take the مُ prefix just like the APs of these verbs. The prefix is then attached to the passive stem of the verb. The passive voice has not yet been covered, but another way to look at it is this: The active participle always has a kasra as a stem vowel. For the passive participle the kasra is always changed to a fatha. Thus the passive participle for دَرَّسّ is مُدَرّس “taught.”

Or, you can say that to form the passive participle, you just add مُ to the verb in the past-tense stem. The only spelling difference between the AP and the passive participle of this verb is in the stem vowel. Consequently, the unvocalized active and passive participles of derived verbs look exactly the same. The meanings, of course, are very different. You will have to determine from context which participle is being used.

The passive participles of derived verbs take regular sound plurals in the same way the active participles of these same verbs do.

The passive participles of derived defective verbs always end in an alif maqsuura with two fathas written above it. These words are called “indeclinable” nouns or adjectives . An indeclinable does not show a case ending. For example, the passive participle of the verb سَمّى is مُسَمّىّ“named.” The two fathas do not represent case. All they represent is that the word should be pronounced with nunation. So this word should be pronounced “musamman.” In reality, the nunation on these words is almost never pronounced, and of course, the two fathas are seldom written. This word will appear the same no matter what case it is in.

When a Form II defective passive participle is made definite, as in الْمُسَمَّي the two fathas are dropped. Again, this word will appear the same for all three cases.

Now gaze at the chart below showing the various manifestations of the defective passive participle of a Form II verb.

As I said above, the masculine singular مُسَمَّى will not show a case ending. The plural is a sound plural and will show the case ending of a sound plural just as the ACTIVE PARTICIPLE of the defective will. Note, though, the diphthong which appears in the nominative plural due to the stem vowel being a fatha. The genitive/accusative مُسَمَّيْنَ will also have a diphthong.

Arabic is also the language of Quran and we should understand that Quran is an Arabic phenomenon. The words and sentence constructions Allah chose to deliver the message is immaculate and prestine.

I think, Learning Basic Arabic Grammar rules should be the first step forward to any Muslim whose native tongue is not Arabic and I would further argue we all should learn Arabic grammar for understanding Quran to cherish its beauty.

Allah says in Quran,

If Quran is made easy by Allah, so is the language of Quran. And so is its grammar.

There are many Arabic grammar courses available online and free of cost. Indo/Pak people may learn Arabic grammar in Urdu but I see a huge resource for people who know English and would like to learn Arabic grammar in English.

In this post, I would like to summarize basics of Arabic grammar for beginners. We will discuss parts of speech in Arabic grammar, verbs in Arabic grammar, nouns in Arabic grammar in simple English. These basic Arabic grammar rules will serve as the foundation for a beginner.

So, without further ado, lets begin and make the basics of Arabic grammar super easy ;) (إن شاء الله)

First things first,

Learning any language begins with learning its alphabets then words and then we make sentence. Similarly, Learning Arabic language can be broadly classified into 3 broad categories,

This is the first level of studying Arabic language in which we study letters e.g. ي،د،ح etc. We learn,

A part of this ilm comes under study of Tajweed.

This is the second level where we study the whole word (كَلِمَة) e.g. زيد, يدخل, ثُمّ. We study the rules related to a word e.g.

And so on ...

This is the third level in which we study the entire sentence i.e. Jumla (الجُمل) OR Kalam (الكلام). One fine point is in النحو, We study كَلِمَة in الجُملة, Not كَلِمَة by itself.

Before moving forward to parts of speech. I would love to quickly discuss,

Definition of Kalam (الكلام) تعريف الكلام عند النحوين

In Simplest definition, Kalam is

Meaning Useful expression, And by Useful we meant when we finish our talking (i.e. الكلام) the listener is not waiting for anything else. Example:

That's enough covering the generalities, let's quickly begin the discussion for

أقسام الكلام

There are 3 parts of Speech in Arabic Grammar. Every word that we read/speak will fall into following 3 categories,

Ism in Arabic Grammar can be compared to nouns in English language (Caveat: I want to keep it simple ) e.g. زيد ,فاطمة ,كتاب etc. To identify اسم from an Arabic sentence there are few signs, which we will discuss now.

Signs of Ism (علاماتُ الاسم) There are multiple signs of a word being Ism. But here we will discuss 4 of them which are as follows,

Fa'il in Arabic grammar can be compared to verbs in English language e.g. كتب ,يذهب ,اخرج

Signs of Fa'il (علامات الفعل) There are multiple signs of a word being Fa'il. But here we will discuss 4 of them which are as follows

Above signs identify فعل ماض and فعل مضارع, but we have Fa'il Amr (فعل الأمر) also in Arabic language. فعل الأمر must have following two characteristics,

NOTE: We have added second condition because there are certain الأمر in Arabic language which are not derived from فعل Or which doesn't accept ياء المخاطبة.

Example: حيَّ على الصلاة (Come to prayer) here حيَّ is not فعل الأمر but it is اسم فعل.

Harf in Arabic grammar can be compared to prepositions in English language e.g. ... من إلى عن على.

Signs of Harf (علامة الحرف) There are No Signs for Harf

People might say, "Why there is no sign for Harf." My Response: See, At times no Sign is a sign in itself. (I copied my teacher ;)

Lemme explain, ج: This letter has a sign in middle, implying it is Geem. خ: This letter has a sign on top, implying it is Kha. ح: This letter has NO Sign, implying it is Haa.

See How amazing ;)

Same thing is with Harf. If we do't see علاماتُ الاسم and علامات الفعل on a word, then this is the sign that it is actually Harf

حرف is further divided into 2 categories

حرف مبنى (Harf Mabna)

حرف معنى (Harf Ma'na)

There is another category in which Harf is divided into two,

مُخْتَصّ (Mukhtas)

غير مُخْتَصّ (Gairu Mukhtas)

الحمد لله people I feel I've covered enough details for beginners. And would like to conclude my article on Parts of Speech in Arabic Grammar.

• مِــن / Miin / From, Some of or One of.
• إلى / Ilaa / To or At.
• عـَـن / Aan / From or About.
• على / Aala / On or Above.
• في / Fee / In or Into.
• الباء / بِ / Al Ba, or simply Ba / By, With, In or At.