The Subject
of the Verb (Al-Faa’il)
Al-qaa’idah:
(7) Alfaa’ilu: Ismun marfoo’un taqaddamahu
fi’lun, wa dalla ‘alaa allazee fa’ala al-fi’la.
The
Rule:
(7) The
doer: A nominative noun preceded by a verb, and it indicated the one who
did the action.
Al-amthilah:
The
examples:
1.
The sparrow flew.
2.
The horse ran.
3.
The boy played.
4.
The fish swims.
5.
The mosquito bites.
6.
The girl eats.
Explanation:
The faa’il
(doer) is the person or thing that did or does an action; it is the subject of
the verb in a sentence. Put simply, it is a noun that indicates the one who
performs the action. In the rule above, it is mentioned that the faa’il
(doer) is a nominative noun (ismun marfoo’un), so what does that
mean? It means it is a noun that has a dammah diacritic on its
end.
By default, when an Arabic noun has a dammah on
its last letter, that noun is said to be marfoo’un (nominative).
The dammah can appear in two ways: a dammah with
a tanween and a dammah without
a tanween.
· The dammah with
a tanween: A noun that does not have the ‘al-’
prefix (i.e. an indefinite noun), its ending is pronounced as ‘-un’.
E.g Rajul => Rajulun (A man).
· The dammah without
a tanween: A noun that has the ‘al-’
prefix (i.e. a definite noun), its ending is pronounced as ‘-u’.
E.g. Rajul => Ar-Rajulu (The
man).
If we look at the examples under the lesson, we will see that all
the doers of the actions ended with a dammah. In the first
example, ‘Taara al-‘usfooru’ (‘The
sparrow flew’), we will see that the word for the doer of the action (the
sparrow = al-‘usfooru) ended
with a dammah without a tanween because
it is definite by the presence of ‘al-’.
In
the second example, ‘Jaraa al-hisaanu’ (‘The horse ran’), we will see that the word for the
doer of the action (the horse = al-hisaanu) ended with
a dammah without a tanween because
it is definite by the presence of ‘al-’.
In
the third example, ‘La’iba al-waladu’ (‘The
boy played’), we will see that the word for the doer of the action (the boy
= al-waladu) ended
with a dammah without a tanween because
it is definite by the presence of ‘al-’.
In
the fourth example, ‘Ya’oomu as-samaku’ (‘The
fish swims’), we will see that the word for the doer of the action (the fish
= as-samaku) ended
with a dammah without a tanween because
it is definite by the presence of ‘al-’. To know why al-samaku is
pronounced as as-samaku, see our post on Sun and Moon Letters.
In
the fifth example, ‘Yalsa’u al-ba’oodu’ (‘The
mosquito bites’), we will see that the word for the doer of the action (the
mosquito = al-ba’oodu) ended
with a dammah without a tanween because
it is definite by the presence of ‘al-’.
In
the sixth and last example, ‘Ta’kulu al-bintu’ (‘The
girl eats’), we will see that the word for the doer of the action (the girl
= al-bintu) ended
with a dammah without a tanween because
it is definite by the presence of ‘al-’.
Vocabulary from the examples:
Taara =
He/it flew.
‘Usfoor = Sparrow.
Jaraa = He/it ran.
Hisaan = Horse.
La’iba = He played.
Walad = Boy.
Ya’oomu = He/it swims.
Samak = Fish.
Yalsa’u = He/it bites.
Ba’ood = Mosquito.
Ta’kulu = She eats.
Bint = Girl.
[Remember: The prefix ‘al-’ on some of the nouns in
the examples is only used to indicate definiteness and it is not part of the
noun. E.g. ‘Usfoor = Sparrow, and Al-‘Usfoor =
The sparrow.]
Al-i’raab (The
Inflection)
Under this lesson the topic of al-I’raab started.
Let’s briefly discuss what is al-i’raab and then go
directly into the exercises.
I’raab, or
inflection, shows how a word’s ending changes to indicate its status or
function in a sentence. Consider the following three examples:
1. Haazaa
Zaydun = This is Zayd.
2. Ra’aytu
Zaydan = I saw Zayd.
3. Zahabtu
ilaa Zaydin = I went to Zayd.
What happens to the word ‘Zayd’ in each sentence?
Its endings differ, obviously.
But, why?
Because the word Zayd has different functions in each sentence.
In the first sentence, Zayd is the subject of the sentence.
In the second sentence, Zayd is the object of the verb.
In the third sentence, Zayd is genitive because it’s preceded by a
particle ‘ilaaa’.
In the analysis of al-i’raab,
a sentence is dissected into word-wise pieces and then the function or status
of each word in the sentence is indicated.
This is the page on which the i’raab was
presented.
Let’s now take each model/example (namoozaj)
provided in the book one by one.
Example 1:
Hadara al-ghaa’ibu = The
absentee attended.
The two words that made up the sentence
above are hadara (he attended) and al-ghaa’ib (the
absentee).
Hadara = Fi’lun maadin.
[i.e. the word is a past tense verb in the sentence.]
Al-ghaa’ibu = Faa’ilun marfoo’un.
[i.e. the word is the subject of the verb.]
Example 2:
Yateeru az-zubaabu
= The
house-fly flies.
The two words that made up the sentence
above are yateeru (it flies) and az-zubaabu
(the house-fly).
Yateeru = Fi’lun mudaari’un.
[i.e. the word is a present tense verb in the sentence.]
Az-zubaabu = Faa’ilun marfoo’un.
[i.e. the word is the subject of the verb.]
Excercises
Do the I’raab analysis for the following
two sentences:
[I will solve one, and the reader is advised to solve the other.]
I
did the first one, now it is your turn to do the second one. You can post the
answer in the comments if you like. Come on!
Any
question, comment, observation, correction, or suggestion? Don’t hesitate to
say it out! Use the contact page, or email us at Arabicbeginners2020@gmail.com
I
ask Allah to guide us and make it easy for all of us in our quest for
knowledge and other affairs. Aameen!
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