An-Nahw Al-Waadih, Part One, Lesson 5 : The Object of the Verb (Al-maf’oolu Bihi)

Lesson 5: 

The Object of the Verb (Al-maf’oolu bihi)

Al-qaa’idah:

(8)       Al-maf’oolu bihi: Ismun mansoobun waqa’a alaihi fi’lu al-faa’il.

 

The Rule:

(8)       Al-maf’oolu bihi: An accusative noun on which the doer’s action occurred/fell.

 

Al-amthilah:

 

The examples:

1.       The student tied the rope.

2.      The girl folded the cloth.

3.      The wolf ate the lamb.

4.      The first-one wins a prize.

5.      The fox hunts a hen.

6.      The butcher sells the meat.

 

 

Explanation:

Al-maf’oolu bihi is the noun on which an action falls on. Put it simply, it is the object of the verb in a sentence. As mentioned in the rule above, al-maf’oolu bihi is always mansoobun (i.e. it always ends with a fathah) or you can say it is an accusative noun (ismun mansoobun). So what does that mean? It means it is a noun that has a diacritical fathah on its last letter.

By default, when an Arabic noun has a fathah on its last letter, that noun is said to be mansoobun (accusative). The fathah can appear in two ways: a fathah with a tanween and a fathah without a tanween.

 

·         The fathah without a tanween: A noun that has the ‘al-’ prefix (i.e. a definite noun), its ending is pronounced as ‘-a’.

E.g. Rajul => Ra’aytu ar-rajula (I saw the man).

 

·         The fathah with a tanween: A noun that does not have the ‘al-’ prefix (i.e. an indefinite noun), its ending is pronounced as ‘-an’.

E.g Rajul => Ra’aytu rajulan (I saw a man).

 

If we look at the examples under the lesson, we will see that all the objects of the verbs ended with a fathah. In the first example, ‘Shadda at-tilmeezu al-habla’ (‘The student tied the rope’), we will see that the object of the verb (the rope = al-habla) ended with fathah.

            In the second example, ‘Tawat al-bintu ath-thawba’ (‘The girl folded the cloth’), we will see that the object of the verb (the cloth = ath-thawba) ended with fathah.

In the third example, ‘Akala az-zi’bu al-kharoofa’ (‘The wolf ate the sheep’), we will see that the object of the verb (the sheep = al-karoofa’) ended with fathah.

In the fourth example, ‘Yarbahu as-saabiqu jaa’izatan’ (‘The first-one wins a prize’), we will see that the object of the verb (a prize = jaa’izatan) ended with fathah that has a tanween because it doesn’t have the ‘al-’ prefix. 

In the fifth example, ‘Yaseedu ath-tha’labu dajaajatan’ (‘The fox hunts a hen’), we will see that the object of the verb (a hen = dajaajatan) ended with fathah that has a tanween because it doesn’t have the ‘al-’ prefix.

In the sixth and last example, ‘Yabee’u al-qussaabu al-lahma’ (‘The butcher sells the meat’), we will see that the object of the verb (the meat = al-lahma) ended with fathah.

 

 

 

Vocabulary from the examples:

 

Shadda = He tied.

Tilmeez = Student or pupil.

Habl = Rope.

Tawat= She folded.

Bint = Girl.

Thawb = Cloth.

Akala = He ate.

Zi’b = Wolf.

Kharoof = Sheep.

Yarbahu=He wins, or he gains.

Saabiq = First-one (especially in a race).

Jaa’izah = Prize.

Yaseedu = He hunts.

Tha’lab = Fox.

Dajaajah= Hen.

Yabee’u = He sells.

Qussaab = Butcher.

Lahm = Meat.

 

 

 

 

[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. ‘Habl = Rope, and Al-habl = The rope.]

 

 

 

Al-i’raab (The Inflection)

In lesson 4, we have briefly seen the significance of al-I’raab and we have dealt with some examples and exercises. In this lesson, too, there are examples and exercises on al-I’raab.

 

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:

 Hamala al-jamalu al-hataba = The camel carried the firewood.

 

The three words that made up the sentence above are hamala (he/it carried), al-jamalu (the camel), and al-hataba (the firewood).

 

Hamala = Fi’lun maadin. [i.e. the word is a past tense verb in the sentence.]

Al-jamalu = Faa’ilun marfoo’un. [i.e. the word is the subject of the verb.]

Al-hataba = Maf’oolun bihi mansoobun [i.e. the word is the object of the verb.]

 

Example 2:

Ya’kulu az-zi’bu ash-shaata = The wolf eats the sheep.

The three words that made up the sentence above are ya’kulu (it eats), az-zi’bu (the wolf), and ash-shaata (the sheep).

 

Ya’kulu = Fi’lun mudaari’un. [i.e. the word is a present tense verb in the sentence.]

Az-zi’bu = Faa’ilun marfoo’un. [i.e. the word is the subject of the verb.]

Ash-shaata = Maf’oolun bihi mansoobun [i.e. the word is the object of the verb.]

 

 

Excercises

Do the I’raab analysis for the following two sentences:

 

  

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!

 

 

 

 

 

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I ask Allah to guide us and make it easy for all of us in our quest for knowledge and other affairs. Aameen!