Lesson 1:
The Beneficial Sentence (al-Jumlatu Al-Mufeedah)
Al-qawaa’id:
(1)
At-tarkeebu allazee tufeedu
faa’idatan taammatan yusammaa jumlatan mufeedatan, wa yusamma aidan kalaaman.
(2) Al-jumlatu al-mufeedatu qad tatarakkabu min kalimatayn, wa qad
tatarakkabu min akthar, wa kullu kalimatin feehaa tu’addu juz’an minhaa.
The Rules:
(1) The composition that offers a complete benefit is called a beneficial sentence (jumlat al-mufeedah), and also called a speech (kalaam).
(2) Al-jumlat al-mufeedah could be composed of two words, and could be composed of more, and each word in it is considered to be part of it.
Al-amthilah:
The examples
- The garden is beautiful.
- The sun is rising.
- ‘Aliyyu smelt a rose.
- Muhammad picked a flower.
- The fish lives in the water.
- Palm-trees are plentiful in Egypt
Explanation
A
beneficial sentence is the one that consists of two or more words, such that
each word cannot give a meaningful sense or benefit other than its lone
meaning.
In
the first example, ‘Al-bustaanu jameelun’ (‘The garden is beautiful’), we can see
that the two words can give a meaningful sense only when they are combined
together. If one were to say ‘al-bustaan’ only, the listener or
the reader will not derive any benefit from the word (other than the word’s own
meaning) and may ask questions like: “what garden?”, “what happened to the
garden?”, et cetera. Similarly, if one were to say ‘jameel’, questions may be
asked regarding the beauty: “what is beautiful”, and so on.
In
the subsequent examples, it can be seen that all the sentences were composed of
two words or more. However, there are situations where a beneficial sentence is
expressed using ‘one’ word (well, the word is not actually one). For example,
if one wants to give someone a command to stand up one would say ‘Qum!’
(Stand up!). As you can see, the word ‘Qum!’ is visibly one word, and the
listener will definitely derive the benefit and understand that he is being
instructed to stand up. So, does that violate the rule? Absolutely no!
In
reality, the word ‘Qum!’ is actually two words— only that the other word is
hidden. The original words are ‘Qum anta!’ (You, stand up!) but the
pronoun is left out (we shall see why in subsequent lessons). Confusion may
arise to English- and some other languages- speakers because in their languages
such commands are given to the listener with a general expression (e.g. ‘Stand
up!’ can mean a command to a male, a female, two persons or more). Unlike the
English language and some other languages, the Arabic language has a unique way
of giving a command to the different genders and number-of-people.
In
conclusion, for a sentence to offer any benefit or sense such that the listener/reader
would understand what the speaker/writer intends to mean by the sentence, it
must consist of two words or more than that. That type of sentence is what is
called Al-jumlatu al-mufeedah in the Arabic language.
Vocabulary from the
examples:
Bustaan = Garden.
Jameeel = Beautiful.
Qatafa = He picked.
Zahra = Flower.
Shams = Sun.
Taali’a = Rising (i.e like that
of the Sun).
Ya’eeshu = It/he lives.
Samak = Fish.
Fee = In, inside, or within.
Maa’ = Water.
Shamma = He smelt.
Warda = Rose.
Yakthuru = It is many, or it
abounds, or it is plentiful.
Nakheel = Palm trees (the
singular is nakhla).
Misr = Egypt.
[ 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 Bustaan
= Garden, and Al-bustaan = The garden.]
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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