Arabic The Declinable and the non-Declinable الْمُعْرَبُ وَالْمَبْنِيُّ
Arabic The Declinable and the non-Declinable الْمُعْرَبُ وَالْمَبْنِيُّ
Introduction – مُقَدِّمَةٌ
- In this lesson we will learn the difference between the declinable and the non-declinable words, In-Shaa’-Allaah (God willing).
- We will study that the vowel endings in the declinable nouns are changeable according to the grammatical case and according to the position in the sentence. You can see a noun like /kitāb/ كِتَاب signed with /đammah/ on its end in a certain situation كِتَابٌ, and signed with /fatħah/ in another situation كِتَابًا, and signed with /kasrah/ in a third situation كِتَابٍ. This change in the ending of the word (according to its position in the sentence) means that the word is declinable. Consider the declension of the noun /kitābun/ in the following examples (please read from right to left):
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Explanation |
Declension |
Sentence |
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|
Case |
Sign |
English |
Arabic |
|
|
The word /kitābun/ is a predicate, so it is in the nominative case signed with đammah on its end |
Nominative |
đammah |
This is a book. |
هَذَا كِتَابٌ. |
|
The word /kitāban/ is a direct object, so it is in the accusative case signed with fatħah on its end |
Accusative |
Fatħah |
I took a book. |
أَخَذْتُ كِتَابًا. |
|
The word /al kitābi/ is Muđâf ilaihi, so it is in the genitive case signed with kasrah on its end |
Genitive |
Kasrah |
The color of the book is beautiful. |
لَوْنُ الْكِتَابِ جَمِيلٌ. |
- We will also learn the indeclinable words, i.e. the words which do not change according to their position in the sentence. The indeclinable words have constant endings whatever their position in the sentence is. Consider the ending of the demonstrative noun ذَلِكَ /dhālika/ in the following three sentences:
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Explanation |
Indeclension |
Sentence |
||
|
Place of (case) |
Sign |
English |
Arabic |
|
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Although the word /dhālika/ is a subject in the nominative case, but it is signed with fatħah as a constant ending. |
Nominative |
Fatħah (always indeclinable on the fatħah) |
That’s right. |
ذَلِكَ صَحِيحٌ. |
|
The word /dhālika/ is a direct object in the accusative case; it is signed with fatħah as a constant ending. |
Accusative |
I know that. |
أَعْلَمُ ذَلِكَ. |
|
|
Although the word /dhālika/ is a Maĵrur noun in the genitive case, but it is signed with fatħah as a fixed ending. |
Genitive |
I doubt that. |
أَشُكُّ فِي ذَلِكَ. |
|
- We will also learn the types of indeclinable words (verbs, nouns, and articles) and the different signs of indeclensoin for each.