Arabic Derived Nouns Learn Arabic Free Online
The Resembling Participle
Meaning
The resembling participle is that noun derived from a gerund which indicates on the root meaning being an attribute. And this attribute is usually perpetual or intrinsic. For example, if we want to translate the word “murdered one”, we would not use the passive participle for “to kill”. That is because death is an attribute, not an action. So we would use this resembling participle (قَتِيْل). An example of an intrinsic attribute is “the all-knowing” when applied to God.
This participle is used to indicate on an attribute for both the active voice as well as the passive. In other words, it is used in place of the active participle as well as the passive. For example, the word قَتِيْل from the example above means “murdered”, but it could theoretically have meant “killer” as well. Below is a list of some examples through which we can see that both active and passive voices are used. Which one is used is dependent on the individual word and a dictionary will have to be consulted, but it is more often the active voice that is intended.
| Translation | Resembling Participle |
| injured | جَرِيْح |
| miser/miserly | بَخِيْل |
| strong | قَوِيّ |
| difficult | صَعْب |
Some points to note about the resembling participle have already been detailed in our discussion on the active participle:
- it can occupy any grammatical positioning in a sentence
- the meaning might not always be obvious
- it can be used as both an adjective and a noun
- not all gerunds have an associated resembling participle, but many do
Notice, from the chart above, that the word “miser” is a noun and “miserly” is an adjective. This is a clear illustration of the resembling participle’s capacity to function as both.
Moreover, when a given set of root letters happens to have both an active/passive participle as well as a resembling participle, there is typically a difference between the two. Remember, active/passive participles indicate on an action or occurrence, whereas the resembling participle indicates on an attribute. Compare the participles in the following chart to identify whether there is a difference between the two or not.
| Meaning | Resembling | Meaning | Active/Passive | Root |
| knower | عَلِيْم | scholar/scientist | عَالِم | ع، ل، م |
| prisoner | سَجِيْن | prisoner | مَسْجُوْن | س، ج، ن |
| embryo | جَنِيْن | possessed/insane | مَجْنُوْن | ج، ن، ن |
Construction
This participle only exists for trilateral roots with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms). It is constructed by placing the root letters on one of many patterns. The patterns are so many, in fact, that we will only list the most common ones along with some of their most popular plural forms:
| Example | Some Common Broken Plurals | Pattern |
| كَرِيْم | فُعَلاَء، أَفْعِلاء | فَعِيْل |
| صَعْب | فِعَال | فَعْل |
| حَسَن | ؟ | فَعَل |
| أَحْمَر | فُعْل | أَفْعَل |
| تَعْبَان | فَُعَالى، فَعْلى | فَعْلاَن |
Unlike the participles we have seen thus far, these are typically not well-behaved. Their feminine forms are not necessarily regular, most do not use sound pluralisation, and a broken plural may be shared between both the masculine and feminine singulars.
Another point to note is that those resembling participles that indicate on the passive voice do not have a separate form for the singular masculine and singular feminine; the same (masculine) word is used for both. The table below gives some examples of this.
| Feminine | Masculine | Voice | Resembling Participle |
| عَدِيْلة | عَدِيْل | active | عَدِيْل |
| قَتِيْل | passive | قَتِيْل | |
| جَرِيْح | passive | جَرِيْح | |
Finally, there are a few roots out there that use more than one pattern of the resembling participle. In such a situation, the two words will likely have different meanings. For example:
| Meaning | Resembling Participle | Root |
| groom | عَرِيْس | ع, ر, س |
| bride | عَرُوْس |
The Noun of Usage (The Utilitarian Noun)
Meaning
The noun of usage is a noun derived from a gerund used to indicate upon a thing used to carry out an action.
The table below gives a few examples. When reading the table, notice that the meaning is not immediately clear and a dictionary will often need to be consulted, and that this noun can never be used as an adjective, clearly.
| Actual Meaning | Expected Meaning | Noun of Usage | Root |
| key | something used to open | مِفْتَاح | ف، ت، ح |
| large basket | something used to gather | مِكْتَل | ك، ت، ل |
| procedure | something used to give/award | مِنْوَال | ن، و، ل |
| road, curriculum | something used to pursue | مِنْهَاج | ن، ه، ج |
This derived noun does not exist for every set of root letters. Whether a certain root uses the noun of usage must be checked against a dictionary. Moreover, not every word in the language that seems to be a tool is actually a noun of usage. For example, the word for eyeglasses or telescope is “نَظَّارَة” (that which is used to see something). But clearly this is not a noun of usage.
Construction
This derived noun exists only for trilateral roots with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms). One of the following four patterns will be used; we have also included the plural forms since all nouns in this category will use only these plurals. Which of the four patterns a given set of root letters uses, if any, is unpredictable. But we can say that the last pattern in the list is extremely rare.
| Broken Plural | Singular |
| مَفَاعِل | مِفْعَل |
| مِفْعَلَة | |
| مَفَاعِيْل | مِفْعَال |
| فَوَاعِل | فَاعَل |
The Locative Noun
Meaning
The locative noun is one derived from a gerund used to indicate upon the time when or the place where the root meaning occurs. For example, the place where “playing” occurs is called a “playground” and the time when “sleeping” occurs is called “bedtime”.
Below is a list of examples in Arabic. While reading the table, notice that the end meaning is highly unpredictable, this noun cannot be used as an adjective, and that the location aspect is far more prevalent than the time aspect.
| Actual Meaning | Expected Meaning | Locative Noun | Root |
| playground | time/place of playing | مَلْعَب | ل، ع، ب |
| mosque | time/place of prostrating | مَسْجِد | س، ج، د |
| landmark | time/place of knowing | مَعْلَم | ع، ل، م |
| battlefield | time/place of damaging | مَعْرَكَة | ع، ر، ك |
| time/place of sunset, i.e. sunset and west |
time/place of (sun) setting | مَغْرِب | غ، ر، ب |
But not every set of root letters has an associated locative noun. Which do and which don’t needs to be checked against a dictionary. Moreover, some words that give the meaning of time or place are not necessarily locative nouns, as is seen in the following list.
| Meaning | Word |
| lion’s den | عِرِّيْس |
| morning | صَبَاح |
| morning | بُكْرَة |
Construction
This noun exists only for trilateral roots with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms). One of two patterns will be used for the construction:
| Broken Plural | Singular |
| مَفَاعِل | مَفْعَل |
| مَفْعِل |
Which of these two will be used is actually quite predictable. Those roots whose imperfect verb is realized with a كسرة on the middle letter will utilize the second pattern, and those whose imperfect verb is realized with a ضمة or فتحة on the middle letter will use the first.
Now, unlike other derived nouns that are only realized for basic 3-lettered verbs, there is concession (or a trick) to using it in the advanced verb paradigms. What one will do is simply use the passive participle. For example, the word below is the passive participle of an advanced verb, but it is being used as a locative noun.
مُسْتَوْدَع
sojourn
The Comparative and Superlative (sometime called the Elative Noun)
Meaning
In Arabic, there is only one word which is used to indicate on the root meaning being carried out to both a greater extent as well as the greatest extent (comparative and superlative). For example, “being eloquent” can be made comparative by saying “more eloquent” and superlative by saying “most eloquent” and one word in Arabic would be used for both of these. Another example is “to be fast”; the comparative would be “faster” and the superlative would be “fastest”.
This noun can occupy most grammatical positions in a sentence. Ones it cannot occupy are easily identified based on the meaning and context and we do not need to discuss this further. Another point to note is that, unlike the participles, the meaning of this noun is usually quite transparent and can be induced without the use of a dictionary.
Furthermore, like the participles, it can be used as both a noun and an adjective. For example, the terms “fastest” and “most expensive” are used as adjectives in the sentence “the Bugatti Veyron is one of the fastest and most expensive cars.” And the term “most deserving” is used as a noun in the sentence “she is the most deserving of all people.”
The chart below gives some examples of this entity’s use as an adjective and a noun, as well as some examples of its use in the comparative context and the superlative context.
| Gloss | Phrase |
| he is more eloquent than me | هُوَ أَفْصَحُ مِنِّيْ |
| he is the most eloquent of the eloquent people | هُوَ أَفْصَحُ الفُصَحَاءِ |
| the most eloquent man spoke to me | كَلَّمَنِيْ الرَجُلُ الأَفْصَحُ |
| he is the most eloquent | هُوَ الأَفْصَحُ |
Now, this entity can be used in many grammatical ways, as can be seen from the chart above:
1) as an indefinite noun
a) followed by مِنْ
b) followed by a clarification (تَمْيِيْز)
2) as a definite noun
a) in a possessive construction (مُضَاف)
b) as an adjective (صِفَة)
c) on its own
In (1), it is used as a comparative and in (2), it is used as a superlative. This is not always the case, though. Given the examples below, try to determine which of the constructions is being used, then translate the sentence.
- نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ أَحْسَنَ القَصَصِ
- إِنَّ كَلِمَةَ اللهِ هِيَ العُلْيى
- فَهِيَ كَالحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً
- هُوَ أَفْصَحُ مِنِّيْ لِسَاناً
- وَالَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا أَشَدُّ حُبّاً للهِ
- ثُمَّ لَنَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِالَّذِيْنَ هُمْ أَوْلى بِهَا صِلِيّاً
- أَيُّ الفَرِيْقَيْنِ خَيْرٌ مَقَاماً وَأَحْسَنُ نَدِيّاً
The comparative/superlative noun applies to the active voice in the vast majority of cases and not the passive. For example, making the gerund “to help” superlative would result in the phrase “the most helpful” as opposed to “the one most helped”. Which of the two voices will be used depends on the individual word, but it is usually safe to assume that the active voice is used. Compare the translations in the following list for a few examples.
| Meaning | Voice | Superlative |
| strongest | active | أَقْوى |
| most helpful | active | أَنْصَر |
| most famous | passive | أَشْهَر |
Construction
This noun exists only for trilateral roots with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms). The method of construction is simply to place the root letters on the designated pattern. There is only one pattern and it behaves quite regularly; it has been given below.
| Broken Plural | Sound Plural | Singular | |
| أَفَاعِل | أَفْعَلُوْنَ | أَفْعَل | Masculine |
| فُعَل | فُعْلَيَات | فُعْلى | Feminine |