Noun and its Types – اَلاسْمُ وَأَنْوَاعُهُ
Introduction –مُقَدِّمَةٌ
- Please note that in addition to the language, we will also cover several Islamic phrases and terms in this lesson to benefit our Muslim students. We would request that our students who are not Muslim also be patient while we cover these phrases and we invite them to use this as an opportunity to learn about Islam which is a key part of Arab culture.
- In Arabic a meaningful word is divided into three categories namely Noun اَلاسْمُ, Verb اَلْفِعْلُ and Particle اَلْحَرْفُ. In this lesson we will In-Shā’-Allâh learn the noun and its types i.e., اَلاسْمُ وَأَنْوَاعُهُ but first of all let us define the noun:
- “A word that names a person, place, or thing, as in “Khalid”, “museum” or “book”.
- Definiteness and Indefiniteness (“The” and “a”):
- In this lesson we will In-Shā’-Allâh learn the definite and indefinite nouns and their types. A noun is either definite i.e. الْمَعْرِفَةُ or indefinite i.e., اَلنَّكِرَةُ. An indefinite noun can be defined as “The name of an unspecific person, place or thing” e.g., a man رَجُلٌ, a book كِتَابٌ, a city مَدِينَةٌ, and a cow بَقَرَةٌ. A definite noun can be defined as “The name of a specific person, place or thing” e.g., Muhammad مُحَمَّدٌ, Makkah مَكَّةُ, or Black-Stone اَلْحَجَرُ الأَسْوَدُ.
- Gender and Number:
- A noun can be categorized into two categories with respect to its gender i.e.: Masculine اَلْمُذَكَّرُ and feminine اَلْمُؤَنَّثُ.
- Unlike English nouns, Arabic nouns can be categorized into three categories with respect to number i.e., Singular الْمُفْرَدُ, Dual الْمُثنَّى and Plural اَلْجَمْعُ.
- In the previous lessons we have studied these categories but in the next lessons we will learn about them in more detail, In-Shā’-Allâh (God Willing).
- There are very specific rules for definite and indefinite nouns in the Arabic language – we will learn these later In-Shā’-Allâh (God Willing)
- A definite Arabic noun has six types namely:
Noun and its Types – اَلاسْمُ وَأَنْوَاعُهُ
- In this part of lesson we will learn the first type of the definite noun i.e., Proper Noun اَلْعَلَمُ and its cases In-Shā’-Allâh.
- A proper noun is the name of a specific person, thing or place e.g., Hamid حَامِدٌ, Qur’an قُرْآنٌ, Madinah مَدِينَةٌ. Proper nouns can include the names of countries, people, states, tribes, rivers or oceans and the mountains. The proper nouns اَلْعَلَمُ take the cases similar to the ordinary nouns i.e., Double đammah when in nominative case, Double Fatħah when in accusative case and Double Kasrah when in genitive case.
- However the proper nouns which are Diptotes follow the rule of diptotes that we have read in previous lessons.
- Let’s take some examples for this rule:
| English | Transliteration | Arabic |
| Ahmad is brave | Aħmadu Shuĵaξun | أَحْمدُ شُجاَعٌ. |
| Fatima is at the shore of the Red Ocean | Fāŧimatu ξala Shāŧi’i al Baħr-il-Aħmari | فَاطِمَةُ عَلَى شَاطِئِ الْبَحْرِ الأَحْمَرِ. |
| I rubbed the Black Stone | Masaħtu Al ħaĵara al Aswada | مَسَحْتُ الْحَجَرَ الأَسْوَدَ. |
| I drank the Zamzam Water | Sharibtu Mā’a Zamzama | شَرِبْتُ مَاءَ زَمْزَمَ. |
| This is Tariq Mountain | Hādhā Ĵabalu ŧâriqin | هَذَا جَبَلُ طَارِقٍ. |
Pronouns and their Types – اَلضَّمَائِرُ وَأَنْوَاعُهَا
- In this section we will learn the Pronouns, In-Shā’-Allâh (God-willing).
- In the previous lessons we have learnt that in Arabic language there are two types of Pronouns namely Attached Pronouns اَلضَّمائِرُ الْمُتَّصِلَةُ and Detached Pronouns اَلضَّمَائِرُ الْمُنْفَصِلَةُ.
- Similar to the English Language, the Arabic Pronouns are divided by 1st. person ( I / We), 2nd. person (You) and 3rd. person (He / She / They).
| Example: | Person | Arabic |
| I / We | 1st. | الضَّمَائِرُ لِلْمُتَكَلِّمِ |
| You | 2nd. | الضَّمَائِرُ لِلْمُخَاطَبِ |
| He / She / They | 3rd. | الضَّمَائِرُ لِلْغَائِبِ |
- We can see the detached pronouns that we normally use for the different persons below as well as the attached pronouns which we will cover in more detail below.
| Attached Pronoun: | Meaning: | Singular / Plural / Dual | Gender of person: | Arabic: | Person: |
| ي | I | Singular | Masculine or Feminine | أَنَا | 1st |
| نَا | We | Plural | Masculine or Feminine | نَحْنُ | |
| كَ | You | Singular | Masculine | أَنْتَ | 2nd |
| كُمَا | You | Dual | Masculine | أَنْتُمَا | |
| كُمْ | You | Plural | Masculine | أَنْتُمْ | |
| كِ | You | Singular | Feminine | أَنْتِ | |
| كُمَا | You | Dual | Feminine | أَنْتُمَا | |
| كُنَّ | You | Plural | Feminine | أَنْتُنَّ | |
| هُ | He | Singular | Masculine | هُوَ | 3rd |
| هَا | She | Singular | Feminine | هِيَ | |
| هُما | They | Dual | Masculine and Feminine | هُمَا | |
| هُمْ | They | Plural | Masculine | هُمْ | |
| هُنَّ | They | Plural | Feminine | هُنَّ |
o The Attached Pronoun for 1st Person Singular is ي for both masculine and feminine e.g., حَقِيبَتِي (my bag (fem.)) and for Plural it is نَا for both the masculine and feminine دِينُنَا (our religion)
- The Attached Pronouns for 2nd Person are as follows:
- 2nd Person Singular Male = كَ e.g., بَيْتُكَ meaning “Your house”
- 2nd Person Singular Female = كِ e.g., كِتَابُكِ meaning “Your book”
- 2nd Person Dual for both masculine and feminine = كُمَا e.g., مَكْتَبُكُمَا meaning “Desk of both of you”
- 2nd Person Plural masculine = كُمْ e.g., أُسْتَاذُكُمْ meaning “The teacher of all of you”.
- 2nd Person Plural feminine = كُنَّ e.g., غُرْفَتُكُنَّ meaning “The room of all of you”
- The Attached Pronouns for 3rd Person are as follows:
- 3rd Person Singular Male = هُ e.g., مِسْطَرَتُهُ meaning “His ruler”
- 3rd Person Singular Female = هَا e.g., مَطْبَخُهَا meaning “Her kitchen”
- 3rd Person Dual for both masculine and feminine = هُمَا e.g., مَدْرَسَتُهُمَا meaning “School of both of them”
- 3rd Person Plural masculine = هُمْ e.g., مَلْعَبُهُمْ meaning “Their play ground”.
- 3rd Person Plural feminine = هُنَّ e.g., وَاجِبُهُنَّ meaning “Their duty”
- It must be remembered however that the noun followed by the attached pronoun is always a definite noun and therefore it does not take a double vowel.
- Let’s review some examples to understand this rule:
| Picture | Translation | Arabic |
|
| He is the owner of the house. This is his house | هُوَ مَالِكُ الْمَنْزِلِ. هَذَا بَيْتُهُ. |
|
| They have come to Egypt These are their hotels. | هُمْ حَضَرُوا إِلَى مِصْرَ. هَذِهِ فَنَادِقُهُمْ. |
|
| You are a student and Muhammad is your teacher | أَنْتَ تِلْمِيذٌ ومُحَمَّدٌ أُسْتَاذُكَ. |
|
| You and your colleagues have read the book | أنْتِ وَزَمِيلاتُكِ قَرَأْتُنَّ الْكِتَابَ. |
|
| I am Khalid and China is my country | أَنَا خَالِدٌ وَالصِّينُ بَلَدِي. |
|
| Muhammad and I are colleagues, our houses are near the Masjid | أَنَا وَمُحَمَّدٌ زَمِيلانِ بُيُوتُنَا عِنْدَ الْمَسْجِدِ. |
Introduction – مُقَدِّمَةٌ
- In this lesson, we will learn about the Demonstrative Pronouns أَسْماءُ الإِشَارَةِ and Relative Pronouns الأَسْمَاءُ الْمَوْصُولَةُ in detail.
- In previous lessons we have learnt the basics of the Demonstrative Pronouns (see Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 6, Lesson 7|L007_001.html||, Lesson 13, & Lesson 18) and Relative Pronouns in (Lesson 9, & Lesson 12).
- “A Demonstrative Pronoun is a noun that represents the near or the distant object.
- We know that in English “This” is used to point to the near singular object and “That” is used for the distant object and “These” is used to point towards the near Plural Objects and “Those” is used for the Distant Objects. However different nouns are not used for the Dual (in English language) and there is no difference of gender i.e., the same nouns are used for the masculine as well as the feminine.
- In Arabic however, different Demonstrative Pronouns are used for singular, dual and plural objects. Similarly different Nouns are used for the masculine as well as the feminine.
| English | Transliteration | Gender/Number | Arabic | Demonstrative Nouns |
| This | Hādhā | Masculine/Singular | هَـٰذَا | أَسْمَاءُ الإِشَارَةِ (لِلْقَرِيبِ) |
| Hādhihi | Feminine/Singular | هَـٰذِهِ | ||
| These two | Hādhāni | Masculine/Dual | هَـٰذَانِ | |
| Hātāni | Feminine/Dual | هَـٰاتَانِ | ||
| These all | Hā’ulā’i | Masculine & Feminine/ Plural | هَـٰؤُلاءِ | |
| That | Dhālika | Masculine/Singular | ذَلِكَ | أَسْمَاءُ الإِشَارَةِ (لِلْبَعِيدِ) |
| Tilka | Feminine/Singular | تِلْكَ | ||
| Those two | Dhānika | Masculine/Dual | ذَانِكَ | |
| Tānika | Feminine/Dual | تَانِكَ | ||
| Those all | ‘ulā’ika | Masculine & Feminine/ Plural | أُؤلَـٰئِكَ |
- Following are the examples for the Demonstrative Pronouns:
| Picture | English | Arabic |
|
| This is a book | هَـٰذَا كِتَابٌ. |
|
| This is a notebook | هَـٰذِهِ كُرَّاسَةٌ. |
|
| That is a cow | تِلْكَ بَقَرَةٌ. |
|
| These are two books | هَـٰذَانِ كِتَابَانِ. |
|
| These are two cows | هَاتَانِ بَقَرَتَانِ. |
|
| These are men | هَـٰؤُلاءِ رِجَالٌ. |
|
| Those are guests | أُوْلَـٰئِكَ ضُيُوفٌ. |
- “A Relative Pronoun is a noun which refers or relates to some noun preceding it”.
- The Arabic Relative Pronouns have different forms for singular, dual and plural as well as for masculine and feminine.
| English | Transliteration | Gender/Number | Arabic | Relative Nouns |
| Who/That | Al-Ladhī | Masculine/Singular | الَّذِي | الأَسْمَاءُ الْمَوْصُولَةُ |
| Al-Latī | Feminine/Singular | الَّتِي | ||
| Those two/Who (dual) | Al-ladhāni | Masculine/Dual | اللَّذَانِ | |
| Al-latāni | Feminine/Dual | اللَّتَانِ | ||
| Those all/Who (all) | Al-ladhīna | Masculine/ Plural | الَّذِينَ | |
| Al-Lā’ī | Feminine/Plural | اللائِي |
Let’s take some examples of the Relative Pronouns:
| English | Arabic |
| This is Muhammad who has passed | هَـٰذَا مُحَمَّدٌ الَّذِي نَجَحَ. |
| This is the door which is in front of the mosque | هَـٰذَا الْبَابٌ الَّذِي أَمَامَ الْمَسْجِدِ. |
| That is the cat that has sat | هَـٰذَا الْقِطٌّ الَّذِي جَلَسَ. |
| Those are the brothers who went to the University | أُولَئِكَ الإِخْوَةُ الَّذِينَ ذَهَبُوا إِلَى الْجَامِعَةِ. |