Arabic The preposition Li لِـ

Arabic The preposition Li

• In this part of Lesson No. 6 we will learn a new preposition and the principles for its use In-Shā’-Allâh (God Willing):
• This new preposition is لِـ means “for”. When a preposition is followed  by a noun, it changes the noun from the nominative case to the genitive case. e.g., when لِـ precedes a noun  مُحَمَّدٌ then it becomes لِمُحَمَّدٍ but there are certain words which do not change their cases with different causes and maintain their vowel endings. These words are called Indeclinable words. When a preposition precedes an indeclinable word like مَنْ meaning who,  it will become لِمَنْ for whom and not لِمَنِ.
• When this لِ precedes a definite noun like الْكِتَابُ the alif in the beginning of the word is dropped and the word becomes لِلْكِتَابِ
• On the other hand when this  لِ precedes a noun like اللهُ the Alif in the beginning of the word is dropped and no lam is added and the word simply becomes للهِ meaning belongs to Allah (God).
• Please read the following sentences carefully taking good care of the vowel endings.