Arabic Verb, Subject, Object
LESSON 4
Verb, Subject, Object
In Arabic, the word sequence is as follows: verb (فِعْلٌُ ), then subject ( فَُاعِلٌُ ), and finally the object (مَفْعُوْلٌُ ).
فِعْلٌُ (verb) = the action being done.
فَاعِلٌُ (subject) = the person doing the action.
مَفْعُوْلٌُ (object) = the person or the thing to whom or to which the action is being done.
Rule: The فَاعِلٌُ gets a dammah (or two dammahs as the case may be), and the مَفْعُوْلٌُ gets a fathah (or two fathahs).
Examples:
– ‘Haamid helped Mahmood.’ In this sentence, the فِعْلٌُ is ‘helped,’ Haamid is the فَاعِلٌُ and Mahmood is the مَفْعُوْلٌُ . When translating this sentence into Arabic, the Arabic word for helped (نَصَرَُ ) will come first followed by the faa‘il, Hamid (حَامِدٌُ ) with two dammahs, and then the maf‘ool, Mahmood (مَُْمُوْدًا ) with two fathahs. The final sentence will be نَصَرَ حَُامِدٌ مَُُْمُوْدًا .
– ‘A slave ( خَادُِمٌُ ) opened (فَ تَحَُ ) a door (بَابًا ).’ The same order used for the last example (فِعْلٌُ first, فَاعِلٌُ second and مَفْعُوْلٌُ
last) will apply here. Remember, the فَاعِلٌُ will get two dammahs and the مَفْعُوْلٌُ will get two fathahs. The full sentence will be فَ تَحَ خَُادِمٌ بَُابًا .
Lesson 4
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Notes:
– If there is an alif-laam on any word, the tanween (double harakah) at the end will change to a single harakah (the two fathahs will change to a single fathah, the two kasrahs will change to a single kasrah, and the two dammahs will change to a single dammah). Thus, ‘the slave opened the door’ will be written as فَ تَحَ اُلَْْادِمُ اُلْبَابَُ . Here, the alif-laam caused the double harakah to be dropped, and only a single harakah remained.
– Mudaaf and mudaaf ilayhi can combine to form a فَاعِلٌُ or a مَُفُْعُُوُْلٌُ . In this case, it is important to remember that the mudaaf does not get an alif-laam or a tanween. However, the mudaaf ilayhi can accept both.