الإعراب

1. الإعراب Grammatical States Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

2. Introduction Human beings experience emotional states based on interaction with one another. People make us happy, angry, and sad etc. These states are then reflected on our faces by our facial expressions i.e. smiles, frowns etc. Arabic words behave in a similar fashion. They enter grammatical states because of interaction with surrounding words. These ‘grammatical states’ are then reflected on the last letter of the word. Unlike human emotions, grammatical states in Arabic are just four: Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

3. Grammatical States in Arabic • رفع - the nominative case. • نصب - the accusative case. • جر - the genitive case. • جزم - the jussive case. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

4. Analogy with English Pronouns • We see this in the English language to a very restricted degree in pronouns. Take for example the three variations of the third person masculine pronoun; he, him and his or for the feminine; she, her and her, for the second person masculine; you, you and your and for the first person; I, me and my. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

5. Reflecting Grammatical Structure • The reason why the same meaning is being conveyed using three different words is to reflect grammatical state. When the pronoun is intended to be subject of the verb, ‘he’ or ‘she’ is used. Likewise for object, one must use ‘him’ or ‘her’. In the English language this discussion is restricted to pronouns. For nouns, regardless of how the noun is used, there will be no difference in the way the noun is pronounced. In Arabic this process is extended to the vast majority of nouns, and some verbs also. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

6. Definition • The name given to this process is إعراب. Therefore, إعراب is the process by which grammatical states are reflected on the last letter of words by change in vowelling or lettering, either explicitly or assumed. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

7. Need • The need for this occurs because in Arabic, we have no other way of determining whether a given noun is being made the subject of the verb or the object, or whether it is in the possessive case. There is no rule in Arabic which states the subject HAS to come before the object. A verb followed by two nouns can have any of the following three possibilities: Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

8. Example • The first is subject and second is object. • Vice versa. • The two nouns together form a possessive phrase For instance, if the verbضَرَبَ (hit) is followed by the two nouns وَلَد (boy) and زَيْد (a person’s name), the sentence can have three possible meanings: • A boy hit Zaid. • Zaid hit a boy. • Zaid’s boy hit… (Someone else)! Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

9. Summery • It is apparent from the above that some sort of system of reflection is needed to determine the intended structure while excluding the other two. In Arabic this is done by giving the last letter a distinct vowelling or lettering. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

10. 22 places and 3 states for the إسم • As mentioned above, the total grammatical states for the Arabic كلمة are four. The fourth state i.e. جزم applies to the مضارع verb only, and does not apply to the إسم. It will be discussed at a later point. • As for the other three states رفع, نصب, جر, the إسم experiences all three. • In the “boy and Zaid” example sited above, the two nouns were occurring as subject, object and possessive. • These are not the only three ways the إسم can be used in a sentence, obviously. The total possible ways the إسم can be used are much more, especially taking into account that the إسم in the Arabic language is more than noun, and also includes adverbs and adjectives etc. Some others are: predicate, object of preposition, adverb of time & place, adverb of reason or cause, etc. etc. The total possible ways are twenty-two. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

11. رفع, نصب, جر • Since the total possible positionings for the إسم are twenty-two, but the grammatical states are just three, رفع, نصب, جرmust be understood as broad categories covering several possible usages and not simply subject, object and possessive. • The way it works is رفعaccounts for eight of the 22, while نصب accounts for 12 and جر represents just two. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

12. Two جر Positionings • In a previous session, we mentioned regarding the possessive phrase, that the second word, known as the مضاف إليه is always fixed on جر. • This is like the word زيد in the phrase كتابُ زيدٍ. • The only other place in the language when a word is considered in the genitive case is if it follows a preposition such as “من” or “فى”, such as in فى البيتِ. The إسم which follows a preposition is simply known as مجرور. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

13. Two جر Positionings • رفع – • نصب - • جر - مضاف إليه, مجرور Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

14. Prelude to other Positionings • In a previous presentation we talked about the two types of sentences جملة إسمية and جملة فعلية. • The terms which result from these two sentences are five: two for the جملة إسمية, and three for the جملة فعلية. They are: 1. جمله أسميّه: the sentence which begins with an إسم e.g. الوَلَدُ قاﺋِﻢٌ (The boy is standing). The two parts are known as مُبتَدا and خَبَر (subject and predicate). 2. جمله فعليّه: the sentence which begins with a فعل e.g. ذَهَبَ حامِدٌ (Hamid went). The two parts are known as فعل and فاعل (verb and subject). If the verb requires an object, it is called مفعول به In a passive structure, the subjectفاعلgoes missing, and theمفعول بهreplaces it, becoming the primary part of the sentence. The name changes and it is now known as نائب فاعلor deputy-doer. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

15. Five new Positionings • From the six terms originating from the two sentences (مُبتَدا ,خَبَر,فعل,فاعل,مفعول به,نائب فاعل), we will remove the فعل, since the discussion is about the grammatical positionings the إسم experiences. • From the remaining five, four will go in رفع, and one will go in نصب. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

16. Twenty-two Places • رفع – فاعل, نائب فاعل, مبتدأ, خبر • نصب - مفعول به • جر - مضاف إليه, مجرور Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

17. Prelude to four more • We mentioned earlier that there are certain particals in the language that enter upon words and affect their grammatical state. These are known as governing agents. They are often categorized into groups e.g. the prepositions which are 17 in number and all enter upon the إسم and cause it to enter the state of جر. Here we will introduce to two such groups the كان sisters, and the إنََََََََََََََ sisters. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

18. Both groups of agents enter upon the إسمية sentence and cancel the grammatical states of both the مبتدأ and the خبر. What use to be known as the is now know as the إسم of كان (subject of the كان sentence), and the إسم of إنَ (subject of the إن sentence). Likewise, the predicates become the خبر of كان and the خبر of إنَ. • Grammatical state-wise, the way it works is both the إسم of كان and the خبر of إنَgo in رفع, while the other two are positionings of نصب. Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4

19. Twenty-two Places • رفع - فاعل, نائب فاعل, مبتدأ, خبر, إسمُ كان, خبرُ إنََ • نصب - مفعول به, إسمُ إنَََََ, خبرُ كانَ • جر - مضاف إليه, مجرور Shariah Program Online - Nahw 4