Arabic Case Notes
Arabic Case Notes
Arabic Case Notes
com
)ٌّيٌّ(ٌّك َتاب َ ْني )ٌّيٌّ(ٌّك َتاب َ ْني )ٌّاٌّ(ٌّك َت َاًبن ٌّالْمث ََّّن
Dual
ٌَّ
)ٌّ ٌَِّ(ٌّ َم َساجد ٌَّ
)ٌّ ٌَِّ(ٌّ َم َساجد )ٌٌٌِّّّ(ٌّ َم َساجد ْ َّ الْـ َم ْمنوعٌّم َن
ٌٌّّالَّصف
Diptote*
)ٌّيٌّ(ٌّ َأِبٌّبَ ْك ٍر )ٌّاٌّ(ٌّ َأ ًَبٌّبَ ْك ٍر )ٌّوٌّ(أبوٌّبَ ْك ٍر ٌّْ َاْل ْْساءٌّالْ َخ ْم َسة
The Five Nouns**
ْ َّ ( َم ْمنوعٌّم َنdiptote) is either a singular word or a broken plural but it behaves differently to normal singular
* The ٌٌّّالَّصف
ْ َّ ( َم ْمنوعٌّم َنdiptote) takes on a ٌَِّ in the
words and broken plurals. For that reason, we’ve given it its own row. The ٌٌّّالَّصف
ٌّ َجرcase instead of a ٌَِّ . You’ll learn more about it and its associated rules another time.
** The fives nouns are 1) ٌّ َأب, 2) ٌّ َأخ, 3) ٌّ َحم, 4) ٌّفَم, and 5) ذو, which mean 1) father, 2) brother, 3) brother-in-law, 4) mouth,
and 5) owner respectively. They behave like normal singular nouns until they are the ٌّ( مضَ افpossessed/owned noun) in
an ٌّ( اضافَةpossessive construct), whereupon their signs for case change from ٌِّ, ِ
ٌَّ , and ٌِّ to و, ا, and يrespectively.
ِ
You’ll learn more about them and their associated rules another time.
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ْ َ ( الْف ْعلٌّالـمضَ ارع ٌَّّاَّليٌّل َ ْمٌّيَلْ َح ْقٌّبآخرهthe imperfect tense verb that has nothing
1) The blue verbs are referred to as ٌٌَّّشء
attached to the end). The reason for this nomenclature is obvious when you compare the blue verbs to the green ones.
2) The green verbs are the opposite; they have ٌّ َان, ون
ٌَّ , or ين
ٌَّ added at the end. There are 7 of these verbs highlighted in the
table above, but you’ll notice some are repeats of each other, and only 5 are actually unique: 1) ٌّيَ ْكت َبان, 2) ون
ٌَّ يَ ْكتب, 3) ٌّتَ ْكت َبان,
4) ٌّتَ ْكت َبان, and 5) ني
ٌَّ تَ ْكتب. The green verbs are therefore referred to as ٌّ ْ َاْلمث ََلٌّالْ َخ ْم َسةor ٌّ( ْ َاْلفْ َعالٌّالْ َخ ْم َسةthe 5 verbs).
3) The grey verbs are not a concern as they are ٌّ( َم ْبنfixed), so they do not enter our discussion and we can ignore them.
This leaves us with two types of verbs that fall into the discussion of case. The table overleaf presents the signs with which
they display their respective cases.
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There is actually a 3rd type of verb that concerns us, and that is the verb that ends in a weak letter: و, ا, or ي. For example,
ٌّ( يَدْ ع ْوhe calls/invites) ends in a weak letter, و. We call such a verb ٌّ( الف ْعلٌّالـمضَ ا َرعٌّالْـم ْع َتلٌُّّاْلخرthe imperfect tense verb
ending in a weak letter).
ْ َ ( الْف ْعلٌّالـمضَ ارع ٌَّّاَّليٌّل َ ْمٌّيَلْ َح ْقٌّبآخرهthe imperfect tense verb that has
This type of word like a normal blue verb, or ٌٌَّّشء
ٌّْ , we can’t change the
nothing attached to the end), except in the ٌّ َج ْزمcase. This is because such a verb already ends in ِ
ٌّْ in the ٌّ َج ْزمcase if it already ends in one! To remedy this, we go a step further and remove the final
verb’s ending to a ِ
letter altogether. So in the ٌّ َج ْزمcase, يَدْ ع ٌّْوbecause ٌّيَدْ ع.
Let’s add this as a 3rd type of verb and complete the table.