Arabic case system

 Introduction

 Nominative case

 Genitive case

 Accusative case

 Additional notes

Introduction

First, what are case endings in Arabic? They are little markings ( ‫ حركات‬Harakaat) that are attached to the ends of words to indicate the words' grammatical function. That is, if
a word is the subject of a sentence, you use a case ending to indicate that; if a word is the object of a verb, you use another case ending to indicate that. So clearly, using case
endings correctly requires a solid knowledge of grammar. If you're a native English speaker who hasn't studied a language with a case system, like Latin or Russian, getting used
to this may be difficult.
Case endings are usually not written (with one exception) outside of the Qur'an/Bible and children's books. But you will hear newscasters pronounce them, and if you want to

speak fuSHa well, it's a good idea to be familiar with the case system. Each case marker corresponds to one of three different cases — nominative ( ‫ مرفوع‬marfū3), genitive
‫ مجرور‬majrūr), and accusative (‫منصوب‬manSūb) — and is pronounced as a short vowel. Here are the three case markers:
(

‫( ضمة‬Damma). It resembles a tiny ‫و‬, goes above the end of a word, and is pronounced as a short "u." It marks words in the nominative case. In the middle is
On the left is the

the ‫( كسرة‬kasra), which goes below the end of a word and is pronounced as a short "i." It marks words in the genitive case. On the right is the ‫( فتحة‬fatHa), which goes above
the end of a word and is pronounced as a short "a." It marks words in the accusative case.
Note: If the word you're marking is an indefinite adjective or noun, the case marker will be nunated. That is, the Damma will be pronounced "-un" instead of "-u," the kasra will
be pronounced "-in" instead of "-i," and the fatHa will be pronounced "-an" instead of "-a." And the markings will look like this:

Some examples:

َ
‫اللقاء‬ (al-liqaa'a) َ (liqaa'an)
‫لقاء‬
َ‫( المكتب‬al-maktabu) َ‫( مكتب‬maktabun)
َ‫( المكتبة‬al-maktabata) َ‫( مكتبة‬maktabatan)
َ‫( طاولة‬Taawilati) َ‫( طاولة‬Taawilatin)

Note: If a word in the accusative case (i.e. that needs a fatHa) is nunated and does not end in a taa marbuuTa or hamza, it would take an alif along with the nunated fatHa.

َ
‫الولد‬ (al-walada) ‫( ولدا‬waladan)
َ‫( البنت‬al-binta) ‫( بنتا‬bintan)
َ‫( السعيد‬as-sa3iida) ‫( سعيدا‬sa3iidan)
َ‫( الحزين‬al-Haziina) ‫( حزينا‬Haziinan)

So when exactly do you use these case markers? Let's go on to discuss the three cases.

Nominative case - ‫( المرفوع‬al-marfū3)

 This case is marked by a Damma. Words that fall into the following categories are nominative:

1. ‫ الفاعلَفيَجملةَفعلية‬- the subject of a verbal sentence

.‫( ذهبَالولدَإلىَالمدرسة‬dahaba l-waladu ila l-madrasati.)
The boy went to school.

2. ‫ المبتدأَوالخبرَفيَجملةَاسمية‬- the subject and predicate of a nominal sentence

.‫( الولدَطويل‬al-waladu Tawīlun.)
The boy is tall. Note that ‫ طويل‬is nunated (-un instead of just -u) because it is indefinite.
.‫( بيتَالبنتَكبير‬beitu l-binti kabīrun.)
The girl's house is large. Again, note the nunation of the indefinite adjective ‫كبير‬.
3. ‫ النداء‬- the vocative (addressing someone directly)
...‫( أيهاَالسيداتَوالسادة‬ayyuha s-sayyidātu was-sādatu...)
Ladies and gentlemen...
4. The nominative case is also the default for words that are on their own.
‫( الشرقَاألوسط‬aš-šarqu l-awsaTu)
the Middle East
5. It's also used with certain adverbs regardless of their position in the sentence.
َ‫( منذ‬mundu)
since; ago

َ‫( حيث‬Haytu)
where; whereas

Genitive case - ‫( المجرور‬al-majrūr)

This case is marked by a kasra. Words that fall into the following categories are genitive:
1. The object of a preposition
‫( إلىَاليمين‬ila l-yamīni)
to the right

َ‫( فيَالمكتبة‬fi l-maktabati)

in the library
2. ‫ ظرفَمكانَوظرفَزمان‬- the object of a locative adverb
َ‫( تحتَنورَالشمس‬taHta nūri š-šamsi)
under the sunlight (lit. light of the sun)

َ‫( قبلَأيام‬qabla ayyāmin)

[a few] days ago (lit. before days) - Note the nunation of the indefinite noun ‫أيام‬.
3. ‫ المضافَاليه‬- the second term of an iDāfa
َ‫( مديرَالمؤسسة‬mudīru l-mu'assasati)
the foundation's director (or "the director of the foundation")

َ‫( غرفةَالتجارة‬ġurfatu t-tijārati)

the chamber of commerce

Accusative case - ‫( المنصوب‬al-manSūb)

This case is marked by a fatHa. Words that fall into the following categories are accusative:
1. ‫ المفعولَبه‬- the object of a transitive verb
‫( الَتشعلَنارا‬la tuš3il nāran)
Don't light a fire. Again, ‫ نار‬is nunated because it is indefinite. It has an alif because it ordinarily would have a regular fatHa, and doesn't end in a taa marbuuTa or
hamza.

َ‫( حضرواَاللقاء‬HaDarū l-liqā'a)

They attended the meeting.
2. ‫ المفعولَفيه‬- adverbial expressions of time, place, and manner, indicating the circumstances under which an action takes place
.‫( تستمرَيوماَواحدا‬tastamirru yooman wāHidan.)
It lasts one day.

.‫( جاءواَفجرَيومَاالقتراع‬jā'ū fajra yoomi l-iqtirā3i.)

They came at dawn on the day of balloting.

.‫( حصلتَحديثاَعلىَالجنسية‬HaSaltu Hadītan 3ala l-jinsiyyati.)

I recently obtained citizenship.
3. ‫ المفعولَالمطلق‬- the internal object or cognate accusative structure. What does that mean? It's just a way of intensifying an action by following the verb with its
corresponding verbal noun (‫ مصدر‬maSdar) and an adjective modifying it.
.‫( حلّتَالموضوعَحالَجذريا‬Hallati l-mawDū3a Hallan jidriyyan.)
It solved the issue fundamentally.

.‫( ساهماَمساهمةَفعّالة‬sāhamā musāhamatan fa33ālatan.)

They [dual] participated effectively.
4. ‫ الحال‬- the circumstantial accusative. This is a way to describe a condition/action going on at the same time as the main action.
.‫( رفعَيدهَمعترضا‬rafa3a yadahu mu3tariDan.)
He raised his hand objecting.

.‫( دخلَالصفَمتأخرا‬daxala S-Saffa muta'axxiran.)

He entered class late.

.‫( قفزتْ َمذعورة‬qafazat mad3ūratan.)

She jumped, frightened.

...‫( وقالَرداَعلىَسؤال‬wa-qāla raddan 3ala su'ālin...)

[And] he said, replying to a question...
5. ‫ المفعولَألجله‬- shows the purpose of an action, usually using an indefinite ‫مصدر‬.
.‫( القواتَتشنَحملةَبحثاَعنَأسلحة‬al-quwwātu tašunnu Hamlatan baHtan 3an asliHatin.)
The forces are launching a campaign searching for weapons.

‫( خاللَحفلةَاستقبالَأقاموهاَتكريماَله‬xilāla Haflatin istiqbālin aqāmūha takrīman lahu)

during a reception they gave in his honor
6. ‫ التمييز‬- the accusative of specification; often answers the question "in what way?" Includes the comparative/superlative and counted nouns between 11 and 99.
.‫( نعلنَذاكَقوالَوفعال‬nu3linu dāka qawlan wa-fi3lan.)
We announce that in speech and action.

.‫( كانتْ َأكبرَعاصمةَجاهاَوفخامة‬kānat akbara 3āSimatin jāhan wa-faxāmatan.)

It was the greatest capital in fame and splendor.

‫( فيَعشرينَمجلّدا‬fī 3išrīna mujalladan)

in twenty volumes

‫( علىَمدىَخمسةَعشرَعاما‬3ala mada xamsata 3ašra 3āman)

for fifteen years
Those are the main instances where you use the accusative. There are also other, special words that shift words into the accusative case:

ّ َ-َ‫إنَوأخواتها‬
‫ظنَوأخواتها‬ ّ َ-َ‫كانَوأخواتها‬
Click here for more information on that.

A couple of notes:

With feminine plural nouns ending in ‫ـات‬, change any fatHa that would ordinarily go at the end to a kasra.
.‫( غسلَالرجلَالسيارات‬ġasala l-rajulu s-sayyārāti.)
The man washed the cars. It has to be sayyārāti, not sayyārāta!

Note that dual and regular plural nouns like ‫( بنتان‬bintān, two girls) or ‫( مصريون‬miSriyūn, Egyptians) change endings in the genitive case; the ‫( ـان‬ān) becomes ‫( ـين‬-ein), and
the ‫( ـون‬ūn) becomes ‫( ـين‬-īn).

َ‫( هذانَالكتابان‬hādāni l-kitaabaanu) َ‫( فيَهذينَالكتابين‬fī hādeini l-kitābeini)

these two books in these two books

.‫( عقدَالمديرَاجتماعاَمعَالموظفين‬3aqada l-mudīru ijtimā3an ma3a l-

muwaZZafīna.)
The director held a meeting with the employees.
← Main grammar pagekaana, inna, Zanna, and their sisters →

Arabic nouns and adjectives are declined according to case, state, gender and number. While this is strictly true in Classical Arabic, in colloquial or spoken Arabic, there are a number
of simplifications such as loss of certain final vowels and loss of case. A number of derivational processes exist for forming new nouns and adjectives. Adverbs can be formed from
adjectives.

Contents
[hide]
 1Noun and adjective inflection (Classical Arabic)

o 1.1Overview of inflection

o 1.2Number

o 1.3Gender

o 1.4State

o 1.5Article

o 1.6Agreement

o 1.7Case

 1.7.1Nominative case

 1.7.2Accusative case

 1.7.3Genitive case

o 1.8Pronunciation

 2Noun and Adjective Inflection (Colloquial Arabic)

 3Noun and Adjective Derivation

o 3.1Collective nouns

o 3.2Nisba

o 3.3Participles and verbal nouns

o 3.4Occupational and characteristic nouns

o 3.5Nouns of place

o 3.6Tool nouns

o 3.7Instance nouns

o 3.8Diminutives

 4Adverb

 5References

Noun and adjective inflection (Classical Arabic)[edit]

Nouns (‫ اسم‬ism) and adjectives in Classical Arabic are declined according to the following properties:

 Case (‫ حاالت‬ḥālāt) (nominative, genitive, and accusative)

 State (indefinite, definite or construct)

 Gender (masculine or feminine): an inherent characteristic of nouns, but part of the declension of adjectives

 Number (singular, dual or plural)

Nouns are normally given in their pausal form. For example, ‫ ملك‬malik "king" would be declined as ٌ‫ ملك‬malikun "king (nominative singular indefinite)", ٌ‫ الملك‬al-maliku"the king (nominative
singular definite)", etc. A feminine noun like ٌ‫ الملك‬malikah "queen" would be declined as ٌ‫ ملكة‬malikatun "queen (nominative singular indefinite)", ٌ‫ الملكة‬al-malikatu "the queen (nominative
singular definite)", etc. The citation form with final ‫ ة‬-ah reflects the formal pausal pronunciation of this word (i.e. as it would be pronounced at the end of an utterance) — although in
practice the h is not usually pronounced, and hence the word may be cited in some sources as malika.

Overview of inflection[edit]
The following table is an overview of noun and adjective inflection in Classical Arabic:

Noun and Adjective Inflection (Classical Arabic)

(1) Regular Triptote (2)

Tripto
(3) (4) Defective (5) Defective
te w/ (6) Invariable
Declension→ Dipt in -in in -an
"Long in -ā
ote (usu. masc.) (usu. masc.)
(1a) No suffix (1b) in ‫( ة‬-at-) (1c) in ‫( اة‬-āt-) Const
(usu. masc.) (usu. feminine) (usu. feminine) ruct"

Pausal pronun. -ū, -ā,

-ah -āh
(in singular) → -ī

- - -ī -ā -ā

Informal pronun.
-a -āt -ū
(in singular) →

Num State→ Ind D Co Ind D Co Ind D Co Con Ind Ind D Co Ind D Co Ind Co
ber Case↓ ef. ef nst. ef. ef nst. ef. ef nst. st. ef. ef. ef nst. ef. ef nst. ef., nst.
↓ . . . . . Def
.

Nomin -at- -āt-

-un -u -at-u -āt-u -ū -u -in -ī
ative un un

-
Sing Accus -at- -āt-
-an -a -at-a -āt-a -ā iyan, -iya -an -ā -ā
ular ative an an
-iya

-a

Geniti -at- -āt-

-in -i -at-i -āt-i -ī -in -ī
ve in in

-ay-
Nomin -ay-āni, ā, -ay-
-āni -ā -at-āni -at-ā -āt-āni -āt-ā -iy-āni -iy-ā -ay-ā
ative -aw-āni -aw- āni
ā
same as
(1a)
Dual
regular
triptote
Accus -ay-
ative, -at- -āt- -ay-ayni, ay, -ay- -ay-
-ayni -ay -at-ayni -āt-ayni -iy-ayni -iy-ay
Geniti ay ay -aw-ayni -aw- ayni ay
ve ay

(7) Sound (7) Sound

Declension→ (8) Sound Feminine (9) Defective in-an
Masculine Masculine

-ay-
ātun
Nomin - -ay-ātu, same as
-ūna -ū -ātu , -ūna -ū -awna -aw
ative ātun -aw-ātu (1a)
-aw- –
regular
ātun
triptote
Plur
al

Accus -ay-
ative, ātin, -ay-āti,
-īna -ī -ātin -āti -īna -ī -ayna -ay
Geniti -aw- -aw-āti
ve ātin

NOTE:

 The plural forms listed are actually separate declensions. Most singular adjectives of the indicated declensions, as well as some singular nouns, are declined in the plural
according to the indicated plural declensions. However, most nouns have a plural from a different declension — either a sound plural (declined according to one of the plural
declensions, sometimes with a different stem as well) or a broken plural (invariably with a different stem, and declined according to one of the singular declensions). Some
adjectives also have broken plurals (again, with different stems, and declined according to one of the singular declensions). See the discussion below on case for more details.

 The so-called "sound masculine" and "sound feminine" plural declensions refer to form, not gender – grammatically masculine nouns often have sound feminine plurals, and
occasionally vice versa. (Note, however, that most nouns of this sort are inanimate objects, and as a result actually have feminine-singular agreement in the plural, regardless of
their inherent gender or the form of their plural. See discussion below.)

 Diptotes are declined exactly like regular triptotes other than in the singular indefinite state.

 In the defective-in--in declension, accusative -iyan occurs in singular nouns, while -iya occurs in broken plurals (especially three-syllable broken plurals such aslayālin "nights"
or ʼayādin "hands", whose stem is of a form that would be declined as a diptote if it were declined regularly).

 There are only limited classes of invariable nouns and adjectives and none have their own plural declension; instead, they decline like one of the other singular or plural
declensions.

 Only a limited number of nouns in -an have a dual in -awāni/-awayni; all of these are short nouns with a two-character stem, and are spelled in Arabic script with a "tall alif" (‫)ـا‬
rather than alif maqṣūrah (‫)ـی‬. Examples are ʻaṣan ٌ‫" عصا‬stick" (and possibly riḍan ٌ‫" رضا‬approval").

The following table shows some examples of noun inflections.

 Examples of inflection in nouns

Singular Declension Meaning Gender Type,Notes Root Plural Declension

ʼaydin (4) broken plural defective in -in

yad (1a) triptote hand feminine root noun y-d

ʼayādin (4) broken plural defective in -in

(2) "long
ʼab father masculine root noun ʼ-b ʼābāʼ (1a) broken plural triptote
construct" triptote

yawm (1a) triptote day masculine root noun y-w-m ʼayyām (1a) broken plural triptote

laylāt (8) sound feminine plural

laylah (1b) triptote in-ah night feminine root noun l-y-l layālin (4) broken plural defective in -in

layāʼil (3) broken plural diptote

biḥār (1a) broken plural triptote

buḥūr (1a) broken plural triptote

baḥr (1a) triptote sea masculine root noun b-ḥ-r

ʼabḥār (1a) broken plural triptote

ʼabḥur (1a) broken plural triptote

ʼarāḍin (4) broken plural defective in -in

ʼarḍ (1a) triptote land feminine root noun ʼ-r-ḍ

ʼaraḍūna (7) sound masculine plural

ṭullāb (1a) broken plural triptote

ṭālib (1a) triptote student masculine Form I active participle ṭ-l-b

ṭalabah (1b) broken plural triptote in -ah

muʻallim (1a) triptote teacher masculine Form II active participle ʻ-l-m muʻallimūna (7) sound masculine plural
ḥayāh (1c) triptote in-āh life feminine Form I verbal noun ḥ-y-w ḥayawāt (8) sound feminine plural

ḥayawān (1a) triptote animal masculine derived noun in -ān (intensive) ḥ-y-w ḥayawānāt (7) sound feminine plural

qāḍin (4) defective in-in judge masculine Form I active participle q-ḍ-y quḍāh (1c) broken plural triptote in -āh

derived noun (verbal-noun form,

qaḍiyyah (1b) triptote in-ah lawsuit feminine q-ḍ-y qaḍāyā (6) broken plural invariable -ā
Form I)

Form X noun of place (passive-

mustašfan (5) defective in-an hospital masculine š-f-y mustašfayāt (7) sound feminine plural
particle form)

derived noun (verbal-noun form,

kitāb (1a) triptote book masculine k-t-b kutub (1a) broken plural triptote
Form I or possibly Form III)

maktab (1a) triptote desk, office masculine Form I noun of place k-t-b makātib (3) broken plural diptote

maktabāt (8) sound feminine plural

maktabah (1b) triptote in-ah library feminine Form I noun of place k-t-b

makātib (3) broken plural diptote

nominalized feminine elative

dunyā (6) invariable -ā world (lit. "lowest (place)") feminine d-n-y dunyayāt (8) sound feminine plural
adjective

ṣaḥārin (4) broken plural defective in -in

desert (lit. "desert-like

nominalized feminine
ṣaḥrāʼ (3) diptote (place)" < "desert-sand- feminine ṣ-ḥ-r ṣaḥārā (6) broken plural invariable -ā
color/defect adjective
colored")

ṣaḥrāwāt (8) sound feminine plural

(1a) triptote, root noun, collective

šaǧar
singular ("trees" in general)

(8) sound feminine plural, plural of

šaǧarah (1b) triptote in-ah tree feminine noun of unity š-ǧ-r šaǧarāt
paucity ("trees" when counting 3-10)

(1a) broken plural triptote, plural of

ʼašǧār
variety ("different kinds of trees")

ʻabd (1a) triptote slave, servant masculine derived noun (verbal-noun form) ʻ-b-d ʻabīd (1a) broken plural triptote
 ʻubdān (1a) broken plural triptote

ʻibdān (1a) broken plural triptote

servant (of God), human

ʻibād (1a) broken plural triptote
being

tilifizyūn (1a) triptote television masculine borrowed noun — tilifizyūnāt (8) sound feminine plural

— (orf-
film (1a) triptote film masculine borrowed noun ʼaflām (1a) broken plural triptote
l-m)

— (ors-
sigārah (1b) triptote in-ah cigarette feminine borrowed noun sagāʼir (3) broken plural diptote
g-r)

The following table shows some examples of adjective inflections.

Examples of inflection in adjectives

Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine

Type,Notes Root Meaning Declension Declension Declension Declension
Singular Singular Plural Plural

(1a) broken plural

kibār
triptote

(1b) triptote (8) sound

faʻīl k-b-r big kabīr (1a) triptote kabīrah kabīrāt
in -ah feminine plural

(3) broken plural

kubarāʼ
diptote

(7) sound
ʼakbarūna
masculine plural

bigger, (6) (8) sound

elative k-b-r ʼakbar (3) diptote kubrā kubrayāt
biggest invariable -ā feminine plural

(3) broken plural

ʼakābir
diptote

d-n- (1b) triptote (3) broken plural (8) sound

faʻīl, third-weak near, low daniyy (1a) triptote daniyyah ʼadniyāʼ daniyyāt
w in -ah diptote feminine plural

(4) broken plural (5) broken plural

ʼadānin dunan
defective in -in defective in -an

nearer,
elative, third- d-n- (6) (6)
nearest; ʼadnā dunyā
weak w invariable -ā invariable -ā
lower, lowest
(7) sound
(8) sound
ʼadnawna masculine plural dunyawāt
feminine plural
defective in -an
 ḥ-m- (1a) broken plural (1a) broken
color/defect red ʼaḥmar (3) diptote ḥamrāʼ (3) diptote ḥumr ḥumr
r triptote plural triptote

(1a) broken plural

ʻiṭāš
triptote

(6)
faʻlān(intensive) ʻ-ṭ-š thirsty ʻaṭšān (3) diptote ʻaṭšā ? ?
invariable -ā

(6) broken plural

ʻaṭšā
invariable -ā

Number[edit]
Arabic distinguishes between nouns based on number (‫ عدد‬ʻadad).[1] All nouns are either singular (‫ مفرد‬mufrad) dual (‫ مثنى‬muṯannā),[2] or plural (‫ جمع‬ǧamʻ). In Classical Arabic, the use of the
dual is mandatory whenever exactly two objects are referred to, regardless of whether the "two-ness" of the objects is explicit or not. For example, in a sentence like "I picked up my
children from school yesterday and then helped them with their homework", the words "children", "them" and "their" must be in the dual if exactly two children are referred to, regardless of
whether the speaker wants to make this fact explicit or not. This implies that when the plural is used, it necessarily implies three or more. (Colloquial varieties of Arabic are very different in
this regard, as the dual is normally used only for emphasis, i.e. in cases similar to when an English speaker would use the word "two".)

Nouns take either a sound plural or broken plural. The sound plural is formed by adding endings, and can be considered part of the declension. The broken plural, however, is a different
stem. It may belong to a different declension (see below), and is declined as a singular noun. For example, the plural of the masculine triptote noun ‫ كتاب‬kitāb "book" is ‫ كتاب‬kutub, which is
declined as a normal singular triptote noun: indefinite nominative ٌ‫ كتب‬kutubun; indefinite accusative ٌ‫ كتبا‬kutuban; indefinite genitive ٌ‫ كتب‬kutubun; etc. On the other hand, the masculine
triptote noun ‫ مكتب‬maktab "desk, office" has the plural ‫ مكاتب‬makātib, which declines as a singular diptote noun: indefinite nominative ٌ‫ مكاتب‬makātibu; indefinite accusative/genitive
ٌ‫ مكاتب‬makātiba; etc.

Generally, the only nouns that have the "masculine" sound plural -ūn/īn- are nouns referring to male human beings (e.g. ‫ مهندس‬muhandis "engineer"). On the other hand, the "feminine"
sound plural -āt- occurs not only on nouns referring to female human beings, but also on many nouns referring to objects, whether masculine or feminine (e.g. masculine
‫ ِامْ تِحان‬imtihān "exam", feminine ‫ سيّارة‬sayyārah "car"). Note that all inanimate objects take feminine singular agreement in the plural, regardless of their "inherent" gender and regardless of
the form of the plural.

Some nouns have two or more plural forms, usually to distinguish between different meanings.

Gender[edit]
Arabic has two genders (‫ جنس‬ǧins), masculine (‫ مذكر‬muḏakkar) and feminine (‫ مؤنث‬muʼannaṯ).[3][4] As mentioned above, verbs, adjectives and pronouns must agree in gender with the
corresponding noun. Gender in Arabic is logically very similar to a language like Spanish: Animate nouns, such as those referring to people, usually have the grammatical gender
corresponding to their natural gender, but for inanimate nouns the grammatical gender is largely arbitrary.

Most feminine nouns end in ‫ ـة‬-at-, but some do not (e.g. ‫ أم‬ʼumm "mother", ‫ أرض‬ʼarḍ "earth"). Most words ending in ‫ ـا‬are also feminine (and are indeclinable).

The letter ‫ ـة‬used for feminine nouns is a special form known as ‫ تاء مربوطة‬tāʼ marbūṭah "tied T", which looks like the letter hāʼ "H" with the two dots that form part of the letter tāʼ "T" written
above it. This form indicates that the feminine ending -at- is pronounced -ah- in pausa (at the end of an utterance). Note that in writing, the ending ‫ ـة‬never takes the accusative
indefinite alif marker used in nouns lacking this ending. (In the colloquial variants, and in all but the most formal pronunciations of spoken Modern Standard Arabic, the feminine ending -
at appears only with nouns in the construct state, and the ending is simply pronounced -a in all other circumstances.)

State[edit]
The grammatical property of state is specific to Arabic and other Semitic languages. The basic division is between definite and indefinite, corresponding approximately to English nouns
preceded, respectively, by the (the definite article) and a/an (the indefinite article). More correctly, a definite noun signals either a particular entity previously referenced or a generic
concept, and corresponds to one of the following in English: English nouns preceded by the, this, that, or apossessive adjective (e.g. my, your); English nouns taken in a generic sense
("Milk is good", "Dogs are friendly"); or proper nouns (e.g. John or Muhammad). Indefinite nouns refer to entities not previously mentioned, and correspond to either English nouns
preceded by a, an or some, or English mass nouns with no preceding determiner and not having a generic sense ("We need milk").

Definite nouns are usually marked by a definite article prefix ‫ الـ‬al- (which is reduced to l- following vowels, and further assimilates to (a)t-, (a)s-, (a)r- etc. preceding certain consonants).
Indefinite nouns are usually marked by nunation (a following -n). Adjectives modifying a noun agree with the noun in definiteness, and take the same markings:

 ٌ‫ كلبٌكبير‬kalbun kabīrun "a big dog (nom.)"

 ٌ‫ رأيتٌكلباٌكبيرا‬raʼaytu kalban kabīran "I saw a big dog (acc.)"

 ٌ‫ٌٍكبير‬
ٍ ‫ معٌكلب‬maʻa kalbin kabīrin "with a big dog (gen.)"

 ٌ‫ الكلبٌالكبير‬al-kalbu l-kabīru "the big dog (nom.)"

 ٌ‫ كلبهاٌالكبير‬kalbu-hā l-kabīru "her big dog (nom.)" (the definite article does not appear with a suffixed possessive, but the noun is still definite, so the adjective takes the definite
article)

 ٌ‫ رأيتٌصورةٌجميلة‬raʼaytu ṣūratan ǧamīlatan "I saw a nice picture (acc.)"

 ٌ‫ مصرٌالقديمة‬Miṣru l-qadīmatu "Ancient Egypt (nom.)" (proper nouns do not take the definite article, but are still definite)

A third value for state is construct. Nouns assume the construct state (‫ إضافة‬ʼiḍāfah) when they are definite and modified by another noun in a genitive construction. For example, in a
construction like "the daughter of John", the Arabic word corresponding to "the daughter" is placed in the construct state and is marked neither with a definite article nor with nunation,
even though it is semantically definite. Furthermore, no other word can intervene between a construct-state noun and a following genitive, other than in a few exceptional cases. An
adjective modifying a construct-state noun is in the definite state and is placed after the modifying genitive. Examples:

 ٌ‫ بنتٌالملك ِة‬bintu l-malikati "the daughter (nom.) of the queen"

 ٌ‫ بنتٌالملكةٌِالقصيرة‬bintu l-malikati l-qaṣīratu "the short daughter (nom.) of the queen"

 ٌِ‫ بنتٌالملكةٌِالقصيرة‬bintu l-malikati l-qaṣīrati "the daughter (nom.) of the short queen"

 ٌِ‫ بنتٌِالملكةٌِالقصيرة‬binti l-malikati l-qaṣīrati "the short daughter (gen.) of the queen" or "the daughter (gen.) of the short queen"

Note that the adjective must follow the genitive regardless of which of the two nouns it modifies, and only the agreement characteristics (case, gender, etc.) indicate which noun is
modified.

The construct state is likewise used for nouns with an attached possessive suffix:

 ‫ بنتها‬bintu-hā "her daughter (nom.)"

 ‫ بنتِها‬binti-hā "her daughter (gen.)"

 ‫ بنته‬bintu-hu "his daughter (nom.)"

 ‫ بنتِه‬binti-hi "his daughter (gen.)"

 ‫ بنتي‬bint-ī "my daughter (nom./acc./gen.)"

 ‫ ملكتِها‬malikati-hā "her queen (gen.)"

 ‫ كلبها‬kalbu-hā "her dog (nom.)"

 ٌ‫ كلبهاٌالكبير‬kalbu-hā l-kabīru "her big dog (nom.)"

Note that in writing, the special form tāʼ marbūṭah indicating the feminine changes into a regular tāʼ before suffixes. This does not affect the formal pronunciation.

When an indefinite noun is modified by another noun, the construct state is not used. Instead, a construction such as ٌ‫ بنتٌللملك ِة‬bintun li-l-malikati lit. "a daughter to the queen" is used.

Note also the following appositional construction:

 ٌ‫ البيتٌواسعٌالنواف ِذ‬al-baytu wāsiʻu l-nawāfiḏi "the house with the wide windows" (lit. "the house wide of windows")

Article[edit]
Main article: Al-

The article (‫ أداة التعريف‬ʼadāt at-taʻrīf) ‫ الـ‬al- is indeclinable and expresses the definite state of a noun of any gender and number. As mentioned above, it is also prefixed to each of that
noun's modifying adjectives. The initial vowel (‫ همزة الوصل‬hamzat ul-waṣl), is volatile in the sense that it disappears in sandhi, the article becoming merel- (although the ʼalif is retained in
orthography in any case as it is based on pausal pronunciation).

Also, the l is assimilated to a number of consonants (dentals and sibilants), so that in these cases, the article in pronunciation is expressed only by geminating the initial consonant of the
noun (while in orthography, the writing ‫ الـ‬ʼalif lām is retained, and the gemination may be expressed by putting šaddah on the following letter).

The consonants causing assimilation (trivially including ‫( ل‬l)) are ‫( ت‬t), ‫( ث‬ṯ), ‫( د‬d), ‫( ذ‬ḏ), ‫( ر‬r), ‫( ز‬z), ‫( س‬s), ‫( ش‬š), ‫( ص‬ṣ), ‫( ض‬ḍ), ‫( ط‬ṭ), ‫( ظ‬ẓ), ‫( ل‬l), ‫( ن‬n). These 14 letters are called 'solar letters'
(‫ الحروف الشمسية‬al-ḥurūf aš-šamsiyyah), while the remaining 14 are called 'lunar letters' or 'moon letters' (‫ الحروف القمرية‬al-ḥurūf al-qamariyyah). The solar letters all have in common that they
are dental, alveolar, and postalveolar consonants (all coronals) in the classical language, and the lunar consonants are not. (‫ ج‬ǧīm is pronounced postalveolar in most varieties of
Arabic today, but was actually a palatalized voiced velar plosive in the classical language, and is thus considered a lunar letter; nevertheless, in colloquial Arabic, the ‫ ج‬ǧīm is often
spoken as if solar.)

Agreement[edit]
Adjectives generally agree with their corresponding nouns in gender, number, case and state. Pronouns and verbs likewise agree in person, gender and number. [5]However, there is an
important proviso: inanimate plural nouns take feminine-singular agreement. This so-called "deflected agreement" applies to all agreement contexts, whether of adjectives, verbs or
pronouns, and applies regardless of both the inherent gender of the noun (as indicated by singular and dual agreement) and the form of the plural of the noun. Note that this does not
apply to dual nouns, which always have "strict agreement".

Case[edit]
Main article: Iʻrāb

There are six basic noun/adjective singular declensions:

 The normal triptote declension, which includes the majority of nouns and adjectives. The basic property is a three-way case marking distinction -u -a -i. An example is
‫ كتاب‬kitāb "book", with indefinite declension ٌ‫ كتاب‬kitābun, ٌ‫ كتابا‬kitāban, ‫ب‬
ٌٍ ‫ كتا‬kitābin and definite declension ٌ‫ الكتاب‬al-kitābu, ٌ‫ الكتاب‬al-kitāba, ‫ب‬
ٌِ ‫ الكتا‬al-kitābi. Most feminine nouns have an
additional stem -‫( ة‬-at-), and decline the same way. Some feminine nouns (and a few masculine nouns) have a variant stem -‫( اة‬-āt-), again with the same declensional endings.
Note that there are some cases of nouns (and a few adjectives) whose gender does not match the stem form (in both directions). In addition, some masculine nouns (with and
without -‫ )ة‬have broken plurals in -‫ة‬, and likewise some feminine nouns have broken plurals without -‫ة‬. This affects the form, but not the inherent gender (or agreement properties)
of these nouns.

 The diptote declension. Diptotes have a different declension only in the singular indefinite state. These words are missing the nunation (final -n-) normally marking the indefinite,
and have different case-marking endings. Everywhere but in the singular indefinite, they have endings identical to triptotes. The class of diptote nouns mostly includes certain
names, and broken plurals of particular forms (especially those with four stem consonants and three-syllable stems, as in ‫ مكاتب‬makātib "desks, offices". Certain adjectives are also
diptotes, such as the form ‫ أفعل‬ʼafʻal of masculine singular elative (i.e. comparative/superlative) and color/defect adjectives, as well as the forms ‫ فعالء‬faʻlāʼ (feminine singular
color/defect adjectives) and ‫ فعالن‬faʻlān (masculine singular "intensive" adjectives expressing emotional concepts such as "angry, thirsty").

 The "long construct" declension. These are triptotes with long case endings -ū -ā -ī in the singular construct state, and normal triptote endings elsewhere. There are only five
nouns in this declension, all very short (see below): ‫ أب‬ʼab "father" (e.g. ‫ أبوٌحسن‬ʼabū ḥasan "the father of Hasan"); ‫ أخ‬ʼaḫ "brother"; ‫ حم‬ḥam "father-in-law"; ‫ فم‬fam "mouth" (which
assumes an irregular stem f- in the construct state, e.g. ‫ فو‬fū "the mouth of (nom.)"); and ‫ ذو‬ḏū "the owner of" (which appears only in construct and has a seriously irregular
declension; see under demonstrative pronouns).

 The -in declension (Arabic ‫ اسمٌالمنقوص‬ʼism al-manqūṣ). This is used primarily for nouns and adjectives whose final root consonant is -y or -w, and which would normally have an -i-
before the last consonant (e.g. the active participles of third-weak verbs). Such words were once declined as normal triptotes, but sound change has caused the last stem syllable
to collapse together with the ending, leading to an irregular declension. In adjectives, this irregularity occurs only in the masculine; such adjectives have a normal feminine with a
stem ending in -iya-.
 The -an declension (Arabic ‫ اسمٌالمقصور‬ʼism al-maqṣūr). Like the -in declension, this is used primarily for nouns and adjectives whose final root consonant is -y or -w, but these are
words that would normally have an -a- before the last consonant (e.g. the passive participles of third-weak verbs). Again, sound change has caused the last stem syllable to
collapse together with the ending, and again, in adjectives the irregularity occurs only in the masculine, with regularly-declined feminines having a stem ending in -
āh (singular/dual) or -ayāt- (plural).

 The invariable -ā declension (written either with "tall" ‫ ألف‬ʼalif or ‫ ألفٌمقصورة‬ʼalif maqṣūrah). These words have the same form in all cases, both indefinite and definite. When this
declension occurs in adjectives, it generally occurs as either the masculine or feminine singular portion of a complex paradigm with a differently-stemmed diptote conjugation in
the other gender. Examples are the feminine singular of elative (i.e. comparative/superlative) adjectives, such as ‫كبرى‬kubrā "bigger/biggest (fem.)", and of "intensive" adjectives in
‫ فعالن‬faʻlān, e.g. ‫ عطشى‬ʻaṭšā "thirsty (fem.)". Masculine singular elatives and color/defect adjectives from third-weak roots have this declension themselves, e.g. ‫ أعمى‬ʼaʻmā "blind",
‫ أدنى‬ʼadnā "nearer, lower".

Note that many (but not all) nouns in the -in, -an or -ā declensions originate as adjectives of some sort, or as verbal nouns of third-weak verbs. Examples: qāḍin"judge" (a form-I active
participle); ٌ‫ مستشفى‬mustašfan "hospital" (a form-X passive participle in its alternative meaning as a "noun of place"); ‫ فصحى‬fusḥā "formal Arabic" (originally a feminine elative, lit. "the most
eloquent (language)"); ‫ دنيا‬dunyā "world" (also a feminine elative, lit. "the lowest (place)"). In addition, many broken plurals are conjugated according to one of these declensions.

Note that all dual nouns and adjectives have the same endings -ā(ni)/-ay(ni), differing only in the form of the stem.

Nominative case [edit]

The nominative case (‫ المرفوع‬al-marfūʻ ) is used for:

 Subjects of a verbal sentence.

 Subjects and predicates of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, with some notable exceptions.

 Certain adverbs retain the nominative marker (although not necessarily representing the nominative case).

 The citation form of words is (if noted at all) in the nominative case.

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a ḍammah (-u) for the definite or ‫ ضمّة‬ḍammah + nunation (-un) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed
by adding -āni and -ūna respectively (-ā and -ū in the construct state). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding -ātu in the definite and -ātun in the indefinite.

Accusative case [edit]

The accusative case (‫ المنصوب‬al-manṣūb) is used for:

 Objects of a verbal sentence.

 The subject of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, if it is initiated with 'inna, or one of her sisters.

 The predicate of ‫ كان\يكون‬kāna/yakūnu "be" and its sisters. Hence, ٌ‫ البنتٌجميلة‬al-bintu ǧamīlatun "the girl is beautiful" but ٌ‫ البنتٌكانتٌجميلة‬al-bintu kānat ǧamīla(tan) "the girl was beautiful"
(spelling ‫ جميلة‬is not affected here (letter ‫ )ة‬in the unvocalised Arabic). The ending in brackets may not be pronounced in pausa or in informal Arabic.

 Both the subject and the predicate of ٌ‫ ظن‬ẓanna and its sisters in an equational clause.

 The object of a transitive verb.

 Most adverbs.

 Internal object/cognate accusative structure.

 The accusative of specification/purpose/circumstantial.

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a fatḥah (-a) for the definite or fatḥah + nunation (-an) for the indefinite. For the indefinite accusative, thefatḥah + nunation is added
to an ʼalif e.g. ‫ـا‬, which is added to the ending of all nouns (e.g. ٌ‫ كانٌتعبانا‬kāna taʻbāna(n) "he was tired") not ending with a ʼalif followed byhamzah or a tāʼ marbūṭah. The dual and regular
masculine plural are formed by adding -ayn(i) and -īn(a) (both spelled ‫ ـين‬in Arabic) respectively (-ay and -ī in the construct state, both spelled ‫ ـي‬in Arabic). The regular feminine plural is
formed by adding -āt(i) in the definite and -āt(in) in the indefinite, both spelled ‫ ـات‬in Arabic.

Genitive case [edit]

The genitive case (‫ المجرور‬al-maǧrūr) is used for:

 Objects of prepositions.

 All, but not necessarily the first member (the first nomen regens), of an ʼiḍāfah (genitive construction) .

 The object of a locative adverb.

 Semi-prepositions if preceded by another (true or semi) preposition

 Objects of ‫ أي‬ʼayy "any".

 Elative (comparative/superlative) adjectives behave similarly: ‫" أطولٌول ٌٍد‬ʼaṭwalu waladin" "tallest boy('s)".

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a ‫ كسرة‬kasrah (-i) for the definite or ‫ كسرة‬kasrah + nunation (-in) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed
by adding -ayn(i) and -īn(a) respectively (both spelled ‫ ـين‬in Arabic) (-ay and -ī in the construct state, both spelled ‫ ـي‬in Arabic). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding -āt(i) in the
definite and -āt(in) in the indefinite, both spelled ‫ ـات‬in Arabic.

Note: diptotic nouns receive a fatḥah (-a) in the genitive indefinite and are never nunated.

Pronunciation[edit]
When speaking or reading aloud, nouns at the end of an utterance are pronounced in a special pausal form (‫ الوقف‬al-waqf). Final short vowels, as well as short vowels followed by
a nunation, are omitted; but accusative -an sounds as -ā. The -t- in the feminine ending -at- sounds as -h-.

In writing, all words are written in their pausal form; special diacritics may be used to indicate the case endings and nunation, but are normally only found in books for students and
children, in the Quran, and occasionally elsewhere to remove ambiguity. Only the accusative case for indefinite masculine nouns is often marked. Feminine nouns are indicated
using a ‫ ة‬tāʼ marbūṭah (technically, the letter for -h- with the markings for -t- added.
When speaking in less formal registers, words are essentially pronounced in their pausal form. When speaking or reading aloud , the case endings are generally omitted in less
formal registers.

Noun and Adjective Inflection (Colloquial Arabic)[edit]

This section

requires expansion. (August

2011)

In the colloquial spoken varieties of Arabic, much of the inflectional and derivational grammar of Classical Arabic nouns and adjectives is unchanged. The colloquial varieties have
all been affected by a change that deleted most final short vowels (also final short vowels followed by a nunation suffix -n), and shortened final long vowels.

Loss of case

The largest change is the total lack of any grammatical case in the colloquial variants. When case endings were indicated by short vowels, these are simply deleted. Otherwise,
the pausal form of the original oblique case has been usually generalized to all cases (however, in "long construct" nouns, it is nominative -ū that has been generalized). The
original nunation ending indicating the indefinite state is also lost in most varieties, and where it persists it has different functions (e.g. in conjunction with a modifier such as
an adjective or relative clause). The distinction between triptote and diptote has vanished, as has the distinction between defective -an and invariable -ā, which are both rendered
by -a (shortened from -ā); similarly, defective -in nouns now have an ending -i, shortened from pausal/definite -ī.

Even in Classical Arabic, grammatical case appears not to have been completely integrated into the grammar. The word order was largely fixed — contrary to the usual freedom
of word order in languages with case marking (e.g. Latin, Russian) — and there are few cases in the Koran where omission of case endings would entail significant ambiguity of
meaning. As a result, the loss of case entailed relatively little change in the grammar as a whole. In Modern Standard Arabic, case functions almost entirely as an afterthought:
Most case endings are not pronounced at all, and even when the correct use of case endings is necessary (e.g. in formal, prepared speeches), the text is composed without
consideration of case and later annotated with the correct endings.

Despite the loss of case, the original indefinite accusative ending -an survives in its adverbial usage.

Restriction of the dual number

The dual number is lost except on nouns, and even then its use is no longer functionally obligatory (i.e. the plural may also be used when referring to two objects, if the duality of
the objects is not being emphasized). In addition, many varieties have two morphologically separate endings inherited from the Classical dual, one used with dual semantics and
the other used for certain objects that normally come in pairs (e.g. eyes, ears) but with plural semantics. (It is sometimes suggested that only the latter variety was actually directly
inherited, whereas the former variety was a late borrowing from the Classical language.) In some varieties (e.g. Moroccan Arabic), the former, semantic dual has nearly
disappeared, and is used only with a limited number of nouns, especially those referring to cardinal numbers and units of measurement.

Changes to elative adjectives

Elative adjectives (those adjectives having a comparative and superlative meaning) are no longer inflected; instead, the masculine singular serves for all genders and numbers.
Note that the most common way of saying e.g. "the largest boy" is ‫ أكبرٌولد‬ʼakbar walad, with the adjective in the construct state (rather than expected ‫* الولدٌاألكبر‬al-walad al-ʼakbar,
with the adjective in its normal position after the noun and agreeing with it in state).

Preservation of remainder of system

Other than the above changes, the system is largely stable. The same system of two genders, sound and broken plurals, and the use of multiple stems to complete the declension
of some nouns and adjectives still exists, and is little changed in its particulars.

The singular of feminine nouns is normally marked in -a. Former -in nouns are marked in -i, while former -an and -ā nouns are marked in -a, causing a formal merger in the
singular with the feminine (but nouns that were masculine generally remain that way). The former "long feminine" marked with pausal -āh normally is marked with -āt in all
circumstances (even outside of the construct state). Sound masculine plurals are marked with -īn, and sound feminine plurals with -āt; duals often use -ēn (< -ayn, still preserved
in the occasional variety that has not undergone the changes ay > ē, aw > ō).

The system of three states also still exists. With loss of final -n, the difference between definite and indefinite simply comes down to presence or absence of the article al-.
The construct state is distinguished by lack of al-, and in feminines in -a by a separate ending -at (or -it). The "older dual" (used for the plural of certain body parts, e.g. eyes and
ears), which is often -ēn (< -ayn), has a separate construct form -ē (which becomes -ayya in combination with clitic suffix -ya "my"). Other duals, as well as sound plurals, do not
normally have a construct state, but instead use an analytical genitive construction, using a particle with a meaning of "of" but whose form differs greatly from variant to variant,
and which is used in a grammatical construction that exactly parallels the analytical genitive in English constructions such as "the father of the teacher".

Noun and Adjective Derivation[edit]

A number of derivational processes exist for forming new nouns and adjectives. Most of these processes are non-concatenative, i.e. they involve a specific transformation applied
to a root or word of a specific form, and cannot be arbitrarily combined or repeated to form longer and longer words. The only real concatenative derivational process is
the nisba adjective -iyy-, which can be added to any noun (or even other adjective) to form an adjective meaning "related to X", and nominalized with the meaning "person related
to X" (the same ending occurs in Arabic nationality adjectives borrowed into English such as "Iraqi", "Kuwaiti"). A secondary concatenative suffix is the feminine -ah, which can be
added onto most nouns to make a feminine equivalent. The actual semantics are not very well-defined, but when added onto a noun indicating a man of some sort, they typically
either refer to the women or objects with the same characteristics. The feminine nisba adjective -iyyah is commonly used to refer to abstract nouns (e.g.
‫ اشتراكية‬ištirākiyyah "socialism"), and is sometimes added directly onto foreign nouns (e.g. ‫ ديموقراطية‬dimuqrāṭiyyah "democracy").

The most productive means of derivational morphology of nouns is actually through the existing system of the participles (active and passive) and verbal nouns that are
associated with each verb. These words can be "lexicalized" (made into separate lexical entries, i.e. words with their own specific meanings) by giving them additional semantics,
much as the original English gerund "meeting" and passive participle "loaded" have been lexicalized from their original meanings of "the act of meeting (something)", "being
loaded into/onto someone/something", so that (e.g.) "meeting" can mean "a gathering of people to discuss an issue, often business-related" and "loaded" can mean "having lots of
money (of a person)", "with a bullet in it (of a gun)", etc.

The system of noun and adjective derivation described below is of Classical Arabic, but the system in the modern colloquial varieties is nearly unchanged. Changes occurring in
particular formations are discussed below.
Collective nouns[edit]
Certain nouns in Arabic, especially those referring to plants, animals and other inanimate objects that often appear in groups, [6] have a special collective declension. For those
nouns, the formally singular noun has plural semantics, or refers to the objects as an undistinguished mass. In these nouns, the singular is formed by adding the feminine suffix ‫ـة‬,
which forms the so-called singulative (‫ اسمٌالوحدة‬ʼism-u l-waḥdah lit. "noun of unity"). These singulative nouns in turn can be pluralized, using either the broken plural or the sound
feminine plural in -āt; this "plural of paucity" is used especially when counting objects between 3 and 10, and sometimes also with the meaning of "different kinds of ...". (When
more than 10 objects are counted, Arabic requires the noun to be in the singular.)

Examples:

 ‫ حجر‬ḥajar "rocks" or "rock" (the material in general); ‫ حجرة‬ḥajarah "a rock"

 ‫ شجر‬šajar "trees"; ‫ شجرة‬šajarah "a tree"; ‫ اشجار‬ʼašjār (3 to 10) "trees"

 ‫ قمح‬qamḥ "wheat", ‫ قمحة‬qamḥah "a grain of wheat"

 ‫ بقر‬baqar "cattle"; ‫ بقرة‬baqarah "a cow"

A similar singulative ending ‫ ي‬iyy applies to human or other sentient beings:

 ‫ جند‬jund "army"; ‫ جندي‬jundiyy "a soldier"

 ٌّ‫ جن‬jinn "genies, jinns"; ‫ جنّي‬jinniyy "a genie"

 ‫ زنج‬zinj "black people" (as a race); ‫ زنجى‬zinjiyy "a black person"

Nisba [edit]
For the use of this construction in forming personal names, see Nisba (onomastics).

The Nisba (‫ النسبة‬an-nisbah) is a common suffix to form adjectives of relation or pertinence. The suffix is ‫ ـي‬-iyy- for masculine and ‫ ـية‬-iyya(t)- for feminine gender (in other words, it
is -iyy- and is inserted before the gender marker).

 E. g. ‫ لبنان‬Lubnān(u) "Lebanon",

 ‫ لبناني‬lubnāniyy "Lebanese (singular masculine)",

 ‫ لبنانية‬lubnāniyyah "Lebanese (singular feminine)",

 ‫ لبنانيون‬lubnāniyyūn "Lebanese (plural masculine)"

 ‫ لبنانيات‬lubnāniyyāt "Lebanese (plural feminine)".

A construct noun and nisbah-adjective is often equivalent to nominal composition in English and other languages (solar cell is equivalent to sun cell).

The feminine nisbah is often used in Arabic as a noun relating to concepts, most frequently corresponding to ones ending in -ism, with the masculine and femininenisbah being
used as adjectival forms of the concept-noun (e.g. -ist) depending on agreement. Thus the feminine nisbah of ‫ االشتراك‬al-ištirāk "partnership, cooperation, participation (definite)",
‫ االشتراكية‬al-ištirākiyyah is the Arabic word for "socialism," and the word "socialist" (both as an adjective and as the term for one who believes in socialism) is ‫ اشتراكي‬ištirākiyy in the
masculine and ‫ اشتراكية‬ištirākiyyah in the feminine.

The Arabic nisbah has given rise to English adjectives of nationality for Arabic countries: Iraqi (from ‫)عراقي‬, Kuwaiti (from ‫)كويتي‬, etc.

Participles and verbal nouns[edit]

Every verb has associated active and passive participles, as well as a verbal noun (‫ مصدر‬maṣdar, lit. "source"). The form of these participles and verbal nouns is largely
predictable. For Form I (the basic type of verb), however, numerous possible shapes exist for the verbal noun, and the form of the verbal noun for any given verb is unpredictable.
In addition, some verbs have multiple verbal nouns, corresponding to different meanings of the verb.

All of these forms are frequently lexicalized (i.e. they are given additional meanings and become the origin of many lexical items in the vocabulary). In fact, participles and verbal
nouns are one of the most productive sources of new vocabulary. A number of Arabic borrowings in English are actually lexicalized verbal nouns, or closely related forms.
Examples are ‫ جهاد‬jihād (from the Form III verb ǧāhada "to strive"); ‫ انتفاضة‬intifāḍah (lit. "uprising", the feminine of the verbal noun of the Form VIII verb ‫ انتفاض‬intafāḍa "to rise up",
technically an instance noun); ‫ إسالم‬Islām (lit. "submission", from a Form IV verb); ‫ استقالل‬istiqlāl (lit. "independence", from a Form X verb). Many participles are likewise lexicalized,
e.g. ‫ مهندس‬muhandis "engineer" (the active participle of the Form I quadriliteral verb ‫ هندس‬handasa "to engineer").

Occupational and characteristic nouns[edit]

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requires expansion. (August

2011)

Occupational nouns can be derived from many verb stems, generally using the form ‫ فعّال‬faʻʻāl, e.g. ‫ كتّاب‬kattāb "scribe" (from ‫ كتب‬kataba "to write"). The same pattern is used to
form characteristic nouns, i.e. nouns with the meaning of "person who habitually does X" rather than an occupation as such, e.g. ‫ ك ّذاب‬kaḏḏāb "liar". Theactive participle can also
be used to form occupational nouns, e.g. ‫ طالب‬ṭālib "student" (from ‫ طلب‬ṭalaba "to ask"), ‫ كاتب‬kātib "writer" (from ‫ كتب‬kataba "to write"), ‫ بائع‬bā'iʻ"vendor" (from ‫ باع‬bāʻa "to sell"),
‫ مهندس‬muhandis "engineer" (from ‫ هندس‬handasa "to engineer"). In addition, some occupational nouns are in the form of a nisba (with an -iyy suffix), e.g. ‫ صحفي‬ṣuhufiyy or
‫ صحافي‬ṣihāfiyy, both meaning "journalist" (derived respectively from ‫ صحف‬ṣuhuf "newspapers" and ‫ صحافة‬ṣihāfah "journalism").

Nouns of place[edit]
This section
 requires expansion. (August
2011)

A common type of derivational noun is the noun of place, with a form ‫ مفعل‬mafʻal or similar, e.g. ‫ مكتب‬maktab "desk / office", ‫ مكتبة‬maktabah "library" (both from ‫كتب‬kataba "to write");
‫ مطبخ‬maṭbaḫ "kitchen" (from ‫ طبخ‬ṭabaḫa "to cook"); ‫ مسرح‬masraḥ "theater" (from ‫ سرح‬saraḥa "to release"). Nouns of place formed from verbs other than Form I have the same form
as the passive participle, e.g. ٌ‫ مستشفى‬mustašfan "hospital" (from the Form X verb ‫ استشفى‬istašfā "to cure").

Tool nouns[edit]
Just as nouns of place are formed using a prefix ma-, tool nouns (also nouns of usage or nouns of instrument; Arabic ‫ اسمٌآلة‬ʼismu ʼālatin lit. "noun of tool") were traditionally formed
using a prefix mi-. Examples are ‫ مفتاح‬miftāḥ "key" (from ‫ فتح‬fataḥa "to open"); ‫ منهاج‬minhāǧ "road" (from ‫ نهج‬nahaǧa "to pursue"); ‫ مكتال‬miktāl "large basket" (from ‫ كتل‬katala "to
gather"); ‫ ميزان‬mīzān "balance (i.e. scales)" (from ‫ وزن‬wazana "to weigh"); ‫ مكسحة‬miksaḥah "broom" (from ‫ كسح‬kasaḥa "to sweep").

However, the current trend is to use a different form ‫ فعّالة‬faʻʻālah. This is in origin a feminine occupational noun (e.g. ‫ كتّالة‬kattālah "female scribe"). It has been repurposed in
imitation of the English use of -er/or in similar nouns (refrigerator, freezer, record player, stapler, etc.) and following the general association in Arabic between the feminine gender
and inanimate objects. The majority of modern inventions follow this form, e.g. ‫نظارة‬ ّ naẓẓārah "telescope, eyeglasses" (‫ نظر‬naẓara "to look"); ‫ثالجة‬ ّ ṯallāǧah "refrigerator"
(‫ ثلج‬ṯalaǧa "to freeze quickly" < ‫ ثلج‬ṯalǧ "snow"); ‫ دبّاسة‬dabbāsah "stapler"; ‫ دبّابة‬dabbābah "tank" (ٌّ‫ دب‬dabba "to crawl").

Instance nouns[edit]
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requires expansion. (August

2011)

An instance noun (nomen vicis or ismu marrati) is a noun that indicates a single occurrence of an action, e.g. ‫ ضربة‬ḍarbah "blow" (compare ‫ ضرب‬ḍarb "act of hitting, striking") or
‫ انتيفاضة‬intifāḍah "intifada, an uprising" (compare ‫ انتفاض‬intifāḍ "act of rising up, shaking off"). Instance nouns are generally formed from a verbal noun by the addition of the feminine
ending. The terminology is unsettled; instance nouns are sometimes called "event instance nouns" or "nouns of single instance", or traditionally "nouns of unity", although this
latter term is unsatisfactory because it can also refer to singulative nouns.

Diminutives[edit]
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requires expansion. (August

2011)

Diminutives (‫ االسمٌالمصغّر‬al-ʼismu l-muṣaġġaru) usually follow a pattern ‫ فعيْل‬fuʻayl or similar (‫ فع ْيلِل‬fuʻaylil if there are four consonants). Examples are ‫ كليب‬kulayb "little dog"
(‫كلب‬kalb "dog"); ‫ي‬
ٌّ ‫ بن‬bunayy "little son" (‫ ابن‬ibn "son"); ‫ حسين‬Ḥusayn "Hussein" (‫ حسن‬ḥasan "good, handsome, beautiful").

Diminutives are relatively unproductive in Modern Standard Arabic, reflecting the fact that they are rare in many modern varieties, e.g. Egyptian Arabic, where they are nearly
nonexistent except for a handful of lexicalized adjectives like ‫ كويّس‬kuwayyis "good", ‫ صغيّر‬ṣuġayyar "small" < Classical ‫ صغير‬ṣaġīr "small". On the other hand, they were extremely
productive in some of the spoken dialects in Koranic times, and Wright's Arabic grammar lists a large number of diminutives, including numerous exceptional forms. Furthermore,
diminutives are enormously productive in some other modern varieties, e.g. Moroccan Arabic. In Moroccan Arabic, nearly every noun has a corresponding diminutive, and they
are used quite frequently in speech, typically with an affective value ("cute little X", etc.). The typical diminutive has the Moroccan form fʻila, fʻiyyel, fʻilel or similar – always with two
initial consonants and a following /i/, which is the regular outcome of Classical fuʻay-. (fʻila <fuʻaylah; fʻiyyel < fuʻayyal; fʻilel < fuʻaylil.)

Adverb[edit]
‫ ظرف‬ẓarf

Adverbials are expressed using adjectives in the indefinite accusative, often written with the ending ‫( ـا‬e.g. ‫ أيضا‬ayḍan "also") but pronounced "-an" even if it's not written (see
accusative), e.g.: ‫ قرأٌالكتابٌقراءةٌبطيئة‬qaraʼa al-kitāba qirāʼatan baṭīʼatan, literally: "he read the book a slow reading"; i.e., "He read the book slowly". This type of construction is known
as the "absolute accusative" (cf. absolute ablative in Latin grammar).

Adverbs can be formed from adjectives, ordinal numerals: ‫ كثيرا‬kaṯīran frequently, a lot, often, ‫ نادرا‬nādiran rarely, ٌ‫ أوال‬ʼawwalan firstly or from nouns: ٌ‫ عادة‬ʻādatanusually,
‫ جدا‬ǧiddan very.

The second method to form adverbs is to use a preposition and a noun, e. g. ‫ بـ‬bi-, e.g. ‫ بسرع ٌٍة‬bi-surʻa(tin) swift, "with speed", ٌِ‫ بالضبط‬bi-ḍ-ḍabṭ(i) exactly.

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ http://www.languageguide.org/arabic/grammar/plural.jsp
2. Jump up^ http://www.languageguide.org/arabic/grammar/dual.jsp
3. Jump up^ http://www.as-sidq.org/durusulQuran/arabic/002noun-f.htm
4. Jump up^ http://www.languageguide.org/arabic/grammar/
5. Jump up^ http://arabiccomplete.com/modules_colloquial_msa/noun_adjective_agreement_1.htm
6. Jump up^ Wright, William (1862). A Grammar of the Arabic language 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ISBN 1-84356-028-3.