ْ ‫ال ُج ْملَة ا ِال‬

‫س ِميَّة‬
Nominal sentences begin with a noun or a pronoun

Nominal sentences have 2 parts:

a predicate (‫ )خبر‬+ a subject (‫)مبتدأ‬

derived from Meaning

‫( مبتدأ‬S) ‫اِ ْبت َ َدأ‬ to start with
‫( خبر‬Ket. Sbg P) ‫َخبَ ََر‬ to tells something about
someone/something else

The first is derived from ‫‘ اِ ْبت َ َدأ‬to start with’ and the second from ‫‘ َخ َب ََر‬to tells something about
someone/something else.’

So, the ‫ َخبَ ََر‬depends on the ‫ ُم ْبت َ َدأ‬, i.e. no ‫ َخبَ ََر‬without a ‫ ُم ْبت َ َدأ‬.

The ‫ َخ َب ََر‬mostly comes second, and it has different forms.

This post is about the Types of Predicate ‫أ َ ْن َواعَُال َخبَر‬.

When the nominal sentence is about being, i.e. if the verb of the sentence is ‘to be’ in English, this verb
is not given in Arabic. Instead, it is implied and understood from the context. This can be confusing to
some learners who speak European languages and are used to having a verb in each sentence. Consider
the first 3 examples below where verb to be is not given in the Arabic sentence.

The subject of the nominal sentence is a noun or a pronoun, while the predicate can be a noun,
adjective, preposition and noun, or verb. In the following examples the subject is underlined:

Artikel ini sangat bagus. “This is an excellent article.” .‫هذهَمقالةَممتازة‬

Ayahnya orang Lebanon. “Her father is Lebanese.” ‫والدهاَلبناني‬
Kami berada di Mesir. “We are in Egypt.” ‫نحنَمنَمصر‬

The subject of a nominal sentence is usually definite, yet an indefinite subject is allowed in some types
of sentences that express existence or possession, and in this case the subject comes after the
predicate. In the following examples the subject is underlined:

‫هناكَأوالدَفيَالحديقة‬.

“There are kids in the park.”

‫الولدَيلعب‬.

“The boy plays.”