‫طُْور‬

mountain

‫َرفَ َع‬
raised, lifted

We raised the mountain.

‫َر َف ْعنا الطُّْو َر‬
‫َر َف ْعنا الطُّْو َر‬

We saw that a describing borrower is, by default, placed immediately after the word it is
describing. We also saw that an owner can never be separated from what it owns nor can an ap
be separated from its preposition.

Now, what do we do if we want to describe the word being owned, not the owner? For
example,

They (fp) did not see the child's sister.

‫ت الْ َولَ ِد‬
َ ‫ُأخ‬
ْ ‫ما َرَأيْ َن‬
‫ما َرَأ ْينَ ُأ ْختَ ْال َولَ ِد‬

What if we wanted to change this sentence to:

They (fp) did not see the child's short sister.

We want the db to be immediately after the word it's describing, namely َ‫ُأ ْخت‬. The problem is
that we can't put it between َ‫ ُأ ْخت‬and ‫ ْال َولَ ِد‬because of the rule we just saw: an owner can never be
separated from the word it's owning, nor can an ap be separated from its preposition. Therefore,
we do the best we can: we put the describing borrower immediately after the owner of the
word it is describing, because that is the closest it can get to it.

Important rule #25: If you have a db that is describing a word that is owned, remember that an
owner can never be separated from what it owns. Therefore, it cannot be placed between the
owner and what it owns. So, we do the best we can: we put the describing borrower
immediately after the owner of the word it is describing, because that is the closest it can get to
the word that is owned.

They (fp) did not see the child's short sister.

َ‫صْيَرة‬ِ ‫ما رَأين ُأخت الْولَ ِد الْ َق‬
َ َ ْ َْ َ
ِ َ‫ما َرَأ ْينَ ُأ ْختَ ْال َولَ ِد الق‬
َ‫صي َْرة‬ ْ
How do we know that َ‫صْيَرة‬ِ ‫ الْ َق‬is describing ‫ ُأخت‬and not ‫ ?الْولَ ِد‬There are two ways: one is that its
َ ْ َ
color is red, not green. The second is that if ‫صْيَر َة‬ِ ‫ الْ َق‬were describing ‫ الْولَ ِد‬it would have to match it
َ
ِ
in gender, which it does not, for it is feminine while ‫ الْ َولَد‬is masculine. If the db were describing
the owner rather than the owned, the sentence would have been:

They (fp) did not seen the short child's sister.

ِ ‫ما رَأين ُأخت الْولَ ِد الْ َق‬
ِ‫صرْي‬
َ َ ْ َْ َ
ِ َ‫ما َرَأ ْينَ ُأ ْختَ ْال َولَ ِد الق‬
‫صي ِْر‬ ْ

Please remember that in addition to gender, the describing borrower has to match the word it is
describing (i.e. its lender) in definiteness and, of course, color. In fact, all borrowers, not just
describing borrowers, have to match their lenders in color.

The girl entered her mother's new house.

‫ت ُِّأم َها اجْلَ ِديْ َد‬ ِ
ُ ‫َد َخلَت الْبِْن‬
َ ‫ت َبْي‬
‫ت ُِّأم َها اجْلَ ِديْ َد‬ ِ
ُ ‫َد َخلَت الْبِْن‬
َ ‫ت َبْي‬

They (md) met Khalid's tall father.

‫لَِقيا َوالِ َد خالِ ٍد الطَّ ِويْ َل‬
‫لَ ِقيا َوالِ َد خالِ ٍد الطَّ ِويْ َل‬

Here how do we know that ‫ الطَّ ِويْ َل‬is describing ‫ َوالِ َد‬and not ‫ ?خالِ ٍد‬There is only one way for us to
know that: the colors. The other way does not work here, for both ‫ َوالِ َد‬and ‫ خالِ ٍد‬are masculine;
either way, the describing borrower would be masculine.

However, there are some truly ambiguous cases, such as:

I went to the man's big house.

ِ‫الر ُج ِل الْ َكبِرْي‬
َّ ‫ت‬ِ ‫َذهبت إىل بي‬
َْ ُ ْ َ
ِ‫الر ُج ِل الْ َكبِرْي‬ ِ
َّ ‫ت إىل َبْيت‬
ُ ‫ذَ َهْب‬

This sentence could just as well have meant "I went to the big man's house." There's no way to
tell which meaning the author intended without context.

‫بَ َس َم‬
smiled

I (m) entered his garden smiling.

‫ت َح ِد ْي َقتَهُ" بامِس ًا‬
ُ ‫َد َخْل‬
‫ت َح ِد ْي َقتَهُ بامِس ًا‬
ُ ‫َد َخْل‬

I (m) entered his small garden smiling.

‫الصغِْيَرةَ بامِس ًا‬
َّ "ُ‫ت َح ِد ْي َقتَه‬
ُ ‫َد َخْل‬
‫مِس‬ ِ
‫الصغْيَر َة با ًا‬ ِ
َّ ُ‫ت َحد ْي َقتَه‬ ُ ‫َد َخْل‬

Note that here the owner is a pronoun. Also, I had to specify that the doer is masculine because
if it were feminine, the sentence would have been:

I (f) entered his small garden smiling.

‫مِس‬ َّ ُ‫ت َح ِد ْي َقتَه‬
ً‫الصغِْيَر َة با َة‬ ُ ‫َد َخْل‬
‫مِس‬ َّ ُ‫ت َح ِد ْي َقتَه‬
ً‫الصغِْيَرةَ با َة‬ ُ ‫َد َخْل‬