lesson 5 - Arabic Gems
Lesson 5: “My” and definite nominal sentences Lesson 5 teaches: the first person singular genitive suffix: how to say “my……..” The pronoun of separation to make a definite nominal sentence. To say “my………” Suffix: An ending made up of one or more letters that is added to a word to change its form or its meaning. For example: reading walking eaten books etc. To say “my something” in Arabic, the first person genitive ( يee) suffix needs to be added to the end of the noun to which you are possessing. The adding of this Ie: يsuffix gives the meaning of “my” to the word. ِكتَابْي My book When you claim possession over something, the object which is being possessed has to be definite in meaning – because of the fact it is possessed. For example, we would not say in English “my the car”. It is the same in Arabic. When adding the suffix meaning “my” there is no need for the definite article ْ( الnor is there the need for tanween). All you need to do is: ْالْ ِكتَاب ِكتَابْي ِْكتَاب my book Add the suffix يat the end Remove ْ الand the final the book ِْكتَاب a book vowel if definite. Start with your noun (or tanween if indefinite) (Arabic Gems: Lesson 5) page 1 If the word ends in taa’marbootah, then you need to change it to an open taa تfirst before adding the suffix. حياتي حيات َْحياة My life Add the suffix (a) life يat the end Remove ْ الand the final vowel if definite or tanween if indefinite. Replace the taa’marbootah with ت Important: ي, there will be no change for case. It will always end ي When adding the first person singular genitive suffix If we have a noun which ends in Alif, then the suffix will become ْي َ هدا هدا ْي َ –adding a fatha. ْهدى You can not have alif-maqsoorah in middle of word, only at the end. So the alif-maqsoorah must be changed into regular alif. Adjectives describing “my……” When stating possession of something, we have already learnt that the noun automatically becomes definite due to it being possessed. Therefore, any adjective which describes it must also be definite. (remember, in lesson 1 – adjectives must agree with noun in definiteness) For example: َْربْي العزيز ْعزيز ن َربْي ال ْ ِم ِ From my Mighty Lord My Mighty Lord Major case: ْ ِمنis a preposition, so causes the noun رب َ to be majroor (expressed through its type). Because the noun is majroor, then the adjective must also be majroor – due to adjectives must follow the noun (Arabic Gems: Lesson 5) page 2 Definite nominal sentence: pronoun of separation We learnt in lesson 1 that if we have a definite subject with an definite adjective, then you get a simple adjectival phrase. (ie: the clear book) And we learnt also in lesson 1, that if we have a definite subject with an indefinite adjective, then we have a simple nominal sentence (the x is y). (ie: the book is clear) However, what if we want to make a nominal sentence with a definite subject and a definite predicate? – for example, if we want to say “Allah is the glorious” – that’s a definite subject (Allah) and a definite predicate “the glorious” as a sentence! -to do this, an extra word is needed! We must place a third person pronoun (ie ْي | ه َو َْ ) هنْ | همْ ِهthat agrees with the subject in number and gender, between the subject and the predicate. The X is the Y Example 1: 3rd person pronoun of separation ْاألمهاتْ هنْ اللطيفات The mothers are the gentle (ones) The X is the Y - ْ األمهاتFeminine plural - So pronoun of separation must be feminine plural: - Lastly, the predicate must agree with subject in gender and number, so in this case, must also be feminine and plural: example 2: ْهن ْاللطيفات 3rd person pronoun of separation َقَومي همْ ال ْون َ صالح ِ My people are the righteous The X is the Y - قَوميmasculine singular but plural meaning (Arabic Gems: Lesson 5) page 3 ْهم - So, the pronoun of separation must be masculine plural to agree with the subject - Therefore, the predicate must also be masculine and plural to agree with the subject َال ْون َ صالح ِ Example 3: 3rd person pronoun of separation ْي الخالِدة َْ الحياةْ في الجن ِةْ ِه The life in Jannah is the everlasting The X is the Y - ْ الحياةْ في الجن ِةIs feminine singular subject - so the pronoun of separation must be feminine 3rd person - ِْه َي therefore, the predicate must be feminine singular ْ الخالِدة Adding the 3rd person pronoun does not affect the case or anything else in the sentence, other than rendering it to be a definite nominal sentence. You do not translate the 3rd person pronoun literally in such sentences, rather you would say “is” or “are” etc, just how is done in the simple nominal sentences the x is y. The formula to remember the definite nominal sentence is The X is the Y. (the 3rd person pronoun being placed between the X and the Y) Everything that comes before the pronoun is the X and everything after is the Y. Note: Sometimes, in the Qur’an, two definite words (one of them being Allah or one of His Names) are used together to make a nominal sentence, without using the pronoun of separation eg َربِّي للا ه My Lord is Allah and not My Lord, Allah (Arabic Gems: Lesson 5) page 4 Lesson 5: Quick revision summary To say “my something” in Arabic, the first person genitive ( يee) suffix needs to be added to the end of the noun to which you are possessing. Ie ِكتَابْيmy book Words ending taa’marbootah – change taa’marbootah to open ta before adding suffix Ie َْحياة حياتي my life Nouns ending Alif - then the suffix will become ْي َ –(instead of “ يee”) Adjectives agree with noun in 4 things – so when noun is possessed by 1st person possessive suffix – noun is definite, therefore adjective must be definite. also, don’t forget to match gender, number and case! To make definite nominal sentence: The X is The Y Add 3rd person pronoun ْي | ه َو َْ هنْ | همْ ِهthat agrees with the subject in number and gender, between the subject and the predicate. (do not translate) Has no effect on case (Arabic Gems: Lesson 5) page 5
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