
Introduction
The nouns اَلْإِسْمُ are divided into two kinds:
النَّكِرَةُ – Indefinite
المَعْرِفَةُ – definite
Indefinite nouns – أَسْمَاءُ النَّكِرَةُ
They are names given in general to a living or non-living thing (common nouns). Thus, indefinite nouns end with nunnation (Tanween – تَنْوِين)
Examples:
رَجُلٌ – man
اِمْرَأَةٌ – woman
سَمَكٌ – fish
مَاءٌ – water
مُلْكٌ – kingdom
عَذَابٌ- punishment
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Definite nouns – الأَسْماءُ المَعْرِفَة
Definite nouns are proper names given to a certain person, place, or object.
Example:
نُوْحٌ – Noah
حَامِدٌ – Hamid
أَحْمَدُ – Ahmed
إِبْراهِيْمُ – Ibrahim
Important characteristics of a noun
بَيْتٌ – a house
كُرْسِيٌّ – a chair
قَلَمٌ – a pen
كِتَابٌ – un crayon
رَسُولٌ – un messager
2. There are two conditions in which the nunnation (tanween) is dropper:
- The indefinite noun can be changed to definite by adding the prefix
اَلْ
اَلْ +بِنْتٌ = اَلْبِنْتُ
The + girl = The girl
اَلْ + نَبَأٌ = النَّبَأُ
The + news = The news
اَلْ + فَاكِهَةٌ = اَلْفَاكِهَةُ
The + fruit = The fruit
اَلْ + مَالِكٌ = اَلْمَالِكُ
The + ruler = The ruler
اِلْ + فِضَّةٌ = اَلفِضَّةُ
The + silver = The silver
اَلْ + يَوْمٌ = اَلْيَوْمُ
The + day = The day
Note: The proper nouns like Khalid (خَالِدٌ) or Hamid (حَامِدُ) are definite by nature. Therefore, اِلْ cannot be added to them.
- When two nouns come together in the possessive form, the nunnation (tanween) is dropped from the first noun while the corresponding harakat (short vowel marks) will remain.
- The second noun will have Kasrah:
-ِ
or tanween kasrah:
-ٍ
- In the possessive case, the possessor comes after the thing possessed.
Examples:
نَارٌ + اَللَّهُ = نَارُ اللَّهِ
Fire + Allah = Fire of Allah
رَسُولٌ + اَللّهُ = رَسُولُ اَللَّهِ
Messenger + Allah = Messenger of Allah
أَصْحَابٌ + اَلْقُبُورُ = أَصْحَابُ الْقُبُورِ
People + the grave = People of the grave
كِتَابٌ + كُمْ = كِتَابُكُم
Book + you = Your book (plural)
بَيْتٌ + كَ = بَيْتُكَ
House + your = Your house (singular)
The Noun cases in Arabic
Nominative case – اَلْمَرْفُوع / حَالَةُ الرَّفْعِ
The nominative case is when the noun is the subject (doer of the verb) of the sentence, it will bear dammah :
_ُ
or tanween dammah :
-ٌ
The noun with dammah will be in the nominative case.
Examples:
قَالَ نُوحٌ رَّبِّ
Noah Said (71:21)
وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
And the moon was split (54:1)
Accusative case – حَالَةُ النَّصَبِ/الْمَنْصُوبُ
The accusative case is when the noun is the object of the sentence, it will bear fatha:
-َ
or tanwin fatha:
-ً
Here the noun will be in the accusative case.
Examples:
جَعَلَ اللَّـهُ الْكَعْبَةَ
Allah has made the Kaaba (5:97)
وَضَرَبَ اللَّـهُ مَثَلًا
And Allah sets forth an example (66:11)
فَبَعَثَ اللَّـهُ غُرَابًا
“Then Allah sent a crow” (5:31)
Genitive case – الْمَجْرُورُ / حَالَةُ الْجارِّ
Genitive case: if a preposition precedes the noun, it will bear kasrah:
-ِ
or tanween kasrah:
-ٍ
Here the noun will be in the genitive case.
Examples:
مِن شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ
“From the evil of that which He has created” (113:2)
فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ
“then he will lead a life of pleasure” (101:7)
عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
“On the straight path” (36:4)
Exceptions nouns
Some nouns such as:
زَيْنَبُ, مَرْيَمُ, فِرْعَوْنُ, أَحْمَدُ, إِبْرَاهِيممُ
are exceptions to the rule and therefore do not have nunnation (tanween) nor kasrah in the genitive case:
-ِ
The genitive case will be denoted by fatha:
-َ
Examples:
اذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ
Go to Fir’awn; he has certainly rebelled” (79:17)
وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَرْيَمَ
“And mention in the book (about) Maryam.” (19:16)
Usually, non-Arabic names and names with more than 3 letters do not bear nunnation (tanween).
Also, nouns used as adjectives denoting colors do not bear nunnation (tanween).
Examples:
أَحْضَرُ – green
Green
أَسْوَدُ – black
أَصْفَرُ – yellow
أَحْمَرُ – red
أَبْيَضُ – white
الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنَ الشَّجَرِ الْأَخْضَرِ نَارًا
“He it is who made the fire for you from the green trees” (36:80)
حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ
“You can distinguish the white thread” (2:187)
This Arabic lesson is now finished. The next one will be insha’Allah about the dual in Arabic.
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