Simple Arabic Grammar Terms (1)

Simple Arabic Grammar Terms (1)

Arabic grammar terms of the previous lessons are listed and explained. Besides the explanation of the terms, examples are given.

simple Arabic grammar terms

A word that can be a subject فَاعِل, a topic مُبْتَدَأ, a predicate خَبَر, an object of a verb مَفْعُول, or an object of a preposition اٍسْم مَجْرُور.

    كِتَابٌ – a book

    أَحْمَدُ – Ahmed

    شَجَرَةٌ – a tree

    كَلْبٌ – a dog

    خَطَرٌ – a danger

ٌاِسْم

Noun

A noun that does not refer to a specific entity.

ٌكِتَاب   

شَجَرَةٌ   

كَلْبٌ   

خَطَرٌ   

ٌنَكِرَة

an indefinite

A noun that refers to a specific entity. A نَكِرَة is made مَعْرِفَة by prefixing ال (i.e. الْخَطَرُ) or suffixing possessive pronoun ضَمِيْر مِلْكِيَّة (i.e. كِتَابُهَا).

    كِتَابُهَا – her book

الشَّجَرَةُ   

    كَلْبُهُم – their dog

الْخَطَرُ   

ٌمَعْرِفَة

a definite

A noun that denotes a male.

    مُدَرِِّسٌ – teacher

    طَبِيبٌ – physician

    صَدِيْقٌ – friend

    لَاعِبٌ – player

مُذَكَّر

a masculine

A noun that denotes a female. It usually ends with ـة taa marbuta. So, most masculine nouns are changed to feminine nouns by adding the feminine prefix ـة.

    مُدَرِّسَةٌ   

طَبِيبَةٌ   

صَدِيقَةٌ   

لَاعِبَةٌ   

    سَيَّارَةٌ – car

    بَقَرَةٌ - cow

ٌمُؤَنَّث

a feminine

Weak letters حُرُوف العِلَّة are the long vowels.

ا ، و ، ي   

حَرْفُ عِلَّةٍ

a weak letter

The verb the root of which does not include a weak letter (i.e. a long vowel).

    شَرَحَ – he explained

    نَزَلَ – he came down

    شَجَّعَ – he encouraged

    اِنْفَعَلَ – he got emotional

فِعْلٌ صَحِيحٌ

Regular Verb

The verb the root of which includes a weak letter. It is irregular because its root changes when conjugated.

    قَامَ – he stood up

    وَجَدَ – he found

    بَاعَ – he sold

    رَمَى – he threw

فِعْلٌ مُعْتَلٌ

Irregular Verb

The verb the root of which can include three, four, or five letters. None of these letters can be dropped as they are essential to its meaning. Take the word صَاَمَ. If [alif] is dropped from it, the remainder صَمْ has no meaning. 

    قَطَعَ – he cut

    صَامَ – he fasted

    وَصَلَ – he arrived

    حَفِظَ – he memorized / kept

    تَكَلَّمَ – he spoke

    بَعْثَرَ – he scattered

فِعْلٌ مُجَرََّدٌ

Simple Verb

The verb the root of which includes one, two, or three additional letters. If the additional letter(s) is/are dropped, it still has related meaning. If the [alif] is dropped from شَاهَدَ, the remainder شَهِدَ still has meaning that is related to شَاهَدَ.

    شَاهَدَ – he watched

    خَمَّنَ – he guessed

    أَوْقَفَ – he detained

    اِجْتَمَعَ – he met with

    اِسْتَخْرَجَ – he extracted

فِعْلٌ مَزِيدٌ

Complex Verb

The verb that does not need an object مَفْعُول. It with the subject الْفَاعِل form a complete sentence.

    نَزَل: نَزَلَ الْمَطَر – the rain fell

    قَامَ: قَامَ الْوَلَدُ – the boy stood up

    اِنْفَعَلَ: اِنْفَعَلَتِ الْبِنْتُ – the girl got emotional

    وَصَل: وَصَلَ الْأُسْتَاذُ – the teacher arrived

فِعْلٌ لَازِمٌ

Intransitive Verb

The verb that needs an object مَفْعُول to form a complete sentence. That is, without an object, it does not form a complete sentence.

    شَجَّعَ: شَجَّعْنَا نَادَالَ – we cheered Nadal up

    شَرَحَ: شَرَحْتُ الدَّرْسَ – I explained the lesson

    شَاهَدَ: شَاهَدُوا الْمُبَارَاةَ – they watched the match

    بَاعَ: بَاعَ سَمِيْرٌ سَيَّارَتَهُ – Samir sold his car

فِعْلٌ مُتَعَدِّيٌ

Transitive Verb

It is the past form of the verb. It expresses an actions that started and finished at some point in the past. 

    قَطَعُوا – they(m) cut

    صِمْنَ – they (f) fasted

    سَارَ – he walked

    وَعَدْتُ – I promised

فِعْلٌ مَاضٍ / مَاضِي

Perfective Verb

It is the present form of the verb. It expresses an actions that happens habitually or is happening at the time of speaking.

    يَقْطَعُون – they cut / are cutting

    يَصِمْنَ – they fast /are fasting

    يَسِيرُ – he walks

    أَعْدُ – I promise

فِعْلٌ مُضَارِعٌ

Imperfective Verb

The verb that is composed of three letters. 

كَتَبَ   

صَامَ   

شَرَحَ   

وَعَدَ   

فِعْلٌ ثُلَاثِيٌّ

Three-letter verb

The verb that is composed of four letters. In شَجَّعَ, the ج is doubled, i.e. ـجَّـ = ـجْـجَـ.

بَعْثَرَ   

شَجَّعَ   

شَاهَدَ   

أَوْقَفَ   

فِعْلٌ رُبَاعِيٌّ

Four-letter Verb

The verb that is composed of five letters.  In تَكَلَّمَ, the ل is doubled.

اِنْفَعَلَ   

اِجْتَمَعَ   

اِنْكَسَرَ   

تَكَلَّمَ   

فِعْلٌ خُمَاسِيٌّ

Five-letter verb

The verb that is composed of six letters.

اِسْتَغْفَرَ   

اِسْتَخْدَمَ   

اِسْتَفْهَمَ   

فِعْلٌ سُدَاسِيٌّ

Six-letter Verb

It is the pronoun that can stand alone, i.e. not attached to another word. You will learn about the dual pronouns in future lessons.

أَنَا ، نَحْنُ   

أَنْتَ ، أَنْتِ ، أَنْتُم ، أَنْتُنَّ   

هُوَ ، هِيَ ، هُم ، هُنَّ   

ضَمِيرٌ مُنْفَصِل

Separate / personal pronoun

It is an attached pronoun that is added to the end of nouns to denote ownership.

    أَنَا: ـي، نَحْنُ: ـنَا (كِتَابِي ، كِتَابُنَا)

    أَنْتَ: ـكَ ، أَنْتِ: ـكِ (كِتَابُكَ ، كِتَابُكِ)

    أَنْتُم: ـكُم ، أَنْتُنَّ: ـكُنَّ (كِتَابُكُم ، كِتَابُكُنَّ)

    هُوَ: ـه ، هِيَ: ـهَا (كِتَابُهُ ، كِتَابُهَا)

    هُم: ـهُم ، هُنَّ: ـهُنَّ (كِتَابُهُم ، كِتَابُهُنَّ)

ضَمِيْر مِلْكِيَّة

Possessive Pronoun

It is the subject attached pronoun that is appended to the verb to denote the subject / doer.

أَنَا: ـتُ ، نَحْنُ: ـنَا   

أَنْتَ: ـتَ ، أَنْتِ: ـتِ ، أَنْتُم: ـتُم ، أَنْتُنَّ: ـتُنَّ   

هُم: ـوا ، هُنَّ: ـنَ   

ضَمِيْر فَاعِل مُتَّصِل

Attached Subject Pronoun

It is the object attached pronoun that is appended to the verb to denote the object. If added to a preposition, it is its object اِسْم مَجْرُور.

    أنَا: ـي (ضَرَبَنِي) ، نَحْنُ: ـنَا ( ضَرَبَنَا)

    أَنْتَ: ـكَ (ضَرَبَكَ) ، أَنْتِ: ـكِ (ضَرَبَكِ)

    أَنْتُم: ـكُم (ضَرَبَكُم) ، أَنْتُنَّ: ـكُنَّ (ضَرَبَكُنَّ)

    هُوَ: ـهُ (ضَرَبَهُ) ، هِيَ: ـهَا (ضَرَبَهَا)

    هُم: ـهُم (ضَرَبَهُم) ، هُنَّ: ـهُنَّ (ضَرَبَهُنَّ)

ضَمِيْر مَفْعُول مُتَّصِل

Attached Object Pronoun

It is a subject pronoun that does not appear on the verb. Instead, it is implied and can be inferred from the prefix on the verb.

    أَكْتُبُ: (أَنَا) ، نَكْتُبُ: نَحْنُ

    تَكْتُبُ: (أَنْتَ)

    كَتَب ، يَكْتُبُ : (هُو)

    كَتَبَتْ ، تَكْتُبُ: (هِيَ)

ضَمِيْر مُسْتَتِر

Covert Pronoun

A preposition that is always followed by a noun / an attached pronoun.

ِمِنْ: مِنَ الْيَمَنِ ، إِلَى: إِلَى الْبَيْت   

ِتَحْتَ: تَحْتَ الطَّاوِلَةِ ، فَوْقَ: فَوْقَ الشَّجَرَة   

عَلَى: عَلَيْهُم ، فِي: فِيهََا   

حَرْف جَر

Preposition

A noun or pronoun with which we start the nominal sentence (see below). It is usually definite مَعْرِفَة.

الطَّالِبُ ، هُوَ ، هَذَا ، أَنَا   

البَيْتُ ، السَّيَارةُ ، نَحْنُ   

مُبْتَدَأ

Subject / Topic

It is a proper noun, a noun, an adjective, or prepositional phrase (see below) that complete the nominal sentence. If it is a noun or an adjective, it is always indefinite (except pronoun nouns and nouns with attached possessive pronouns).

ٌجَدِيدٌ ، كَبِيرَةٌ ، ذَكِيٌّ ، كِتَابِي ، مُحَمَّد   

ِمِنَ الْيَمَنِ ، فِي الْبيتِ ، خَلْفَ السَّيَّارَة   

خَبَر

Predicate

Generally, it is a preposition followed by a noun. Words like خَلْفَ and تَحْتَ are referred to as an adverb ظَرْف in Arabic.

ِمِنْ الْيَمَنِ

ِفِي الْبَيْت   

ِخَلْفَ السَّيَارَة   

ِفَوْقَ الشَّجَرَة   

شِبْه جُمْلَة

Semi-sentence / prepositional phrase

It is sentence that starts with a noun. it has two parts: a subject / topic مُبْتَدَأ and a predicate خَبَر.

    هَذَا كِتَابِي. هُوَ مُحَمْدٌ.

    السَّيَّارَةُ جَدِيْدَةٌ.

    أَنَا مِنَ الْيَمَنِ.

    الطَّالِبُ ذَكِيٌّ.

جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة

Nominal Sentence

It is a noun / a proper noun that functions as the subject / doer of the verb.

ٌّطَالِبٌ ، الطَّالِبُ ، قِط   

ٌّالْكَلْبُ ، فَاطَمَةُ ، عَلِي   

فَاعِل

Subject

It is a noun / a proper noun that functions as the object / receiver of the action.

طَالِبًا ، الطَّالِبَ ، قِطًّا   

الْكَلْبَ ، فَاطَمَةَ ، عَلِيًّا   

مَفْعُول

Object

It is a sentence that starts with a verb. It is composed of a verb and a subject (with the intransitive verb) or a verb, a subject, and an object (with the transitive verb).

    نَزَلَ الْمَطَرُ.

    شَرَحْتُ الدَّرْسَ.

    بَاعَ سَمِيرٌ سَيَّارَتَهُ.

    وَصَلَ الْأُسْتَاذُ.

جُمْلَة فِعْلِيَّة

Verbal Sentence

zakariya
very very good and effective,and usefull for bigginers assalamu alaikum
Ömer Güleç
Thank you so much . The greetings to you from Turkiye
Arabic learner
Excellent!
Issa
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Talei
Great content...thank you for the clarity and examples. T
Ummah Sadeeq
Alhamdulillah!!! Excellent work I must. Im learning a lot from this site, may Allah swt reward your effort with Jannah, amin.

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