Nutrification

Arabic is a Semitic language. See Arabic language for more information on the language in general. This article describes the grammar of Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic.

History

The identity of the oldest Arabic grammarian is disputed with some sources saying Ibn Abi Ishaq and medieval sources saying Abu-Aswad al-Du'ali, the oldest known Arabic grammarian, established diacritical marks and vowels for Arabic in the mid-600s. The schools of Basra, Kufa, Sibawaih further developed grammatical rules in the late 700s.

Due to the rapid expansion of Islam in the 8th century, many people learned Arabic as a lingua franca. For this reason, the earliest grammatical treatises on Arabic are often written by non-native speakers. The earliest grammarian who is known to us is [[Abi Ishaq|Template:ArabDIN]] (died AD 735/6, AH 117). The efforts of three generations of grammarians culminated in the book of the Persian scholar [[Sibawayh|Template:ArabDIN]] (ca. 760–793).

Traditionally, the grammatical sciences are divided into five branches:

• Template:ArabDIN Arabic: اللغة (lexicon) concerned with collecting and explaining vocabulary
• Template:ArabDIN Arabic: التصريف (morphology) determining the form of the individual words
• Template:ArabDIN Arabic: النحو (syntax) primarily concerned with inflection (Template:ArabDIN) which had already been lost in dialects.
• Template:ArabDIN Arabic: الإشتقاق (derivation) examining the origin of the words
• Template:ArabDIN Arabic: البلاغة (rhetoric) which elucidates construct quality

The grammar or grammars of contemporary varieties of Arabic are a different question. Said M. Badawi, an expert on Arabic grammar, divided Arabic grammar into five different types based on the speaker's level of literacy and the degree to which the speaker deviated from Classical Arabic. Badawi's five types of grammar from the most colloquial to the most formal are Illiterate Spoken Arabic ('āmmiyat al-'ummiyyin), Semi-literate Spoken Arabic ('āmmiyat al-mutanawwirin), Educated Spoken Arabic ('āmmiyat al-'muthaqqafin), Modern Standard Arabic (fushā al-asr), and Classical Arabic (fushā al-turāth). This article is concerned with the grammar of Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic exclusively.

Phonology

Main article: Arabic phonology

Classical Arabic has 28 consonantal phonemes, including two semi-vowels, which comprise the arabic alphabet. It also has six vowel phonemes (three short vowels and three long vowels). These appear as various allophones, depending on the preceding consonant. Short vowels are not usually represented in written language, although they may be indicated with diacritics.

Hamzatu 'l-waṣl, elidable hamza, is a phonetic object prefixed to the beginning of a word for ease of pronunciation, since literary Arabic doesn't allow consonant clusters at the beginning of a word. Elidable hamza drops out as a vocal, if a word is preceding it. This word will then produce an ending vocal, "helping vocal" to facilitate pronunciation. This short vocal may be , depending on the preceding vowel, a kasrah /i/, fatḥah /a/ or a ḍammah /u/. If the preceding word ends in a sukūn (i.e. not followed by a short vowel), the Hamzatu 'l-waṣl assumes a kasrah /i/.

Noun

State

Nouns (and their modifying adjectives) are either definite or indefinite (there is an article for the definite state only). A noun is definite if it has the definite article prefix (al-), if it has a suffixed pronoun (kalbu-ha l-kabīr "her big dog"), if it is inherently definite by being a proper noun (Miṣru l-qadīmah, "old Cairo"), or if it is in a genitive construction (Iḍāfa, status constructus) with a definite noun or nouns (bintu l-maliki, "the daughter of the king").

Article

Main article: Al-

The article (Template:ArabDIN) Template:ArabDIN is indeclinable and expresses definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives. The initial vowel (Template:ArabDIN), is volatile in the sense that it disappears in sandhi, the article becoming mere Template:ArabDIN (although the Template:ArabDIN is retained in orthography in any case as it is based on pausal pronunciation).

Also, the Template:ArabDIN is assimilated to a number of consonants (dentals and sibilants), so that in these cases, the article in pronunciation is expressed only by geminating the initial consonant of the noun (while in orthography, the writing Template:ArabDIN is retained, and the gemination may be expressed by putting Template:ArabDIN on the following letter).

The consonants causing assimilation (trivially including ل (Template:ArabDIN)) are: ت (Template:ArabDIN), ث (Template:ArabDIN), د (Template:ArabDIN), ذ (Template:ArabDIN), ر (Template:ArabDIN), ز (Template:ArabDIN), س (Template:ArabDIN), ش (Template:ArabDIN), ص (Template:ArabDIN), ض (Template:ArabDIN), ط (Template:ArabDIN), ظ (Template:ArabDIN), ل (Template:ArabDIN), ن (Template:ArabDIN). These 14 letters are called 'solar letters' (Template:ArabDIN), while the remaining 14 are called 'lunar letters' (Template:ArabDIN). The solar letters all have in common that they are dental, alveolar and postalveolar consonants in the classical language, and the lunar consonants are not. (ج Template:ArabDIN is pronounced postalveolar in most varieties of Arabic today, but was actually a palatalized voiced velar plosive in the classical language, and is thus considered a lunar letter; nevertheless, in colloquial Arabic, the ج Template:ArabDIN is often spoken as if solar.)

Inflection

Main article: Iʻrāb

Arabic has three grammatical cases roughly corresponding to: nominative, genitive and accusative, and three numbers: singular, dual and plural. Normally, singular nouns take the ending Template:ArabDIN in the nominative, Template:ArabDIN in the genitive and Template:ArabDIN in the accusative. Some exceptional nouns, known as diptotes, never take the final n, and have the suffix Template:ArabDIN in the genitive except when the diptotic noun is in the definite state (preceded by al- or is in the construct state). However, case is not shown in standard orthography, with the exception of indefinite accusative nouns ending in any letter but Template:ArabDIN or Template:ArabDIN, where the Template:ArabDIN "sits" upon an Template:ArabDIN added to the end of the word (the Template:ArabDIN still shows up in unvowelled texts). When speaking or reading aloud, articulating the case ending is optional. Technically, every noun has such an ending, although at the end of a sentence, no inflection is pronounced, even in formal speech, because of the rules of 'pause'.

Number

Arabic distinguishes between nouns based on quantity. All nouns are either singular when there is one, dual when there are two, and plural if there are three or more.

The dual is formed by adding -āni to the noun stem in the nominative and -ayni in the accusative and genitive. The final "-ni" is dropped in the iḍāfa construct form (Status constructus).

The plurals are formed in two ways. The "sound plurals" are formed by the addition of a suffix. Masculine sound plurals take the forms "Template:ArabDIN" in the nominative and "Template:ArabDIN" in the genitive and accusative. These do not change whether the noun is definite or indefinite. Feminine indefinite sound plurals take "Template:ArabDIN" in the nominative and "Template:ArabDIN" in the accusative and genitive. Feminine definite sound plurals take "Template:ArabDIN" in the nominative and "Template:ArabDIN" in the accusative and genitive. The broken plurals are formed by altering the vowel structure according to one of about five established patterns. Some nouns have two or more plural forms, usually to distinguish between different meanings.

Gender

Arabic has two genders, expressed by pronominal, verbal and adjectival agreement. Agreement with numerals shows a peculiar 'polarity', c.f. the section on numerals. The genders are usually referred to as masculine and feminine, but the situation is more complicated than that. The 'feminine' singular forms are also used to express 'singulatives', which are singulars of collective nouns meaning irrationals of both grammatical genders.

The marker for the feminine gender is a Template:ArabDIN suffix, but some nouns without this marker also take feminine agreement (e.g. Template:ArabDIN 'mother', Template:ArabDIN 'earth'). Already in Classical Arabic, the Template:ArabDIN marker was not pronounced in pausa. It is written with a special letter (Template:ArabDIN) indicating that a Template:ArabDIN sound is to be pronounced in sandhi, but not in pausa.

Adjectives and appositions

In Arabic, adjectives and appositions follow the noun and agree with the preceding noun in state, gender and case. For example:

• Adjectives:
  • 'al-baytu 'l-kabīru (البيت الكبير) "the big house"
  • raʼaytu ṣūratan ğamīlatan (رأيت صورة جميلة) "I saw a nice picture"
• Appositions:
  • 'ar-rasūlu muḥammadun (الرسول محمد) "the prophet Muhammad"

Nisba

Further information: Nesbat (Arabic)

The Nisba (Template:ArabDIN) is a common suffix to form adjectives of relation or pertinence. The suffix is Template:ArabDIN for masculine and Template:ArabDIN for feminine gender (in other words, it is Template:ArabDIN and is inserted before the gender marker). E. g. Template:ArabDIN "Lebanon", Template:ArabDIN "Lebanese (singular masculine)", Template:ArabDIN "Lebanese (singular feminine)", Template:ArabDIN "Lebanese (plural masculine)" Template:ArabDIN "Lebanese (plural feminine)".

A construct noun and nisba-adjective is often equivalent to nominal composition in English and other languages (solar cell is equivalent to sun cell).

Adverbials

Adverbials are expressed using adjectives in the indefinite accusative, e.g.: Template:ArabDIN, literally: "he read the book a slow reading", i.e., "He read the book slowly". This type of construction is known as the "absolute accusative."

Pronoun

A pronominal paradigm consists of 12 forms: In singular and plural, the 2nd and 3rd persons differentiate gender, while the 1st person does not. In the dual, there is no 1st person, and only a single form for each 2nd and 3rd person. Traditionally, the pronouns are listed in order 3rd, 2nd, 1st.

Personal pronouns

Person		Singular	Dual	Plural
1st		Template:ArabDIN		Template:ArabDIN
2nd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN		Template:ArabDIN
3rd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN		Template:ArabDIN

Enclitic pronouns

Enclitic forms of the pronoun (Template:ArabDIN) may be affixed to nouns (representing genitive case, i. e. possession) and to verbs (representing accusative, i. e. a direct object). Most of them are clearly related to the full personal pronouns. They are identical in form in both cases, except for the 1st person singular, which is Template:ArabDIN after nouns (genitive) and Template:ArabDIN after verbs (accusative).

Person		Singular	Dual	Plural
1st		Template:ArabDIN		Template:ArabDIN
2nd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN		Template:ArabDIN
3rd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN		Template:ArabDIN

Demonstratives

There are two demonstratives (Template:ArabDIN), near-deictic ('this') and far-deictic ('that'):

• Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN, pl. Template:ArabDIN 'this, these'
• Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN, pl. Template:ArabDIN 'that, those'

Numerals

Cardinal numerals

Cardinal numerals (Template:ArabDIN) from 1-10 (zero is Template:ArabDIN, from which the English words "cipher" and "zero" are ultimately derived)

• 1 Template:ArabDIN
• 2 Template:ArabDIN
• 3 Template:ArabDIN
• 4 Template:ArabDIN
• 5 Template:ArabDIN
• 6 Template:ArabDIN
• 7 Template:ArabDIN
• 8 Template:ArabDIN
• 9 Template:ArabDIN
• 10 Template:ArabDIN

The numerals 1 and 2 are adjectives. Thus they follow the noun and agree with gender.

Numerals 3-10 have a peculiar rule of agreement known as polarity: A feminine referrer agrees with a numeral in masculine gender and vice versa, e.g. Template:ArabDIN 'three girls'. The noun counted takes indefinite genitive plural (as the attribute in a genitive construct.)

Numerals 11-19 are indeclinable, perpetually in the indefinite accusative. Numbers 11 and 12 show gender agreement in the ones, and 13-19 show polarity in the ones. The gender of عشر in numbers 11-19 agrees with the counted noun (unlike the standalone numeral 10 which shows polarity). The counted noun takes indefinite accusative singular.

• 11 Template:ArabDIN
• 12 Template:ArabDIN
• 13 Template:ArabDIN

The numerals 20-99 are followed by a noun in the indefinite accusative singular as well. There is agreement in gender with the numerals 1 and 2, and polarity for numerals 3-9.

• 20 Template:ArabDIN (dual of '10')
• 21 Template:ArabDIN
• 22 Template:ArabDIN
• 23 Template:ArabDIN
• 30 Template:ArabDIN
• 40 Template:ArabDIN

Whole hundreds, thousands etc. appear as first terms of genitive constructions, e.g. Template:ArabDIN '1001 nights'.

• 100 Template:ArabDIN
• 1000 Template:ArabDIN

Fractions of a whole smaller than "half" are expressed by the structure sg. Template:ArabDIN, pl. Template:ArabDIN.

• Template:ArabDIN "half"
• Template:ArabDIN "one third"
• Template:ArabDIN "two thirds"
• Template:ArabDIN "one quarter"
• Template:ArabDIN "three quarters"

etc.

Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals (Template:ArabDIN) higher than "first" are formed using the structure Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN:

• m. Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN "first"
• m. Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN "second"
• m. Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN "third"
• m. Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN "fourth"
• m. Template:ArabDIN, f. Template:ArabDIN "fifth"

etc.

They are adjectives, hence, there is agreement in gender with the noun, not polarity as with the cardinal numbers.

Verb

As in many other Semitic languages, Arabic verb formation is based on a (usually) triconsonantal root, which is not a word in itself but contains the semantic core. The consonants Template:ArabDIN, for example, indicate 'write', Template:ArabDIN indicate 'read', Template:ArabDIN indicate 'eat' etc.; Words are formed by supplying the root with a vowel structure and with affixes. Traditionally, Arabic grammarians have used the root Template:ArabDIN 'do' as a template to discuss word formation. The personal forms a verb can take correspond to the forms of the pronouns, except that in the 3rd person dual, gender is differentiated, yielding paradigms of 13 forms.

Prefixes and suffixes

In Arabic the grammatical person and number as well as the mood is designated by a variety of prefixes and suffixes. Most Arabic verbs are regular and follow the pattern detailed below.

NOTE:The Arabic example below is the Arabic verb kataba (كتب), "to write". Only the prefixes and suffixes of the verb have been vocalised, the vocalisation of the stems (كَتَب for the past and كْتُب for the present) has been omitted for reasons of legibility.

Prefixes and suffixes of the Arabic verb

		Perfective	Imperfective	Subjunctive and Jussive
Singular
1st		STEM-tu	a-STEM	no written change
		كتبْتُ	َأكتب
2nd	masculine	STEM-ta	ta-STEM	no written change
		كتبْتَ	تَكتب
	feminine	STEM-ti	ta-STEM-īna	ta-STEM-ī
		كتبْتِ	تَكتبِينَ	تَكتبِي
3rd	masculine	STEM-a	ya-STEM	no written change
		كتبَ	يَكتب
	feminine	STEM-at	ta-STEM	no written change
		كتبَتْ	تَكتب
Dual
2nd	masculine & feminine	STEM-tumā	ta-STEM-āni	ta-STEM-ā
		كتبْتُمَا	تَكتبَانِ	تَكتبَا
3rd	masculine	STEM-ā	ya-STEM-āni	ya-STEM-ā
		كتبَا	يَكتبَانِ	يَكتبَا
	feminine	STEM-atā	ta-STEM-āni	ta-STEM-ā
		كتبَتَا	تَكتبَانِ	تَكتبَا
Plural
1st		STEM-nā	na-STEM	no written change
		كتبْنَا	نَكتب
2nd	masculine	STEM-tum	ta-STEM-ūna	ta-STEM-ū
		كتبْتُم	تَكتبُونَ	تَكتبُوا
	feminine	STEM-tunna	ta-STEM-na	no written change
		كتبْتُنَّ	تَكتبْنَ
3rd	masculine	STEM-ū	ya-STEM-ūna	ya-STEM-ū
		كتبُوا	يَكتبُونَ	يَكتبُوا
	feminine	STEM-na	ya-STEM-na	no written change
		كتبْنَ	يَكتبْنَ

Perfective

In the perfective (occasionally called 'perfect') form, the perfective stem Template:ArabDIN is affixed with a personal ending, e. g. Template:ArabDIN 'he wrote', Template:ArabDIN 'he read'. The perfective expresses a completed action, i.e. mostly past tense. The second vowel is /a/ in most verbs, but /i/ in some verbs (especially intransitive) and /u/ in a few (especially verbs whose meaning is "be X" or "become X" where X is an adjective, usually naming a permanent or semi-permanent quality, e.g. Template:ArabDIN 'he became big, he grew up').

Person		Singular	Plural	Dual
1st		Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
2nd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
3rd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN

Imperfective

The imperfective expresses an action in progress, or incompleted, i.e. mostly present tense. There are several vowel patterns (Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN) the root can take. The root takes a prefix as well as a suffix to build the verb form. E. g. Template:ArabDIN 'he is writing'. Note the co-incidence of 3rd f. sg. and 2nd m. sg.

Person		Singular	Plural	Dual
1st		Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
2nd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
3rd	masculine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
	feminine	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN

Mood

Modal forms can be derived from the imperfective stem: the subjunctive by (roughly speaking) replacing the final vowel by Template:ArabDIN, the jussive by dropping this Template:ArabDIN of the subjunctive, and the imperative (only 2nd person) also by dropping the verbal prefix.

The subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses after certain conjunctions. The jussive is used in negation, in negative imperatives, and in the hortative Template:ArabDIN+jussive. For example: 2. sg. m.:

• imperfect indicative Template:ArabDIN 'you are doing'
• subjunctive Template:ArabDIN 'that you do'
• jussive Template:ArabDIN 'do not!'
• energic Template:ArabDIN
• imperative Template:ArabDIN 'do!'.

Voice

Arabic has two verbal voices, active and passive. The passive voice is expressed by a change in vocalization and is normally not expressed in unvocalized writing. For example:

• active Template:ArabDIN 'he did', Template:ArabDIN 'he is doing' فَعَلَ
• passive Template:ArabDIN 'it was done', Template:ArabDIN 'it is being done' فُعِلَ

Weak roots

Roots containing one or two of the radicals Template:ArabDIN (Template:ArabDIN), Template:ArabDIN (Template:ArabDIN) or Template:ArabDIN (Template:ArabDIN) often lead to verbs with special phonological rules because these radicals can be influenced by their surroundings. Such verbs are called 'weak' (verba infirma, 'weak verbs') and their paradigms must be given special attention. In the case of Template:ArabDIN, these peculiarities are mainly orthographical, since Template:ArabDIN is not subject to elision (the orthography of Template:ArabDIN and Template:ArabDIN is unsystematic due to confusion in early Islamic times). According to the position of the weak radical in the root, the root can be classified into four classes: first weak, second weak, third weak and doubled, where both the second and third radicals are identical. Some roots fall into more than one category at once.

Stem formation

"Derived" verbs are those which do not have just three consonants in the perfect tense, namely, all verbs except the primary verbs (those like Template:ArabDIN). For instance, verbs such as Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN, inkataba, Template:ArabDIN are called "derived" verbs. Semantically, we would like to be able to say that the meaning of the "derived" verbs somehow "derives" from the meaning of their primary verbs, by operations like the intensive, reflexive, and causative, but in fact the actual meaning of all verbs is unpredictable and needs to be recorded in the lexicon. Classical Arabic has a great number of derived stems, not all of which are still in use. For the modern language, it is mostly sufficient to consider stems I-VIII and X, plus IX for verbs meaning "whiten", "blacken", "yellowen" and so on.

Sound verbs
	Active voice		Passive voice
	Past (3rd sg. masc.)	Present (3rd sg. masc.)	Past (3rd sg. masc.)	Present (3rd sg. masc.)
I	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
II	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
III	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
IV	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
V	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
VI	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
VII	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	n/a
VIII	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN
IX	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	n/a
X	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN	Template:ArabDIN

The exact vocalization depends on the word form.

Common uses of those stems include:

• Template:ArabDIN is often used to make an intransitive verb transitive. Eg: Template:ArabDIN is "be noble" but Template:ArabDIN is "make (someone) to be noble", or, more idiomatically, to "honor".
• Template:ArabDIN gives a passive meaning. Eg: Template:ArabDIN "break" and Template:ArabDIN "be broken".
• Template:ArabDIN is used only to render stative verbs meaning "to be or become X" where X is a color or physical defect, eg: Template:ArabDIN "turn red, blush" or Template:ArabDIN "go deaf".

A more complete list of meanings is found at Wiktionary's appendix on Arabic verb forms.

Participle

Every verb has a corresponding active participle, and most have passive participles. E.g. Template:ArabDIN 'teacher' is the active participle to stem II. of the root Template:ArabDIN ('know').

• The active participle to Stem I is Template:ArabDIN, and the passive participle is Template:ArabDIN.
• Stems II-X take prefix Template:ArabDIN and nominal endings for both the participles, active and passive. The difference between the two participles is only in the vowel between the last two root letters, which is Template:ArabDIN for active and Template:ArabDIN for passive (e.g. II. active Template:ArabDIN, and passive Template:ArabDIN').

Verbal noun (Masdar)

In addition to a participle, there is a verbal noun (in Arabic, maṣdar, literally meaning "source") sometimes called a gerund, which is similar to English gerunds and verb-derived nouns of various sorts (e.g. 'running' and 'a run' from 'to run'; 'objection' from 'to object'). As shown by the English examples, its meaning refers both to the act of doing something and (by frequent semantic extension) to its result. One of its syntactic functions is as a verbal complement of another verb, and this usage it corresponds to the English gerund or infinitive (He prevented me from running or He began to run).

• verbal noun formation to stem I is irregular.
• the verbal noun to stem II is Template:ArabDIN. For example: Template:ArabDIN 'date, history' is the verbal noun to stem II. of Template:ArabDIN ('date').
• stem III often forms its verbal noun with the feminine form of the passive participle, so for Template:ArabDIN, "he helped", produces the verbal noun Template:ArabDIN. There are also some verbal noun of the form Template:ArabDIN: Template:ArabDIN, "he strove", yields [[jihad|Template:ArabDIN]] (a struggle for a cause or purpose).
• the following are the verbal noun of the remaining common derived stems: IV, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN; V, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN; VI, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN; VII, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN; VIII, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN; IX, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN; X, Template:ArabDIN, Template:ArabDIN.

Syntax

Genitive construction (Iḍāfa)

A noun may be defined more closely by a subsequent noun in the genitive (Iḍāfa, literally "an addition"). The relation is hierarchical; the first term (Template:ArabDIN) governs the second term (Template:ArabDIN). E. g. Template:ArabDIN 'the house of a man', 'a man's house'. The construction as a whole represents a nominal phrase, the state of which is inherited from the state of the second term. The first term must "be in construct state", namely, it cannot carry the definite article nor the tanween. Genitive constructions of multiple terms are possible. In this case, all but the final term take construct state, and all but the first member take the genitive case.

This construction is typical for a Semitic language. In many cases the two members become a fixed coined phrase, the Template:ArabDIN being used as the equivalent of nominal composition in some Indo-European languages (which does not exist in Semitic). Template:ArabDIN thus may mean either 'house of the (certain, known) students' or 'the student hostel'.

Word order

Classical Arabic tends to prefer the word order VSO (verb before subject) rather than SVO (subject before verb). However, the word order is fairly flexible, since words are tagged by case endings. Subject pronouns are normally omitted except for emphasis or when using a participle as a verb (participles are not marked for person). Auxiliary verbs precede main verbs, and prepositions precede their objects.

Adjectives follow the noun they are modifying, and agree with the noun in case, gender, number, and state: For example, "bintun jamīlatun" "a beautiful girl" but "al-bintu l-jamīlatu" "the beautiful girl". (Compare "al-bintu jamīlatun" "the girl is beautiful".) Elative adjectives, however, precede their modifying noun, do not agree with it, and require that the noun be in the genitive case (see below).

Case

Case is not shown in standard orthography, with the exception of indefinite accusative nouns ending in any letter but ta marbuta or hamza, where the -a(n) "sits" upon an alif added to the end of the word (the alif still shows up in unvowelled texts). Cases, however, are marked in the Koran, children's books and to remove ambigous situations. If marked, it is shown at the end of the noun.

Nominative case

• Subjects of a verbal sentence.
• Subjects and predicates of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, with some notable exceptions.
• Certain adverbs retain the nominative marker.
• The citation form of words is (if noted at all) in the nominative case.

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a ḍammah (-u) for the definite or ḍammah + nunation (-un) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed by adding -āni and -ūna respectively (-ā and -ū in the construct state). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding -ātu in the definite and -ātun in the indefinite.

Accusative case

• The subject of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, if it is initiated with 'inna, or one of her sisters.
• The predicate of kāna/yakūnu "be" and it's sisters. Hence, al-bintu jamīlatun "the girl is beautiful" but al-bintu kānat jamīlatan "the girl was beautiful".
• Both the subject and the predicate of ẓanna and it's sisters in an equational clause.
• The object of a transitive verb
• Most adverbs.
• Internal object/cognate accusative structure
• The accusative of specification/purpose/circumstantial.

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a fatḥah (-a) for the definite or fatḥah + nunation (-an) for the indefinite. For the indefinite accusative, the fatḥah + nunation is added to an alif which is added to the ending of all nouns not ending with a hamza or ta marbuta. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed by adding -ayni and -īna respectively (-ay and -ī in the construct state). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding -āti in the definite and -ātin in the indefinite.

Genitive case

• Objects of prepositions.
• All, but not necessarily the first member (the first nomen regens), of an idafa (genitive construction) .
• The object of a locative adverb.
• Objects of kam "how much/many" and 'ayy "any".
• Elative (comparative/superlative) adjectives behave similarly: "ʼaṭwalu waladin" "the tallest boy".

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a kasrah (-i) for the definite or kasrah + nunation (-in) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed by adding -ayni and -īna respectively (-ay and -ī in the construct state). The regular feminine plural is formed by adding -āti in the definite and -ātin in the indefinite.

Note: diptotic nouns receive a fatḥah (-a) in the genitive and are never nunated.

Note: there is no dative case; instead, the preposition "li-" is used.

'inna

The subject of a sentence can be topicalized and emphasized by moving it to the beginning of the sentence and preceding it with the word inna ~"indeed". Examples are "innaka anta jamīlun" "YOU are beautiful" or "inna s-samā’a zarqā’u" "THE SKY is blue". (In older texts, "inna" was translated "verily".)

"inna", along with its "sister" terms "anna" ("that", as in "I think that ..."), "inna" ("that" after qāla/yaqūlu "say"), "walakinna" "but" and "ka’anna" "as if" require that they be immediately followed by a noun in the accusative case, or an attached pronominal suffix.

Numbers

Numbers behave in a quite complicated fashion. "wāḥid-" "one" and "ʼiṯnān-" "two" are adjectives, following the noun and agreeing with it. "ṯalāṯat-" "three" through "ʻašarat-" "ten" require a following noun in the genitive plural, but agree with the noun in gender, while taking the case required by the surrounding syntax. "ʼaḥada ʻašara" "eleven" through "tisʻata ʻašara" "nineteen" require a following noun in the accusative singular, agree with the noun in gender, and are invariable for case, except for "ʼiṯnā ʻašara/ʼiṯnay ʻašara" "twelve". Numbers above this behave entirely as nouns, showing case agreement as required by the surrounding syntax, no gender agreement, and a following noun in a fixed case. "ʻišrūna" "twenty" through "tisʻūna" "ninety" require the accusative singular; "miʼat-" "hundred" and up require the genitive singular. The numbers themselves decline in various fashions; for example, "ʻišrūna" "twenty" through "tisʻūna" "ninety" decline as masculine plural nouns, while "miʼat-" "hundred" declines as a feminine singular noun and "ʼalf-" "thousand" as a masculine singular noun. "miʼat-" "hundred" and "ʼalf-" "thousand" can themselves be modified by numbers (to form numbers such as 200 or 5,000) and will be declined appropriately. ("miʼatāni" and "200" "ʼalfāni" "2,000" with dual endings; "ṯalāṯatu ʼālāfin" "3,000" with "ʼalf" in the plural genitive, but "ṯalāṯu miʼatin" "300" since "miʼat-" appears to have no plural.) In compound numbers, the last number dictates the declension of the associated noun. Large compound numbers can be extremely complicated, e.g.:

• "'alfun wa-tis`u mi'atin wa-tis`u sineen(a)" "1,909 years"
• "ba`da 'alfin wa-tis`i mi'atin wa-tis`i sineen(a)" "after 1,909 years"
• "'arba`atun wa-tis`ūna 'alfan wa-ṯamānu-mi'atin wa-ṯalāṯatun wa-sittūna sanat(an)" "94,863 years"
• "ba`da 'arba`atin wa-tis`īna 'alfan wa-ṯamānī-mi'atin wa-ṯalāṯatin wa-sittīna sanat(an)" "after 94,863 years"
• "'iṯnā `ašara 'alfan wa-mi'atāni wa-ṯnāni wa-`išrūna sanat(an)" "12,222 years"
• "ba`da 'iṯnay `ašara 'alfan wa-mi'atayni wa-ṯnayni wa-`išrīna sanat(an)" "after 12,222 years"
• "'iṯnā `ašara 'alfan wa-mi'atāni wa-sanatān(i)" "12,202 years"
• "ba`da 'iṯnay `ašara 'alfan wa-mi'atayni wa-sanatayn(i)" "after 12,202 years"

Other

Object pronouns are clitics and are attached to the verb, e.g. arā-hā "I see her". Possessive pronouns are likewise attached to the noun they modify, e.g. "kitābu-hu" "his book". The definite article "al-" is a clitic, as are the prepositions "li-" "to" and "bi-" "in/with" and the conjunctions "ka-" "as" and "fa-" "thus, so".

See also

• Arabic language
• Literary Arabic
• Varieties of Arabic
• Arabic alphabet
• Romanization of Arabic
• WikiBook: Learn Arabic

External links

• Xerox Arabic Morphological Analysis and Generation (uses Java)
• Arabic verb conjugator
• Classical Arabic Blog
• Arabic Grammar Online