Prepositions | الْحُرُوفُ الجَرِّ

 

 

 

Introduction

Words that combine with a noun or pronoun to form a phrase are called prepositions.

 

They have a meaning of their own and affect nouns and pronouns.

 

Thus, their effect on the noun is that they will change the vowel of the last letter of the noun from dammah, or fatha to kasrah.

 

The prepositions which act on nouns

 

عَلَى	on/upon
إِلَى	to/towards
بِ	in/with
فِي	in
مِنْ	from/than
عَنْ	from/about
كَ	like/as
حَتَى	until
لِ	for/to

Examples:

 

عَلَى + قُلُوْبٌ	= عَلَى قُلُوْبٍ
on + hearts	= on hearts
خَتَمَ اللَّـهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِمْ ۖ وَعَلَىٰ أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ
Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their vision is a veil (2:7)

إِلَى + السَّماءُ	= إِلَى السَّمَاءِ
Towards + the heaven	= towards  heaven
ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ
Then He directed Himself to heaven  (2:29)

الرَّبُّ+ بِ	= بِالرَّبِّ
With + the people	with the people
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ
Say, “I seek refuge in the Lord of humankind (114:1)

فِيْ + دِيْنٌ	فِيْ دِيْنٍ
In + religion	= in religion
وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ اللَّـهِ أَفْوَاجًا
And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, (110:2)

وَ + تِيْنٌ	وَ التِّيْنِ
Swear by + the fig	swear by the fig
وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ
By the fig and the olive (95:1)

تَ + اَللَّهُ	تَاللَّهِ
Swear by + Allah	swear by Allah
قَالُوا تَاللَّـهِ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتُم
They said, “By Allah, you have certainly known (12:73)

مِنْ + اَلْجوْعُ	= مِنَ الْجوْعِ
In + hunger	= in hunger
الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ
Who has fed them, [saving them] from hunger and made them safe, [saving them] from fear? (106:4)

عَنْ + اَلْيَمِيْنُ	=عَنِ الْيَمِيْنِ
From + the right	= From the right
عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ الشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ
[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups? (70:37)

كَ + عَصْفٌ	= كَعَصْفٍ
Like + Straw	like straw
فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍ
And He made them like eaten straw. (105:5)

لِ + اَللَّهُ	= لِلَّهِ
For + Allah	= For Allah
لِّلَّـهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. (2:284)

حَتَى + مَطْلَعٌ	= حَتَى مَطْلَعٍ
Until + break	= until break
سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ
Peace it is until the emergence of dawn. (97:5)

The pronouns which affect the prepositions

 

All the above-mentioned prepositions have their effect on the last letter of the nouns. However, only four of the above prepositions:

عَلَى, إِلَى, بِ, فِيْ

act on the pronouns :

هُ, هُمَا, هُمْ, هُنَّ

They give kasrah to the first letter of the pronoun.

There is no action of these prepositions on any other pronouns.

Examples:

عَلى + هُ = عَلَيْهِ

عَلَى + هُمَا = عَلَيْهِمَا

عَلَى + هُمْ = عَلَيْهِمْ

عَلى + هُنَّ = عَلَيْهِنَ

The following table displays the effet of عَلَى, إِلَى , بِ , فِيْ on the pronouns هُ, هُمَا, هُمْ, هُنَّ.

 

هُ Him	هُمَا Them both	هُمْ Them all (M)	هُنَّ Them all (F)
عَلَيْهِ	عَلَيْهِما	عَلَيْهِمْ	عَلَيْهِنَّ
On him	On them both	On them all (M)	On them all (F)

 

إِلى

هُ Him	هُمَا Them both	هُمْ Them all (M)	هُنَّ Them all (F)
إِلَيْهِ	إِلَيْهِمَا	إِلَيْهِمْ	إِلَيْهِنَّ
Towards him	Towards them both	Towards them all (M)	Towards them all (F)

 

بِ

هُ Him	هُمَا Them both	هُمْ Them all (M)	هُنَّ Them all (F)
بِهِ	بِهِمَا	بِهِمْ	بِهِنَّ
With him	With them both	With them all (M)	With them all (F)

 

فِيْ

Examples of the prepositions from the Noble Quran:

 

فَمَن فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ

so whoever has made Hajj obligatory upon himself  (2:197)

فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. (2:38)

يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ

He misleads many thereby and guides many thereby. And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient, (2:26)

As we have mentioned earlier, there is no action of these prepositions on other pronouns. Examples for these are stated below.

 

عَلى + كَ	= عَلَيْكَ	No action of على on كَ
مَنْ + هُ	= مِنْهُ	No action of مِنْ on هُ

Examples:

 

حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ

Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, (4:23)

وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

and do not follow [other] ways, for you will be separated from His way. This has He instructed you that you may become righteous. (6:153)

وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ

And We removed from you your burden (94:2)

وَالَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَاسْتَكْبَرُوا عَنْهَا أُولَـٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ

But the ones who deny Our verses and are arrogant toward them – those are the companions of the Fire (7:36)

Exception:

 

At one place (48:10) in the Holy Qur’an, there is no action of على on هُ, and it is read:

عَلَيْهُ

Allah says,

 

وَمَنْ أَوْفَىٰ بِمَا عَاهَدَ عَلَيْهُ اللَّـهَ فَسَيُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

And he who fulfills that which he has promised Allah – He will give him a great reward. (48:10)

In the lesson “pronouns,” we observe that the proposition :

لِ

comes attached to pronouns as a prefix and takes the form of :

لَ

except in the first person pronoun :

ىَ

 

Masculine 3rd person

 

لَهُ	لَهُمَا	لَهُمْ
For Him	For them both	For them all

 

Masculine 2nd person

 

لَكَ	لَكُمَا	لَكُمْ
For you	For you both	For you all

 

Masculine 1st person

 

لِيْ	–	لَنَا
For me	–	For us all

Examples:

 

لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ

To Him belongs dominion, and to Him belongs [all] praise, (64:1)

أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ

We will bring forth for them a creature from the earth speaking to them (27:82)

أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ

Did We not expand for you, [O Muhammad], your breast? (94:1)

Examples of the prepositions from the Noble Quran:

 

لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ

It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. (2:286)

لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ

For you is your religion, and for me, is my religion.” (109:6)

This Arabic lesson is now finished. The next one will be insha’Allah about the adverbs in Arabic.

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