Introduction

 

The nouns اَلْإِسْمُ are divided into two kinds:

 

Indefinite	النَّكِرَةُ
Definite	المَعْرِفَةُ

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

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

The following are some important characteristics of a noun.

 

1. Noun usually has a nunnation (Tanween) on it.

 

Examples:

 

بَيْتٌ	A house
كُرْسِيٌّ	A chair
قَلَمٌ	A pen
كِتَابٌ	A book
رَسُولٌ	A messenger

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

wich is a definite article, and the nunnation (tanween) is dropped.

 

Examples:

 

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)
وَجَاءَتْ سَيَّارَةٌ	And a caravan came (12:19)

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
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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