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 سَيَّارَةٌAnd 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

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)