Learning Arabic as a second language may be difficult for many, so I decided to share some tips that assist with learning the meanings of words and their structures.

Words that begin with ف usually will always mean something that breaks open, separates, or breaks apart. Check out these examples:

الفجر (Al-Fajr) from ف ج ر means the dawn, but it literally means when the daylight breaks/crack through the darkness. If you've ever seen the sky at Fajr time, you can see a thread of light near the horizon, while the rest of the sky is dark with the night. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us in Surah Baqarah to stop eating suhoor when the "white thread" is distinguishable from the "black thread."

Another word from this root is fajjara, with a shadda on the jeem, which means to break open and gush forth. Another word from this root is الفاجر (Al-Faajir), the fujjar (plural of faajir) cross the limits and breaks the rules.

الفرقان (Al-Furqaan) derives from ف ر ق, which means to break through, to distinguish. Al-Furqan, which is another name of the Qur'an, means the Criterion that distinguishes truth from falsehood.

الفريق (Al-Fareeq) also from ف ر ق means a party or a group. A group is one that breaks off from the majority.

الفاسقون (Al-Faasiqoon) from ف س ق and fisq, literally means when a flower breaks through the bud to bloom. The Fasiqoon are those who transgress the bounds of Allah, and go beyond them.

الفضة (Al-Fiddah) from ف ض ض, which means silver, but literally means to scatter. When you scatter something, the first thing you do is break it apart then you throw it all over the place. What does this have to do with silver? Silver is 'scattered' when zakah is paid on it and when someone spends it. And after someone dies, their silver is 'scattered' to the heirs.

InshaAllah try and look through the Qur'an for words beginning with ف that follow this pattern and post them in the comments! (You may need a dictionary, such as this one.)

Wa lillahil hamd.

The rules are quite simple--just like English, it's "O so-and-so". So for example, you could say "ya ummiy" (o my mother) or "ya taajiru" (o merchant). And, in fact, if you read the Qur'an at all, you'll find these everywhere. The most common are:

• Ya ayyuhalldhiyna amanuw, which addresses the believers (Muslims).
• Ya ayyuhan-naas, which addresses humankind.
• Ya bani israeel, which addresses Bani Isareel (the Jews).

Grammatically, what does the calling ya do? The callee (the one who immediately succeeds the ya) takes either a single dumma (if it's a proper noun) or a single fatha (if it's the posesser in a possessive-case). (Definite nouns are names.)

So if you wanted to say "Oh Allah", it would be "ya Allahu" (because it's a proper noun), not "ya Allahun." Or, if your friend is Yasin, you would say "ya Yasinu" instead of "ya Yasinun".

But, what if you wanted to say "O mother of Adam"? It would be "ya umma Adam" (because it's possessive case). Similarly, if you wanted to say "O Messenger of Allah" (as we see in many ahadith), it's "ya rasulallah".

Interested in some applications of the calling ya? Check out the related entries inshallah.

Related Posts: Amplify your Du'a with Tawassul

Note: You can put your mouse over any underlined text to see the Arabic.

Allahu: God (singular, exclusive; THE God)
amanuw: believed (male, plural)
an-naas: humankind
banu: tribe
taajirun: merchant
ummun: mother
ummiy: my mother

Wa indicates grouping, but doesn't specify order or timing. For example: Ahmed and Ghufran and Yusuf travelled to the masjid. It doesn't indicate what order they arrived in, or anything about how long the people who came first waited for the people who came after then. It just groups them together.

Thumma indicates order, but doesn't specify the timing. For example: Ahmed, then Ghufran, then Yusuf travelled to the masjid. While this tells you the order--Ahmed was first, then Ghufran was second, then Yusuf was third--it doesn't tell you anything about the time between them.

Fa indicates the order (like thumma), but also shows that the second event happened immediately after the first. For example: Ahmed and then immediately Yusuf and then immediately Yusuf travelled to the masjid. shows that Ahmed came first, then Ghufran came next (on the heels of Ahmed), then Yusuf came right behind Ghufran.

And that's it! InshaAllah if you have any questions/comments/etc. or if you find uses of these in the Qur'an, post them inshaAllah too.

So what does it mean when Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) uses kaana to describe Himself? For example, in surah Nisaa, He says:

Translation: And seek the Forgiveness of Allah; surely, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful [Surah Nisaa, 4:106]

In the Qur'an, when Allah uses kaana, it doesn't mean He was, and no longer is--rather, it's used as a form of emphasis. The same way that you are certain about past events (like 9/11--it happened), you are certain when you use kaana. That is why translations carry such words as "verily", "indeed", "surely", and so on.

Wallahu 'alim.

• Ahmad is rich
• The masjid is big
• I am a Muslim

It has two parts--the mubtada (the subject -- eg. Ahmad), and the khabr (the predicate--information about the mubtada -- eg. rich, big, a Muslim).

What are the rules of grammar as they apply to the mubtada and the khabr? There are three:

1. Match: The khabr must match the mubtada in number (eg. singular, plural) and in gender.
2. Definite: The mubtada cannot be indefinite--it must be definite.
3. Dumma: The mubtada must take dumma (single dumma, too, because it's definite) -- and, when dissecting complex sentences of any type, this is how you locate the mubtada!

For example:

1. the duck is not big (al-battatu laysat kabiyratan)
2. the cat is not lazy (al-qittu laysa bi kaslaana)

Whenever you use laysa, the mubtada and khabr change: the mubtada becomes ismu laysa, and the khabr becomes khabru laysa.

Finally, laysa causes ismu laysa (not the mubtada--it's now ismu laysa) to be marfoo' (takes dumma/tanween-dumma), and khabru laysa becomes mansoob (takes fatha/tanween-fatha -- see example one). Except if you prefix the khabr with bi (the preposition). In that case, it takes kasra, just as any word with a preposition. (Like example two.)

And of course, you can use laysa at the beginning of a sentence, just like any verb--eg. I am not sick (lastu bi mariydin).

The sarf for laysa is listed below--laysa is essentially a past-tense verb. (Read the sarf from top to bottom and right to left.)

Wallahu 'alim. As usual, post a comment inshallah if you need any clarifications or have any questions.

The difference is best demonstrated by example: hadhaa kitaabun kabiyrun means "this is a big book," and "hadhaal kitaabul kabiyru" means "this big book ..."

Get the difference? The first (hadhaa kitaabun) is talking about any book. "This is a book." Nothing special. The second--hadhaal kitaabu--is talking about a specific book. It's saying "this book ... something."

And how do you know the difference? in the second case, the book is definite--it's a specific book. Notice, al-kitaabu--the book. Not kitaabun--a book.

And, notice the second one is a fragment--this big book what? This big book is open? This big book is on the table? And so on.

Feminine words, Allahu 'alim, they also have sound and broken forms. One example of a sound feminine plural is muslimaat (plural of muslimah).

Interestingly enough, with inanimate objects--such as pens, books, cars, and dogs--the plural (both masculine and feminine plural) acts as if it's the feminine singular.

So say you wanted to say "these houses are big, and they're new." How would you say it? Chances are, you'd say something like: "haaulaai buyuwtun kibaarun, wa hum jududun." But, recall the rule--masculine plural (in this case, buyuwt) acts, for all intents and purposes, like the singular feminine!

The correct form would be: "haadhihi buyuwtun kabeeratun, wa hiya jadiydatun."

Let's try a feminine example. How would you say "those ducks left from the masjid?" The answer is, "tilkal buttaatu kharajat min al-masjidi," not "olaaikal buttaatu kharajna min al-masjidi." Why? Because battatun (three or more ducks) is an inantimate object plural, and acts (grammatically) as a singular feminine.

It might seem a little strange at first, but inshallah ta'ala if you keep practising it, it'll soon slip beneath your conscious effort and become something you "just know" inshallah!

Note: You can put your mouse over any underlined text to see the Arabic.

aqlaamun: pen (masculine, plural)

buyuwtun: house (masculine, plural)

ghayr 'aql: inanimate object

haaulaai: these (close, plural)

haadhihi: she (feminine, singular) -- also used as "it" for objects.

hiya: she (feminine, singular) -- can be used as "it" for objects.

hum: they (masculine, plural) -- also used as "it" (plural) for objects

jadiydatun: new (feminine, singular)

jududun: new (masculine, plural)

kabeeratun: big (feminine, singular)

kibaarun: big (masculine, plural)

muslimaat: Muslim (feminine, plural)

muslimah: Muslim (feminine, singular)

muslimun: Muslim--one who submits (masculine, singular)

muslimuwna: Muslim (masculine, plural)

qalamun: pen (masculine, singular)

wa: and

Rules of Engagement is an AlMaghrib Institute course taught by Muhammad ibn Faqih. The course teaches and emphasizes ethics, morality, rights, character attributes, and manners--everything from the rights of children before they're born to the cause for the decline and destruction of socieities to the literally dozens of virtues one earns from sabr! The course focuses a lot on self-development, self-improvement, and dealing with others, as well as improving oneself.

• AlMaghrib
• Any Last Words?
• Post-Mortem Parental Rights
• QMajd Issue 1: Rules of Engagement
• Rules of Engagement
• Victory Comes With Patience

• Akhlaaq
• Self-Development

Muhammad ibn Faqih. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Rules of Engagement. University of Toronto, Toronto. September 2006.

Note: These rules apply for numbers from three to ten.  One and two are special-they count as adjectives, not numbers, because the form of the word implies the number.
In English, we say "three cars". Three is the number ('adad), and cars is the counted (ma'duwd).

What are the grammatical rules of 'adad and ma'duwd?

Similar to time modifiers, 'adad and ma'duwd work like possessive case. The 'adad always comes first, and it behaves like the possessor--so it's definite. The ma'duwd comes next, and it behaves like the possessed--so it takes kasra.

The other rule is that 'adad and ma'duwd have opposite genders--so one will be masculine and one will be feminine. Which determines the other? The ma'duwd (counted thing) determines the gender of the 'adad (number).

One implicit rule is that the ma'duwd is always plural--which is true because we're counting more then two.  (In Arabic, we have singular, dual, and then plural--so two is not plural.)

So say we wanted to say "five students". Students is "tullaabun" (masculine), five is "khamsa".

So our first guess might be "khamsa tullaabun".

But then, we realize tullaabun is masculine, so we feminize "five" by adding ta-marbuwta. Our next guess might be "khamsatun tullaabun".

Then we remember that they act like the possessive case--so student takes kasra. The final (correct) version is "khamsatun tullaabin".

What about "three cows"? Three is thalathun, cows is baqaraat--so we get "thalathun baqaraatin".

Four pens? Arba'atun aqlaamin! Again, it's Arba'atun because aqlaam (pens) is masculine.

Seven spoons? Sab'aa mil'aqatin! Sab'a, no sab'ah (with ta-marbuwta), because mil'aqah (spoons) is feminine.

Inshallah you can find some of these in the Qur'an and post them in the comments--the 'adad, ma'duwd, and the verse they occur in.