Ilm Fruits

Arabic has specific grammar rules for ‘Aadad and Ma’duwd–the number and the counted.

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.

The Arabic language contains “time modifiers”–words like “before” and “after”. In Arabic, these are called Duruwf Zamaan, and grammatically, they act like the possessive case.

While there are tons of these in Arabic, there are two you run into pretty often in the Qur’an and ahadith: ba’da (after) and qabla (before).

Grammatically, the modifier comes before the thing it modifies–the same as in English. And since the modifier acts like the possessor in the possessive case, the modified receives kasra.

So for example, “the duck left after the cow” would be “kharajat al-battatu ba’da al-baqaratiِ.” Notice the time modifier is the possessor in a possessive case–hence the word immediately after it (the possessed) takes kasra.

As another example, “he left before today” would be “dhahaba qabla al-yawmi.” Again, the time modifier is the possesser, and “today” is the possessed–so it takes kasra.

Also, note that the words that ARE duruwf zaman all have fatha on the last letter–so it’s ba’da, qabla, and so on.

That’s it; it’s quite simple really. If you feel you don’t understand, go back and read the possessive case post, then read this one again. Post a comment if you have any questions/comments/clarifications/etc.

You’re already familiar with possessive case in English–when we show ownership of something. For example, we might say, “this is Amer’s book” or “this is the book of Amer.”

The possessive case has two elements:

1. The possessor, i.e. the one who owns the thing. In this case, Amer.
2. The possessed, i.e. the thing being owned. In this example, the book.

The possessive case in Arabic is the same. The possessed is called the mudaf, the possessor the mudaf ilayh. It’s easiest to think of them as the form of “the x of y” rather then “y’s x”.

In English, you write an apostrophe-s after the possessor–so “Amer” becomes “Amer’s”.

In Arabic, there are two rules–one for the mudaf, and one for the mudaf ilayh.

1. The possessor takes kasra (becomes majruw)
2. The possessed becomes definite (by virture of being possessed).

As a first attempt before we knew these rules, we might write “the book of Amer” as “al-kitaabu Amerun”. Applying our rules:

1. Amerun becomes Amerin
2. Al-kitaabu becomes kitaabu

So the final sentence is “kitaabu Amerin”.

What about Ahmed’s chair? kursiyu Ahmedin. Heaven’s gate? Baabu jannatin!

If you feel you understand this bit of grammar, post an example (Arabic/transliteration and English translation) in the comments. If you have any questions, comments, clarifications, etc. post those in comments too inshallah!

External Links: MedinahArabic.com lesson on Possessive Case

In English, we have words like “from”, “to”, “with”, etc. These are called prepositions. They exist in Arabic, too–”huruful jaar” (حُرُوقُ الجَرّ).

Huruwful jarr modify the words immediately after them, which are called “majruwr” (مَجرُور).

In Arabic Grammar, majurwr words always take kasra (either single or double).

(The one exception is feminine names, which take fatha.)

So for example, if we have a book (kitaabun), then we add the preposition with (bi), it becomes “bi kitaabin” (بِ كِتَابٍ). Or if we have the car (as-sayaaratu), and we add the preposition on (3ala), it becomes “3ala as-sayaarati” (عَلَى السَيَارَةِ).

Wallahu ‘alim. There are only about 17 huruwful jarr, so memorize them inshaAllah. May Allah give us a persistant understanding of this simple but crucial element of Arabic Grammar, ameen!

fiy (فِي): in

ila (إلَ): to (eg. travel to)

3ala (عَلَى): on (top of)

min (مِن): from

li (لِ): for (eg. for you)

ma3a (مَعَ): with

bi (بِ): at/in/with

7atta (حَتَّ): until

munthu (مُنذُ): since

3an (عَن): about

ka (كَ): like/as

[1] Faynan, Rafi’ El-Imad. The Essential Arabic: a Learner’s Practical Guide. New Delhi: Goodword Books, 2004. 23-24.

In Arabic grammar, the default harakaat that goes on all words is dumma (ُ or ٌ, the “oo” or “oon” sound). When you don’t know the vowel, apply dumma. Other harakaat are for other cases–for example, posessive case takes kasra (ِ or ٍ, the “ee” or “een” sound).

Harakaat are two types–short (aa, ee, and oo) and long (aan, een, and oon).

The second point to remember is definitivity. A definitive object means a specific object, not just any old object. For example, the word kitaabun (كِتَابٌ) means “a book”, while al-kitaabu (الكِتَابُ) means “the book”. Al-kitaabu is definite, kitaabun is not definite.

The rule is that definitive words don’t take tanween. They always take the single harakaat. So if you want to turn “a camel” (جَمَلٌ) “jamaloon” into “the camel”, it becomes al-jamalu (الجَمَلُ). The same applies to all nouns (and to adjectives).

You can find an excellent series of short posts on Arabic harakaat (with gigantic font-sizes) at Islamic Forum.

In Arabic, all words are one of two genders: masculine, or feminine. There is no “it”, no third, gender-neutral gender like English has.

The main thing to remember is that when you don’t know the gender, the default is the masculine gender. You also use the masculine gender for mixed groups (eg. if you’re talking to a group of men and women).

The main sign of a word being feminine (remember, if you don’t know, the default is masculine) is a specific form of the letter ta, called ta-marbuta (التَّأ المَربُوطَة), or “tied-up ta”, which looks like this:

ة

Ta-marbuta also changes some words from masculine to feminine. For example, the word tabiyb (طَبِيب) means male doctor. Tabiybah (طَبِيبَة) means female doctor (notice the ta-marbuta at the end?).

Some feminine words don’t have ta-marbuta (like sun (شَمس), so how do you know they’re feminine? There are only a few words like that, so don’t worry too much about it.

Wallahu ‘alim. Here is a list of some common nouns, both masculine and feminine.

kitaab (كِتَاب): book

baab (بَاب): door

jamal (جَمَل): camel

qalam (قَلَم): pen

kursiy (كُرسِى): chair

qidr (قِدر): cooking pot

baTTah (بَطَّة): duck

sa’ah (سَاغَة): clock/watch

sayyaarah (سَيَّارَة): car

mil’aqah (مِلغَقَة): spoon

Finally, when refering to nouns, since there’s no it, you use the masculine pronoun, huwa (هَوِ) for masculine objects, or the feminine pronoun, hiya (هِيِ) for feminine pronouns. So after talking about a duck (بَطَّة) instead of saying “it is big” you say (literally) “she is big” (هِيِ كَبِيرَةُ) or “hiya kabiyratun”.
(P.S. if you can’t read the Arabic easily, increase your font size, or cut-and-paste into Notepad or Office and change the font size to something large, such as 72.)

Arabic Grammar consists almost entirely of putting harakaat on letters.

Arabic writing is typically written without the harakaat. How is it possible to read? One must learn slowly, piece by piece, and read with understanding. Arabic is not like English–you have to actively read and consciously think while you read about what it means. (At least, when you start out.)

Why are harakaat important? Harakaat determine the meaning of words and sentences entirely. A different choice of harakaat can sometimes invert the meaning of a sentence entirely!

For example, this word: ضرب (daad-ra-ba) can mean hit (ضَرَبَ: daraba), hitting (ضَرْبٌ: darboon), was hit (ضُرِبَ: duriba), and more! Another word is من (meem-noon) which can mean from (مِن: min) or who (مَن: man), and so on.

InshaAllah ta’ala now that you know, start paying attention to the vowels as you read Qur’an. It makes all the difference.

May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) grant us all knowledge of Arabic, the language of the Glorious Qur’an, ameen!