Idafah (الإضَافة)

Idafah is a noun construction that expresses the relationship of possession or belonging between two nouns.

حَاسُوبُ خَالِــدٍ Khalid's computer

The example shows that the computer has some kind of relationship to Khalid (it belongs to him, there is a connection between the computer and Khalid)

We can translate the Idafah construction as either The computer of Khalid or Khalid's computer

The construction of Idafah

The construction of idafah (الِإضَافَة) consists of two parts:

قَـلَــمُ التِّـلْـمِيــذِ The student's pen

الـمُضَافُ

1. It does not take tanween or the definite article (ال).
2. Depending on its position in the sentence, it can be in any grammatical state

قَـلَــمُ تِلْمِيذٍ عَلى الـمَكْتَبِ A student's pen on the desk

قَـرَأَ مِن كِـتَابِ الطَّالِبِ He read from the student's book

رَأَى كِـتَابَ الطّالبِ He saw the student's book

الـمُضافُ إِلَيْهِ

1. It can be in either the definite or indefinite
2. It is always in the الـجَر state

دَفْـتَـرُ طَالِــبٍ A student's notebook

دَفْـتَـرُ الطَالِــبِ The student's notebook

If المُضاف إليه is definite (المَعْرِفَة), then the entire الإضَافَةُ is also definite (المَعْرِفَة). If المُضاف إليه is indefinite (النَّكِرَة), then the entire الإضَافَةُ is also indefinite (النَّكِرَة).