The grammatical states of nouns (الحَالَات الإِعْرَابِية لِأسماء)

In the lesson "Types of Speech", we already mentioned the cases of nouns and verbs and said that they are in the case of الرَّفَعُ by default.

A noun (الاِسْمُ) can come in one of three cases: الرَّفْـعُ النَّصْبُ الجَّرُ. A verb (الفِعْلُ) can come in one of three cases: الرَّفْـعُ النَّصْبُ الجَزْمُ.

In this lesson, you will learn:

  1. Why it is important to know the case of word
  2. What term is used for a word that has adopted a particular case?

We won't break down grammatical structures of examples since we haven't covered them yet. Instead, let's see why understanding word cases matters. Look how the same word can change based on its case

Why it is important to know the case of word (إِعْرَابٌ)

The grammatical cases of nouns, also known as I'rab (إِعْرَابٌ) in Arabic, are a fundamental concept in Arabic grammar for several reasons:

  • 🔸 They determine word order: Unlike English, Arabic sentence structure relies heavily on the case of a noun to determine its position in the sentence. The case tells you if the noun is the subject, object, indirect object, or fulfills another grammatical role. Without understanding cases, constructing grammatically correct sentences becomes difficult.
فَهِمَ الـمُعَلِّــمُ الطَّالِــبَ The teacher understood the student
فَهِمَ الـمُعَلِّــمَ الطَّالِــبُ The student understood the teacher
  • 🔸 They indicate relationships between words: The case of a noun reflects its relationship with other words in the sentence. This allows for clear and concise communication, eliminating the need for extra prepositions or word order changes to establish connections.
هو دَخَلَ في البيــتِ He entered the house
هو دَخَلَ البيــتَ He entered the house

What term is used for a word that has adopted a particular case?

In the sentence الـمُعَلِّـمُ في الفَصْلِ the word الـمُعَلِّـمُ is in the الرَّفْع case.

The word that is in the الرفع case is called المَرْفُـوعُThe word that is in the الجرّ case is called المَجْرُورThe word that is in the النَصْبُ case is called الـمَـنْصُوبThe word that is in the الـجَزْمُ case is called الـمَجْزُوم

For example:

في الفَصْــلِ In the classroom

The word الفَصْلِ in الجرّ case and therefore it is called المَجْرُور

Additional (optional)

We will not write "accusative case of the noun", but instead we will write المَنْصُوب or النَّصْب case or النَّصْب

Grammatical terms will be used in the original as much as possible. The goal of this is to make it easier for the student to continue their education in an Arabic environment

Arabic books are often written without diacritics (الحركات), which makes it difficult for beginners to immediately understand how to pronounce words. Over time, you will get better at understanding the endings of words. In difficult cases, authors usually add diacritics above the letters

Let's examine the word "مُعَلِّم". In different contexts, it has different meanings, roles, and endings.

الـمُعَـلِّــمُ في الفَصْلِ The teacher in the classroomالرَفع is in المعلم Here, the word
رَأَيـْتُ الـمُعَـلِّـــمَ في الشَارِعِ I saw the teacher in the streetالنصب is in المعلم Here, the word
سَـمِعْتُ هذا مِن الـمُعَـلِّــمِ I heard this from the teacherالجر is in المعلم Here, the word

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