Emphasis (التَّوْكِيد)

Emphasis (التَّوْكِيد) in Arabic refers to words or constructions used to strengthen or reinforce a statement.

There are two types of emphasis:

📚 Examples

فَهِمَ التَلَامِيذُ الدَّرْسَ كُـلُّــهُمْ All the students understood the lesson

اِنْـتَـبِهْ! اِنْـتَبِـهْ! السَّيَارَةُ قَادِمَةٌ Watch out! Watch out! The car is coming

Let's break down each emphasis structure in more detail:

Semantic Emphasisالتَّوْكِيدُ الـمَعْنَوِي

Uses one of 7 specific words: عَـيْـن نَـفْـس جَمِيع عَامّة كُلّ كِلا كِلتا

Requires a pronoun (ضمير)

حَامِدُ نَـفْسُــهُ هَاجَرَ إلى الـمَدِينةِ Hāmid himself migrated to Medina

سُـهَـيْلَةُ نَـفْسُــهَا تَطْبُخُ لِلضُّيُوف Suhayla herself cooks for the guests

أكَـلْتُ السَّمَكَـةَ كُـلَّــها I ate the whole fish

Verbal Emphasisالتَّوْكِيدُ اللَّفْظِي

Achieved by repeating a word or phrase

اِنْـتَـبِهْ! اِنْـتَبِـهْ! السَّيَارَةُ قَادِمَةٌ Watch out! Watch out! The car is coming

جَاءَ خَالدٌ خَالدٌ Khālid came—Khālid

نعمْ نعمْ Yes, yes

ذَهَبْتُ أَنَا I wen, I