Iʿrāb
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The Arabic word iʿrāb ( إﻋﺮﺍﺏ) designates the system of nominal and adjectival suffixes of Classical Arabic. The term is cognate to the word Arab itself. These suffixes are written in fully vocalized Arabic texts, notably the Qur'an, and they are articulated when a text is formally read aloud, but they do not survive in any spoken dialect of Arabic. Even in formal Arabic, these suffix vowels are not pronounced "in pausa", i.e. when the word occurs at the end of the sentence, in accordance with certain rules of Arabic pronunciation.
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[edit] Types of declension
[edit] Fully declined nouns
The suffixes are -u, -a, -i for nominative, accusative and genitive case, respectively, with the addition of a final /n/ (nunation, or tanwin) to produce -un, -an and -in when the word is unmarked for definiteness (that is, when it is not preceded by al-).
This system applies to most singular nouns in Arabic, including feminine nouns ending in -ah/-at (ta marbuta). It also applies to many "broken plurals".
The final /n/ is also dropped when the noun is in iḍāfa. Thus:
baytun: a house (acc. baytan, gen. baytin)
al-baytu: the house (acc. al-bayta, gen. al-bayti)
baytu'r-rajuli: the house of the man (acc. bayta'r-rajuli, gen. bayti'r-rajuli).
[edit] Diptotes
A few singular nouns (including some names of places), and certain types of "broken plural", are known as diptotes, meaning that they only have two case endings (Greek ptosis, case).
When the noun is indefinite, or in iḍāfa, the endings are respectively -u, -a and -a, with no nunation. The genitive reverts to the normal -i when the definite article precedes.
[edit] Duals
The endings of the dual are -āni in the nominative, and -ayni in the accusative and genitive. The "ni" is dropped in iḍāfa.
Nominative:
wālidāni: (two) parents
al-wālidāni: the (two) parents
wālidā'r-rajuli: the parents of the man
Accusative and genitive:
wālidayni: (two) parents
al-wālidayni: the (two) parents
wāliday'r-rajuli: the parents of the man.
[edit] Sound masculine plurals
In the case of sound masculine plurals (mostly denoting male human beings), the suffixes are respectively -ūna, -īna and -īna. These stay the same whether or not al- precedes. The final a is usually dropped in speech.
The "na" is dropped when the noun is in iḍāfa. Thus:
Nominative:
wālidūna: parents (more than two)
al-wālidūna: the parents
wālidū'r-rijāli: the parents of the men
Accusative and genitive:
wālidīna: parents
al-wālidīna: the parents
wālidī'r-rijāli: the parents of the men
[edit] Sound feminine plurals
In the case of sound feminine plurals, the suffixes are respectively -ātu(n), -āti(n) and -āti(n). The n is only there when the noun is indefinite (not preceded by al-). Again the final vowel is dropped in speech, leaving only -āt.
The final "n" is dropped when the noun is in iḍāfa.
Nominative:
mudarrisātun: (female) teachers
al-mudarrisātu: the teachers
mudarrisātu'l-awlādi: the teachers of the children
Accusative and genitive:
mudarrisātin: (female) teachers
al-mudarrisāti: the teachers
mudarrisāti'l-awlādi: the teachers of the children
[edit] References
- Haywood and Nahmad, A new Arabic grammar: London 1965, ISBN 0 85331 585 X
- Aryeh Levin, "The Fundamental Principles of the Arab Grammarians' Theory of `amal", in: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 19 (1995), pp. 214-232.
