Lesson 3: Case

Some important aspects of English grammar which is essential to understand in order to

understand better Arabic grammar inshallah-

Subject: The person or thing that is performing the action of the verb.
Object: The person or thing that is receiving the action of the verb.
Verb: An action or a doing word (ie: sat, swim, run, read, write etc)

For example:
The boy read the book.

subject verb object

In Arabic, words take on different status: “cases” – what this means is that they will display
different vowels on their final letter depending on what “case” they are in.

Word case will be altered depending on its grammatical status in a sentence: for example, words
following a preposition will in general, display kessrah; words which are the subject, will in general
display dummah; words which are the object, will in general display a fatha.

(that which effects words to display different cases is explained in following lessons – lesson 3 is
primarily to show and explain the concept of case and what it does).

There are different factors which ultimately effect or determine which case a word will be and how
exactly its case is displayed -
While in general certain vowels are used to show case, sometimes it happens that a word cannot
display it as such and so will take on a different appearance….therefore you cannot rely on solely
looking at which final vowel a word takes to identify its case. Rather, look also to grammatical
status in the sentence. (this becomes clearer in following lessons).

Identifying case and sentence meaning

If we were to say in English: The man hit the wrongdoer.

Then from the structure of the sentence, we can see that it is the “man” who is the subject; the one
who performs the action of hitting. And the “wrongdoer” is the object; the one whom is receiving
the action – being hit.

If however, we switch the words around a little and say instead:

The wrongdoer hit the man.

Now, we understand that it is the wrong doer who is the subject: doing the action of hitting, and it
is the man who is the object: the one being hit.
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 1
In English we have a clear word order- the position of words in a sentence, tell us its grammatical
status or meaning.

In Arabic however, this is not quite so. Grammatical status is not necessarily identified by a words
position in the sentence. Rather, it is the case which tells us this (identified by the the final vowel /
word ending).

If we write our sentence in Arabic, we have:

ُ‫ب الظَالِ َم‬

َُ ‫ض َر‬
َ ‫ل‬
ُُ ‫الر ُج‬
Object:
Subject:
The wrongdoer Verb:
The man
hit

Take a look at the final vowel for each word: It is this final vowel which tells us the grammatical
status of each word - which word is the subject or the object.

– The dummah on ُ‫ الر ُج ُل‬tells us that this is the subject. The Fatha on ‫ الظَالِ َُم‬tells us that this is
the object.

So…..if we mix the word order up a little…like this:

ُ‫ب الر ُج ُل‬ َ ‫الظَالِ َُم‬

َُ ‫ض َر‬ ُ‫ب‬
َ ‫ض َر‬ ُُ ‫الظَالِ َُم الر ُج‬
َ ‫ل‬ ُ‫ب‬ َ ‫ل الظَالِ َُم‬
َ ‫ض َر‬ ُُ ‫الر ُج‬
ُ‫الر ُج ُل‬
ُ‫ل الظَالِ َم‬
ُُ ‫ب الر ُج‬
َُ ‫ض َر‬
َ ُ‫ب الظَالِ َُم الر ُج ُل‬
َُ ‫ض َر‬
َ

Then all these sentences mean the same thing: The man hit the wrongdoer!

Look at the final vowel on each word to determine its grammatical status: In each sentence
ُ‫ الر ُج ُل‬has the dummah- therefore this dummah tells us this word is the subject. Like wise in each
sentence, ‫م‬ َُ ِ‫ الظَال‬takes fatha- therefore this fatha tells us this word is the object.

Remember:
The grammatical status of a word is not based on its position in a sentence, but
rather, how the end of the word looks.

The word “inflection” ‫ إعراب‬refers to the ending of a word which represents its
case.

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 2

Lets take another example:

Subject Object Possessive

They sat down. I saw them. That is their house.

The man sat down. I saw the man. That is the man’s son

Notice the noun man: no matter how it occurs in the sentence its form does not change. In Arabic,
the word will change grammatically (and not structurally) when the above three sentences are
rendered in Arabic:

Subject Object Possessive

َُ َ‫َجل‬
ُ‫س الر ُج ُل‬ ُ‫الرج َُل‬
َ ‫ْت‬ُُ ‫َرأَي‬ ُُ ‫ك‬
ُ‫ابن الرج ُِل‬ َُ ِ‫َذل‬

It is clear to see, that a word shows its grammatical status by displaying different word endings.

So, it is understood that grammatical status is indicated by the way a word ends – this is the way
in which its final vowel is displayed, as shown above – however some words may express their
state in alternate ways:

For example:
Here we can see that in each of these sentences, the word highlighted is the subject. – Although
the grammatical position of each word is the same (in that they are all the subject), they are
different “word types” (explained further in lesson) and therefore have different word endings to
represent or display its status (case).

Subject Subject Subject

ُ‫جا َُء الر ُج ُل‬ ُ‫ُالن‬

ِ ‫جا َُء الرج‬ ُ‫مون‬
َ ِ‫جا َُء ال ُمسل‬
The man came. The two men came. The Muslims came.

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 3

Classifying Case

Each of the different states / cases have a name, and there are 4 in total.
1. Genitive ‫َمجْ رُور‬
2. Nominative ‫مرْ فُوع‬َ
3. Accusative ‫م ْنصُوب‬ َ
4. Jussive ‫زوم‬ُ ْ‫َمج‬

Although there are 4 cases in total, nouns ُ‫ اِسْم‬and verbs ُ‫ فِعْل‬each will apply only 3 of the cases
to their word types:
[Term 1 only deals with cases for nouns.]

Genitive Nominative Accusative Jussive

‫َم ْج ُرور‬ ‫َم ْرفُوع‬ ُ ‫َم ْن‬
‫صوب‬ ‫َم ْج ُزوم‬

Inflection ‫إعراب‬

The word “inflection” ‫ إعراب‬refers to the ending of a word to represent or display its case.
Word endings can be divided into 2 categories:
1. Fully inflected
2. Partially inflected

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 4

 Inflection

Fully inflected Partially inflected

These are words in vocab list that end in These are words that cannot take tanween
tanween when indefinite when indefinite, showing instead just a single

‫َرسُول‬ vowel.

‫َم َنافِ ُع‬

i.e.
i.e.

Can display all three vowels on the end to Cannot always display all three vowels –
correspond to the different cases sometimes have to make substitutions

Word type

There are 5 “word types” – each of them having different ways to demonstrate their case.

Words ending in taa’marbootah ‫ة‬

Fully inflected Partially inflected
(proper nouns only)

Act as any normal noun

When ‫ َمجرور‬display fathah Definite in meaning so no ‫ال‬
instead of kasrah or tanween.

Type 1 partially inflected words refer only to proper nouns. (a proper noun is the name of a specific
person (Maryam), place (Masjid al-Haram) or thing (Mercedes Benz).
Because a proper noun is the name of someone/thing specific, it is automatically definite in
meaning, therefore just as in English we would not say “the Maryam” or “Maryam”, there is no
need for ‫ ال‬or tanween.

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 5

 Examples of Type 1 partially inflected proper names ending in ‫ة‬

ُ‫فاط َم ُة‬
ِ ِ ‫قَلَ ُُم‬
َ‫فاط َم ُة‬ ُ‫فاط َم ُةَ اللَ ِطيفَ ِة‬
ِ ‫قَلَ ُُم‬
Fatima The pen of Fatima The pen of gentle Fatima

Two nouns together form a Fatima is type 1 partially

Proper noun, therefore no ‫ ال‬or
tanween, as is definite by
meaning.
Mudaf the 2nd noun in this
construction should be‫ُ َمجْ رور‬
(taught in lesson 7)- therefore
should have kessrah –
however because this is a
partially inflected word, it
displays a fatha instead.
Notice: ‫ ُم َح َّمد‬is a proper
noun- however does not end
-therefore it is not a type 1
word, so can and does take
kessrah, unlike ‫فاط َمة‬
ِ ‫لَ ِطيفَة‬
ُ‫قَلَ ُُم ُم َح َّمد‬
inflected – therefore cannot
display kessrah when ‫َمجْ رور‬
and instead displays a fatha.
Remember, although it
displays fatha, it is still majroor
case here, so therefore, as we
learnt in lesson 1, an adjective
must agree with the noun it
describes in case. So, here,
‫ُة‬ the adjective‫ لَ ِطيفَة‬must
agree with the case of َ‫ة‬
ُ ‫فاط َم‬
ِ
which we know is majroor.
is not a type 1 word,
therefore has no problem
displaying the kessrah to
indicate it is majroor along with
Fatima.

Nouns and adjectives that are not of any of the other types

Fully inflected Partially inflected

(only when indefinite- when definite functions
normally with all three vowels)

Act as any normal noun – but you must add an

alif as a seat for the when indefinite
When genitive ‫َمجْ رُور‬
display fathah instead
‫ا‬ of kasrah, and cannot take tanween
eg

‫مُسْ لِما‬

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 6

 Examples of Type 2 partially inflected nouns

ُ‫فَوا ِك ُه‬ َ‫صحْ ُنُ فوا ِك ُه‬

َ ُُ ْ‫صح‬
ُ‫ن الفوا ِك ِه‬ َ
(a) fruit A plate of fruit The plate of fruit

Is a partially inflected noun; it As we will learnt in lesson 7, It is no longer partially inflected

cannot display tanween this construction is an idafa – as is now definite, therefore
even though it is indefinite. which means that the 2nd noun can display kessrah as normal.
must be majroor.

However, because َ‫فوا ِك ُه‬

is a
partially inflected word (it can
not take tanween even when
indefinite), it can not display
kessrah as most majroor words
do – instead it shows fatha.

If we make ‫ فوا ِكه‬definite

Words that end kessrah-tanween when

they are indefinite and marfu in vocab list: for example ‫واد‬

‫مرفوع‬ ‫منصوب‬ ‫مجرور‬

Definite Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite Indefinite
‫ُيا‬
Indef
‫مرفوع‬ Singular ‫ي‬ ُ‫ي‬
َ ُ‫واديا‬ ‫ي‬
ends in
–in eg
‫واد‬ Plural ‫الوادي‬ ُ
‫واد‬ ُ‫ي‬
َ ‫الواد‬ َُ
‫ي‬ ‫الوا ِدي‬ ُ
‫واد‬
‫الجواري‬
َ ُ‫جوار‬ َُ ‫يُ الجوار‬
‫ي‬ َ ‫الجواري جوار‬
ِ ُ‫جوار‬

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 7

 Words that end or ً‫ىً ا‬

The ending never changes for case, but the word losesits tanween when definite
(which is normal!)

Definite indefinite
As this is a word quoted in isolation, it
will be in the default case – ‫ – مرفوع‬and
ُ‫َرجُل‬ ُ‫الر ُج ُل‬
‫مرفوع‬ so
should carry a dammah
As this is a word that ends in ‫ ا‬, the
ُ‫قُرى‬ َ ‫القُر‬
ُ‫ى‬ ending will not change, the tanween is
simply removed in the definite
In this type of construction (which we
َُّ ِ‫إ‬
ُ‫ن َرجُال‬ َُّ ِ‫إ‬
ُ‫ن الر ُج َل‬ will learn later) the second noun should
be
‫منصوب‬ ‫ منصوب‬therefore carry a fathah
As this is a word that ends in ‫ ا‬, the
ُ‫ن قُرى‬
َُّ ِ‫إ‬ َ ‫ن القُر‬
ُ‫ى‬ َُّ ِ‫إ‬ ending will not change, the tanween is
simply removed in the definite
In this type of construction (which we
ُ‫مع رجُل‬ ُ‫مع الرج ُِل‬ will learn later) the second noun should
be
‫مجرور‬ ‫ مجرور‬therefore carry a kasrah
As this is a word that ends in ‫ ا‬, the
ُ‫مع قُرى‬ َ ‫مع القُر‬
ُ‫ى‬ ending will not change, the tanween is
simply removed in the definite

Words that end or َ‫ىً ًا‬

َ

The ending never changes for case, other than adding ‫ ال‬when definite

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 8

 Sound Masculine Plural
The last letter stays the same, whether definite or indefintite ًَ‫ن‬

‫مرفوع‬ ‫منصوب‬ ‫مجرور‬

End ُ‫ون‬
َ End ُ‫ين‬
َ
To know whether a word is mansoob or majroor you must look
at the context to determine which of the two it is – as both
display the same

To identify case look at the second to last letter – is it ‫ و‬or ‫ي‬

Sound Feminine Plural

The ending functions the same way as any normal word;
When it is indefinite it will have tanween and when definite will have ‫ ال‬and one vowel removed

‫مرفوع‬ ‫منصوب‬ ‫مجرور‬

End ُ‫ات‬ End ُ‫ات‬

To know whether a word is mansoob or majroor you must look
at the context to determine which of the two it is – as both
display the same

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 9

 Independent pronouns

Pronouns are words which take the place of a noun, such as I, he, she, they etc.

Singular Plural

Ppl you
are 3rd person masculine
ُ‫هُ َو‬ ُ‫هُ ْم‬ They 3+
talking
about
/absent
3rd person feminine
ُ‫ِه َي‬ ُ‫هُ َّن‬ They 3+

Ppl you
are
2nd person masculine
َ ‫أَ ْن‬
ُ‫ت‬ ُ‫أَ ْنتُ ْم‬ You 3+

talking
2nd person feminine
ِ ‫أَ ْن‬ ُ‫أَ ْنتُ َّن‬
to
ُ‫ت‬ You 3+

‫أَنا‬
self 1st person
ُ‫نَحْ ُن‬ I / we 2+

Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 10

 Lesson 3: Quick revision summary
The grammatical position of a word is demonstrated by its case: its final vowels.

The 3 cases which deal with nouns are

Word ending will
1. Genitive ‫ َمجْ رُور‬generally (but not always) end kessrah ultimately depend on
2. Nominative ‫مرْ فُوع‬
َ generally (but not always) end dummah what word type the said
word is:
3. Accusative ‫م ْنصُوب‬ َ generally (but not always) end fatha Check the case chart!

Fully inflected: end tanween when definite – can display all 3 vowels
Partially inflected: Cannot take tanween when indefinite (show just single vowel). Cannot display all 3
vowels representing each case
.

Type 1: words ending taa’marbootah

Fully inflected: takes all 3 vowels
Partially inflected:
 Proper nouns only (so no “al” or tanween as proper nouns are definite in meaning)
 ُ
when‫ َم ْج ُرور‬display fatha not kessrah

Type 2: nouns and adjectives not of other types

Fully inflected: act like any normal noun- but when indefinite must add an alif” for tanween to sit on
ُ
Partially inflected: when‫ َم ْج ُرور‬display fatha not kessrah, and cannot take tanween

Type 3: words end kessrah-tansween when indef & marfu ie: ‫واد‬

When all 3 cases both definite/indefinite and singular/plural: end ‫ي‬

‫َم ْج ُرور‬ and ‫ َم ْرفُوع‬-When indefinite and singular / plural: end (kessrah-tanween)

ُ ‫ َم ْن‬When indefinite and singular end:

‫صوب‬ ُ‫ي‬
َ When indefinite and plural end: ُ‫ي‬
َ

Type 4: words end or ً‫ىً ا‬: ending never changes for case, other than losing tanween when definite

Type 5: words end or َ‫ىً ًا‬

َ : ending never changes for case, other than adding ‫ ال‬when definite
Sound masculine plural:

when ‫ َم ْرفُوع‬end ُ‫ون‬

َ when ُ ‫َم ْن‬
‫صوب‬ ُ‫ين‬
َ and ‫ َم ْج ُرور‬end ‫ين‬
َُ
Sound Feminine plural:

when ‫ َمرْ فُوع‬end ُ‫ات‬ when ُ ‫َم ْن‬

‫صوب‬ ُ‫ ات‬and ‫ َم ْج ُرور‬end ُ‫ات‬
Arabic Gems Lesson 3: page 11