Lesson 60 – الدَّرْسُ السِّتُّونَ

Annuller particles (/inna/ and its sisters)- الحـُرُوفُ النَّاسِخَـةُ (إنَّ وأَخواتُها)

/inna/ and its sisters with the dual and the sound plural noun – إنَّ وَأخواتُها مع الاسم الْمُثَنَّى وَالجَمْع

  • We are still in lesson sixty of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • We now clearly understand what /inna/ and its sisters are, what their meanings and their function are, and why they are called annullers.
  • We also understand that they change the subject to the accusative case, so if the subject is a singular noun it will be originally signed with /fatħah/ on its last letter. we are going to learn about the dual and plural subjects in this part In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing).

    1- The dual:
    We learnt in lesson 17 that the dual is a noun ending with (
    انِ /āni) in the nominative case, and (ينِ /ayni/) in the accusative or genitive case. It indicates two units of the countable singular noun, as shown in the following examples:

Genitive

Accusative

Nominative

Number

وَلَدٍ

/waladin/

وَلَدًا

/waladan/

وَلَدٌ

/waladun/

Singular

وَلَدَيْنِ

/waladayni/

وَلَدَيْنِ

/waladayni/

وَلَدَان

Waladāni/

Dual

  • We also learnt in an earlier lesson that the subject and the predicate of the normal nominal sentence are in nominative case, so both of them are signed originally with /đammah/ if they are singular. If any or both of them are dual they will be signed with /alif/ instead. Consider the following examples:

Dual

Singular

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

The two boys are active

الوَلَدانِ نَشِيطَانِ

The boy is active

الوَلَدُ نَشِيطٌ

The two students are hardworking

الطَّالِبَانِ مُجْتَهِدَانِ

The student is hardworking

الطَّالِبُ مُجْتَهِدٌ

  •  When /inna/ and its sisters fall in the beginning of the nominal sentence the subject is changed to the accusative case. If the subject is singular it will be originally signed with /fatħah/ on its last letter, while if it is dual it will be signed with the letter /yaa’/ before its final letter. The /yaa’/ is the sign of the accusative case of the dual noun, while the penultimate /alif/ is the nominative sign. Consider attentively the following examples: 

Dual

Singular

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

Indeed, the two students are active

إِنَّ الوَلَدَيْنِ نَشِيطَانِ

/inna al waladayni nashīŧâni/

Indeed, the student is active

إنَّ الوَلَدَ نَشِيطٌ

/inna al walada nashīŧun/

Indeed, the two telephones are broken

إنَّ الهَاتِفَيْنِ فَاسِدَانِ

/inna al hātifayni fāsidāni/

Indeed,  the telephone is broken

إنَّ الهَاتِفَ فَاسِدٌ

/inna al hātifa fāsidun/

The two planes may fly

لَعَلَّ الطَّائِرَتَيْنِ تَطيرَانِ

/laξalla aŧ ŧâ’ratayni taŧīrâni/

The plane may fly

لَعَلَّ الطَّائِرَةُ تَطيرُ

/laξalla aŧ ŧâ’ata taŧīru/

But the two teachers are good

لَكِنَّ المُعَلِّمَيْنِ جَيِّدَانِ

/lākinna al muξallimayni ğayyidāni/

But the teacher is good

لَكِنَّ المُعَلِّمَ جَيِّدٌ

/lākinna al muξallima ğayyidun/

The two rooms may be clean

لَيْتَ الغُرْفَتَيْنِ نَظِيفَتَانِ

/layta al ghurfatayni nađhifatāni/

The room may be clean

لَيْتَ الغُرْفَةَ نَظِيفَةٌ

/layta al ghurfata nadhīfatun/

  • The sound plural (masculine and feminine)
    We studied in earlier lessons the sound masculine and the sound feminine plurals. We learnt that the sound masculine plural (
    جمع المذكر السالم) is ended with (ـونَ /ūna/) in the nominative case, and it is ended with (ـينَ /īna) in the accusative or genitive case.
    See the following examples (for revision purposes):

Example

Case

English

Arabic

The teachers came

حَضَرَ المُعَلِّمُونُ

Nominative

I saw the teachers

رَأَيْتُ المُعَلِّمِينَ

Accusative

I went to the teachers

ذَهَبْتُ إلى الْمُعَلِّمينَ

Genitive

  • We also learnt that the sound feminine plural is ended with (ات /aat/). It is signed with /đammah/ on its final /taa'/ in the nominative case, and it is signed with /kasrah/ in each of the accusative and the genitive case. Let's see the following revision examples:

Example

Case

English

Arabic

The female teachers came

حَضَرَتِ المُعَلِّماتُ

Nominative

I saw the female teachers

رَأَيْتُ الْمُعَلِّمَاتِ

Accusative

I went to the female teachers

ذهَبْتُ إلى المُعَلِّماتِ

Genitive

  • We also studied in this lesson that the noun of /inna/ and its sisters is always in accusative case, and the predicate is in the nominative case, so if any of the noun (subject) and the predicate is a sound plural we will use the suitable signs mentioned above, instead of the regular signs of the singular noun. Consider the following examples of sound plural sentences with /inna/ and its sisters:

Sound feminine plural

Sound masculine plural

Singular

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

The female racers are winners

إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقَاتِ فَائِزَاتٌ

/inna al mutasābiqâti fā'izātun/

The racers are winners (won)

إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقِينَ فَائِزُونَ

/inna al mutasābiqīna fā'izūna/

The racer (runner) is a winner (won)

إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقَ فَائِزٌ

/inna almutasābiqa fāza/

If only the female workers are skilful

لَيْتَ العَامِلاتِ مُتْقِنَاتٌ

/layta al ξāmilāti mutqinātun/

If only the workers are skilful

لَيْتَ العَامِلِينَ مُتْقِنُونَ

/layta al ξāmilīna mutqinūna/

If only the worker is skilful

لَيْتَ العَامِلَ مُتْقِنٌ

/layta al ξāmila mutqinun/

As if the female writers are creative

كَأَنَّ الكاتِبَاتِ مُبْدِعَاتٌ

/ka'anna al kātibāti mubdiξātun/

As if the writers are creative

كَأَنَّ الكاتِبِينَ مُبْدِعُونَ

/ka'anna al kātibīna mubdiξūna/

 

As if the writer is a creative

كَأَنَّ الكاتِبَ مُبْدِعٌ

/ka'anna al kātiba mubdiξun/

The female farmers may be happy

لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعَاتِ سَعِيداتٌ

/laξalla az zāriξāti saξīdātun/

The farmers may be happy

لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعِينَ سَعِيدُونَ

/laξalla az zāriξīna saξīdūna/

The farmer may be happy

لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعَ سَعِيدٌ

/laξalla az zāriξa saξīdun/

If only the saleswomen are trustworthy

لَيْتَ البائِعَاتِ أَمِينَاتٌ

/layta al bā'iξāti amīnatun/

If only the salesmen are trustworthy

لَيْتَ البائِعِينَ أَمِينُونَ

/layta al bā'iξīna amīnūna/

If only the salesman is trustworthy

لَيْتَ البائِعَ أَمِينٌ

/layta al bā'ξa amīnun/

Indeed, the female engineers are clever

إنَّ المُهَنْدِسَاتِ بَارِعاتٌ

/inna al muhandisāti bāriξātun/

Indeed, the engineers are clever

إنَّ المُهَنْدِسِينَ بَارِعُونَ

/inna al muhandisīna bāriξūna/

Indeed, the engineer is clever

إنَّ المُهَنْدِسَ بَارِعٌ

/inna al muhandisa bāriξun/

  •  You may now clearly notice the difference between the declension of the singular and the declension of the dual or the sound plural when they fall as a noun of /inna/ and its sisters (subject), and when they fall as a predicate.