Lesson 63 – الدَّرْسُ الثّالِثُ والسِّتُّونَ

Transitive verbs over two objects/đhanna/ and its sisters - الأفعال التي تَنْصِب مَفْعُولَيْنِ "ظَــنَّ، وَأَخَوَاتُـها"

Verbs of Affectivity: Verbs of Supposition or Assumption – (أَفْعَالُ القُلُوبِ: أَفْـعَـالُ الظَّـنِّ)

  • We are still in lesson sixty three of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • This is the second part of the Verbs of Affectivity that denote uncertainty, supposition or assumption. The best known verb in this group is ظَـنَّ /đhanna/ (to think, believe, suppose, assume, etc) after which the whole group is called /đhanna/ and its sisters. This group has the same rules as the Verbs of Certainty, i.e. turning the subject and predicate of the nominal sentence into two objects. This group includes five verbs as follows:

Example

Verb

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

The teacher thought the student was active

خَالَ الأُسْتَاذُ الطَّالِبَ نَشِيطًا

/khâla al ustādhu aŧ ŧâliba nashīŧan/

to think, believe, assume

خَالَ

/khâla/

 

I thought Arabic is easy

ظَنَنْتُ العَرَبِيَّةً سَهْلَةً

/đhanantu al ξarabiyyata sahlatan/

 

to think

ظَنَّ

/đhann/

I supposed the friend was faithful

حَسِبْتُ الصَّدِيقَ وَفِيًّا

/ħasibtu aŝ ŝadīqa wafiyyan/

to consider, think, suppose, assume

حَسِبَ

/ħasiba/

 

The student alleged grammar is easy

زَعَمَ الطالبُ النّحْوَ سَهْلاً

/zaξama aŧ ŧâlibu an naħwa sahlan/

to claim, allege

زَعَمَ

/zaξam/

 

My friend considers my neighbour is a partner in the project

عَـدَّ صاحبي جَارَنَا شَرِيكًا فِي المَشْرُوعِ

/ξadda ŝâħibī ĵāranā sharīkan fī al mashrūξi/

to consider, count, deem, regard as

عَـدَّ

/ξadda/

 

  • These five verbs represent the second category of the Verbs of Affectivity that indicate supposition or uncertainty. These verbs are also dia-transitive, i.e. taking two objects, which were the subject and predicate of the nominal sentence before the insertion of /đhanna/ or its sisters. The second example: ظَنَنْتُ العَرَبِيَّةَ سَهْلَةً (I thought Arabic is easy) consists of verb + doer (the suffix تُ) + first object + second object.

Second object

First object

Doer

Verb

سَهْلَةً

العَرَبِيَّةَ

تُ

ظَـنَّ

مَفعول به "٢"

مفعول به "١"

ضَمير فاعل

فِعْل ماضٍ