Lesson 77 – الدَّرْسُ السَّابِعُ والسَّبْعونَ

Types of Prepositions - أَقْسام حُرُوف الْجَرِّ

The similar to an augmented preposition - حرف الْجَرِّ شَبِيه بالزَّائِدِ

  • We are still in lesson seventy seven of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • The similar to an Arabic augmented preposition is like the augmented preposition in two aspect, and it is different from the augmented preposition in one aspect as follows:

1-    It is like the augmented preposition in the matter that it affects the declension of the following noun, and it does not need to be related to a preceding attachment.

2-    It is different from the augmented preposition in the fact that the essential meaning of the sentence will be changed if it is removed.

Only one preposition can be a similar to the augmented preposition. It is (رُبَّ /rubba) which comes in one of two opposite meanings (i.e. it means rarity in some structures and it means profusion in some others). Consider the meaning of (rubba) in each of the following examples:

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Meaning of (rubba)

Example

English

Arabic

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Rarity

It might happen (rarely) that a hardworking student fails

رُبَّ طَالِبٍ مجْتَهِدٍ يفْشَل

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Profusion

It might happen (many) that someone unhappy in the first life becomes happy in the other life

رُبَّ حَزينٍ في الدُّنْيا سعيدٌ في الآخِرَةِ

  • From the above mentioned examples we also notice that the prepositional phrase of (rubba) is not related to a previous attachment. We also notice that it cannot be eliminated from the sentence, otherwise it would make an essential change in the meaning.
  • More examples:

English

Arabic

There might be a brother which is not from your mother (i.e. a brother in Islam)

رُبَّ أَخٍ لَكَ لَمْ تَلِدْهُ أُمُّكَ

There might be a friend who betrays you.

رُبَّ صَدِيقٍ لكَ غَادِرٌ

There might be a generous but coward.

رُبَّ كَرِيمٍ جَبانٌ

  • In some cases, especially in literary texts, the preposition (rubba) is removed, and becomes supposed, so it affects the following noun as if it exists. This happens after the coordinative (wa وَ) when the following noun is in the genitive case, as in the following examples:

English

Arabic

There might be a (brave) heart who likes the death and dislikes the life

وَقَلْبٍ يُحِبُّ الْمَوْتَ وَيَكْرَهُ الْحَياةَ

It might happen that a young child surpasses the men 

وَغُلامٍ صَغِيرٍ يَفُوقُ الرِّجالَ

  • In the previous two sentences the particle (wa وَ) is followed by a noun in the genitive case, without an evident reason of being genitive. We suppose that they are genitive by a virtual (rubba) the similar to an augmented preposition.
  • Therefore the two above mentioned examples are supposed to be as follows:

English

Arabic

There might be a (brave) heart who likes the death and dislikes the life

وَرُبَّ قَلْبٍ يُحِبُّ الْمَوْتَ وَيَكْرَهُ الْحَياةَ

It might happen that a young child surpasses the men 

وَرُبَّ غُلامٍ صَغِيرٍ يَفُوقُ الرِّجالَ

  • It is important here to mention that it is common to put (ما mā) after (rubba), and it becomes inactive (i.e. it does not affect the following noun in the declension), and its meaning becomes (may be or perhaps), as in the following example:

English

Arabic

Muhammad may be at home

رُبَّما مُحَمَّدٌ في البَيْت