Lesson 51 – الدَّرْسُ الْواحِدُ وَالْخَمْسُونَ
The Mamdūd Noun الاسـم الممـدود
The Hamza of the Mamdūd Noun – همزة الاسم الممدود
- We are still in lesson fifty one of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- As we learnt above, the Mamdūd Noun is a singular noun ending with a hamza (ء) preceded by a long alif.
- The dual and plural forms as well as the declension of the Mamdūd Noun depend on the type of its hamza, which may be one of three types as follows:
1- Radical hamza هَمْزَةٌ أصْليّةٌ /hamzatun aŝliyyatun/ - In this case the radical hamza is one of the radicals of the word, for example:
Picture | Translation | Example | Radicals of the word | Mamdūd Noun |
| Reciters of poetry are eloquent. | /qara'a/ | /qarrâ'/ | |
| My neighbor was the most one to fend off evil. | /dara'a/ | /darrâ'/ | |
| Al-Barra'u ibn ξāzibin was one of Muhammad's (peace be upon him) companions. | البَرَّاءُ بن عازِبٍ وَاحِدٌ مِنَ صَحَابَةِ مُحَمَّد - صَلى الله عليه وسلم - | /bari'a/ | /barrā'/ |
- Reviewing the above examples, we notice that the hamza is a letter of the radicals of the word and cannot be omitted from the word therefore this type of hamza is أصْليّةٌ or radical.
2- Converted hamza همزةٌ مُنقلبةٌ /hamzatun munqalibatun/ - This type of hamza is not one of the radicals of the word, but it is converted from either a wāw و or yā' ي, which means that the radical of the hamza is one of the two letters wāw و or yā' ي. We can know whether the hamza is radical or converted through the present verb of the word from which the Mamdūd noun is derived.
Picture | Translation | Example | Radicals of the word | Mamdūd Noun | |
Present | Past | ||||
| The sky today is clear. | /yasmū/ | /samā/ | /smā'/ | |
| Don't be sad, trial will be good at the end. | /yabtalī/ | /ibtalā/ | /ibtilā'/ | |
| Smoking is harmful to heath and pollutes air | /yahwī/ | /hawā/ | /hawā'/ | |
| My teacher's name is ξalā'. | /yaξlū/ | /ξalā/ | / ξalā'/ |
- So the hamza may be converted from wāw (و) or yā' (ي), which are converted to hamza (ء) maybe because it is easy to pronounce at the end of the word. For example, the words اِبْتِلاء / ibtilā'/, هَواء /hawā'/ and عَلاء /ξalā'/ may be easier to pronounce than اِبْتِلاي /ibtilāy/, هَواي /hawāy/ and عَلاي /ξalāy/.
3- Augmented (or redundant) feminine hamzaالـهمْزَةُ الزَّائِدَةُ للتأنِيث: - The third type of hamza is augmented (or redundant) feminine one:
Picture | Translation | Example | Radicals of the word | Mamdūd Noun |
| Greenland is the source of good and clean air. | الأَرْضُ الخَضْرَاء هِي مَصْدَرُ الخَيْرِ والهَوَاءِ النَّقِيِّ. | /khađar/ | /khađrâ'/ |
| My brother prefers red clothes. | /ħamar/ | /ħamrâ'/ | |
| Black eyes resist sunrays more than blue eyes can. | العُيُونُ السَّوْدَاء تَتَحَمَّلُ الشَّمْسَ أَكْثَرَ مِنَ العُيُون الزَّرْقَاء. | /sawad/ | /sawdā'/ |
| /zaraq/ | /zarqâ'/ | ||
| Beautiful girls attract young men. | /ħasan/ | /ħasnā'/ | |
| Hayfā' means a tall girl. | /hayaf/ | /hayfā'/ |
- As you see in the above examples, the hamza is neither a radical of the words nor converted from any other letter, but it is augmented to turn a masculine word to feminine. For example, the radicals of the words خَضْراء /khađrâ'/ (green) and حَسْنَاء /ħasnā'/ (beautiful) are خَضَر /khađar/ and حَسَن /ħasan/.