Lesson 58 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ وَالْخَمْسُونَ

The nominal sentence  - الجُمْلَةُ الاِسْمِيَّةُ

Types of subject – أَنْوَاعُ المُبْتَدَأ

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  • In the previous part of this lesson we learnt the Arabic nominal sentence, and we understood that it consists of two essential parts which are the subject (المُبْتَدأ /al mubtada’/) and the predicate (الخَبَر /al khabar/).
  • The main part of the nominal sentence – the /mubtada’/ (subject), can be divided into many types because it is a noun, and we have already learnt that the noun is divided into many types. You will notice from the following examples that most types of nouns can be used as the subject – e.g. pronouns, animals, humans, inanimate (non-living) objects etc:

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Type of the subject

English

Arabic example

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A name of a person

عَلَم

Ahmed is kind

أَحْمَدُ طَيِّبٌ

/aħmadu ŧayyibun/

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A noun referring to  somebody (non specific)

اسْم عَاقِل

The man is generous

الرَّجُلُ كَرِيمٌ

/ar raĵulu karīmun/

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A name of something

اسْم شَيْء

The sun is shining

الشَّمْسُ  سَاطِعَةٌ

/ash shamsu sāŧiξatun/

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A name of an animal

اسْم حَيَوان

The horse is strong

الحِصانُ قَوِيٌّ

/al ħiŝânu qawiyyun/

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Original noun

مَصْدَر

The justice is beloved

العَدْلُ مَحْبُوبٌ

/al ξadlu maħbūbun/

 

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Original noun

مَصْدَر

The injustice is disliked

الظُّلْمُ مَكْرُوهٌ

/ađh đhulmu makrūhun/

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Pronoun

ضَمِير

You are a student

أَنْتَ طَالِبٌ

/anta ŧâlibun/

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Pronoun

ضَمِير

I am a teacher

أَنَا مُدَرِّسٌ

/anā mudarrisun/

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Demonstrative

اِسْم إشارة

Those are doctors

هَؤُلاءِ  أَطِبَّاء

/hā’ulā’i aŧibbā’u/

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Questioning noun

اِسْم اِسْتِفهام

Who is this?

مَنْ هَذَا ؟

/man hādhā/

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Questioning noun

اِسْم اِسْتِفْهَام

What is this?

مَا  هَذَا ؟

/mā hādhā/

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Questioning noun

اِسْم اِسْتِفْهَام

Where are you?

أَيْنَ أَنْتُم ؟

/ayna antum/

  • You may notice, that the above mentioned sentences are all nominal sentences, because  each of them consists of a subject (المُبْتَدأ /al mubtada’/), and a predicate (الخَبَر /al khabar/).
  • The subject in these sentences is in various types:
    -In the first sentence it is a name of a person (
    أحمد).
    -In the following three sentences it is a substantive (evident) noun (
    الرَّجُلُالشَمْسُ - الحِصَانُ), all these nouns are declinable in a nominative case, signed with /đammah/ on the last letter because this is the original declension of the subject, as we see later in this lesson.
  •  In the sentences 7 and 8, the subject is a pronoun (أَنْتَ - أَنَا). We learnt in earlier lessons that all pronouns are indeclinable, so there is no sign of the declension of the subject (đammah) on the last letter of the above mentioned pronouns.  An indeclinable noun never changes irrespective of its grammatical case.
  •  In the sentence number 9 the subject is a demonstrative noun (هَؤُلاءِ). This is also an indeclinable noun, as we studied in earlier lessons, it is always signed with /kasrah/ on its last letter, so the original sign of the declension of the subject does not appear on its last letter.
  •  Finally, in the sentences 10, 11, and 12 the subject is a questioning (interrogative) noun (مَنْ -  مَا  - أَيْنَ). As we learnt in earlier lessons all questioning nouns are indeclinable, so they cannot be signed with the original sign of the subject (đammah) on their last letters, because the indeclinable noun never changes in the different cases (positions in the sentence).