Lesson 60 – الدَّرْسُ السِّتُّونَ
Annuller particles (/inna/ and its sisters)- الحـُرُوفُ النَّاسِخَـةُ (إنَّ وأَخواتُها)
Introduction - مُقَدِّمَةٌ
- This is lesson sixty of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- In the previous three lessons we studied the Arabic annuller verbs (الأفْعال النَّاسِخَة /al afξāl an nāsikhah). We learnt that they intervene in the Arabic nominal sentence and make changes in its declension, meaning, and terms.
- We also learnt three types of the annuller verbs as follows:
1- /kāna/ and its sisters (كَانَ وأخواتها)
2-/kāda/ and its sisters (كَادَ وَأخواتها)
3-/đhanna/ and its sisters (ظَنَّ وأخواتها) - We also learnt that the sentence after /kāna/ and its sisters and /kāda/ and its sisters remains as a nominal sentence, while after /đhanna/ and its sisters it is changed into a verbal sentence (the subject and the predicate are changed into two direct objects of the annuller verb).
- In this lesson we are still studying the nominal sentence, with a new type of annuller.
- We remind you that the nominal sentence consists of two main parts:
- The subject (المُبْتَدَأ /al mubtada’/)
- The predicate (الخبر /al khabar/) - The subject and the predicate are both originally in nominative case, i.e. is signed originally with /đammah/ ( ُ ) on the last letter.
- The annullers which we will study in this lesson are not verbs, instead they are particles. These annullers are called in Arabic (الحُرُوف النَّاسِخَةُ /al ħurūf an nāsikhah/), i.e. the annuller particles.
- We will only study one of the annuller particles in this lesson - /inna/ and its sisters (إنَّ وَأَخَوَاتُها). In this lesson we will learn what /inna/ means and what its sisters are. Please have a look at the following examples (read from right to left):
Picture | Example | English meaning | Annuller particle | |
English | Arabic | |||
| Indeed, the weather is cold today | /inna alğawwua bāridun al yawma/ | Indeed (confirmation particle) | /inna/ |
| The sun is like a fire | /ka’anna ash shamsa nārun/ | As if (similitude and confirmation particle) | /ka’anna/ |
- We will also learn in this lesson the function of /inna/ and its sisters (إنَّ وأخواتها). We will study their affect on the declension of the two parts of the nominal sentence, i.e. the subject and the predicate. Look at the following examples, and consider the declension before and after the annuller particle:
Picture | Example after /inna/ | Example before /inna/ | ||
English | Arabic | English | Arabic | |
| Indeed, Muhammad is generous | /inna muħammadan karīmun/ | Muhammad is generous | /muħammadun karīmun / |
| Indeed, the student is hardworking | /inna aŧ ŧâliba nashīŧun/ | The student is hardworking | /aŧ ŧâlibu nashīŧun/ |
- We will also study the grammatical effect of /inna/ and its sisters when the subject is in dual or plural forms. Consider the following examples:
Example after /inna/ | Example before /inna/ | Number | |
English | Arabic | ||
Indeed, the two players are clever | إنَّ اللاَّعِبَيْنِ مَاهِرَانِ /inna al lāξibayni maharani/ | /al lāξibāni māhirâni/ | Dual |
Indeed, the male players are clever | /inna al lāξibīna māhirūna/ | /al lāξibūna māhirūna/ | Sound masculine plural |
Indeed, the female players are clever | /inna al lāξibāti māhirâtun/ | /al lāξibātu māhirâtun/ | Sound feminine plural |