Lesson 60 – الدَّرْسُ السِّتُّونَ

Annuller particles (/inna/ and its sisters)- الحـُرُوفُ النَّاسِخَـةُ (إنَّ وأَخواتُها)

The sentence of /inna/ and its sisters – جُمْلَة إنَّ وَأخَواتها

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  • We now clearly understand that /inna/ and its sisters are Arabic annuller particles.We also learnt their meanings. Now we will study the changes that these particles make in the Arabic nominal sentence In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing).
  • Firstly we remind you that /inna/ and its sisters are only used in the nominal sentence. We learnt earlier that the nominal sentence consists of two essential parts: The subject (المبتدأ /al mubtada’/) and the predicate (الخبر /al khabar/) as in the following examples:

Picture

Predicate

Subject

The nominal sentence

English

Arabic

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جَمِيلَةٌ

المَزْرَعَةُ

The farm is beautiful

المَزْرَعَةُ جَمِيلَةٌ

/al mazraξatu ğamīlatun/

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نَشِيطٌ

الفَلاَّحُ

The farmer is active

الفَلاَّحُ نَشِيطٌ

/al fallāħu nashīŧun/

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خَضْرَاءُ

الأَشْجَار

The trees are green

الأَشْجَارُ خَضْرَاءُ

/al ashğāru khađrâ’u/

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جَمِيلَةٌ

العَصَافِيرُ

The sparrows are beautiful

العَصَافِيرُ جَمِيلَةٌ

/al ξŝâfīru ğamīlatun/

جَمِيلٌ

صَوْتُها

Its voice is beautiful

صَوْتُها جَمِيلٌ

  • When any of /inna/ and its sisters precedes the nominal sentence it makes the following changes:

    1- The subject will be called the noun of /inna/ or one of its sisters, and the predicate will be called its predicate.

    2- The noun of /inna/ or any of its sisters will be accusative, i.e. signed originally with the /fatħah/ on its last letter, while the predicate remains in nominative case.

    3- /inna/ and its sisters add an additional meaning to the sentence as we study later in this lesson.
  •  Let’s see the same sentences shown above when they are preceded by the annuller particles /inna/ and its sisters:

The predicate of the annuller

The noun of the annuller

The sentence with /inna/ and its sisters

English

Arabic

جَمِيلَةٌ

المَزْرَعَةَ

Indeed, the farm is beautiful

إنَّ المَزْرَعَةَ جَمِيلَةٌ

/inna al mazraξata ğamīlatun/

نَشِيطٌ

الفَلاَّحَ

Indeed, the farmer is hardworking

إنَّ الفَلاَّحَ نَشِيطٌ

/inna al fallāħa nashīŧun/

 

خَضْرَاءُ

الأَشْجَارَ

But the trees are green

لَكِنَّ الأَشْجَارَ خَضْرَاءُ

/lākinna al ashğāra khađrâ’a/

جَمِيلَةٌ

العَصَافِيرَ

The birds may be beautiful

لَعَلَّ العَصَافِيرَ جَمِيلَةٌ
/laξalla alξaŝâfīra ğamīlatun/

جَمِيلٌ

صَوْتَها

If only its voice is beautiful

لَيْتَ صَوْتَها جَمِيلٌ

/layta ŝawtahā ğamīlun/

  • You may notice that /inna/ and its sisters make the opposite function of /kāna/ and its sisters. We studied that /kāna/ and its sisters make the predicate accusative, i.e. signed originally with /fatħah/ on its last letter (lesson 44) whereas /inna/ makes the subject accusative. Please complete the exercises below for revision purpose:

Picture

The predicate of /kāna/

The noun of /kāna/

The sentence with /kāna/

English

Arabic

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شَدِيدَةً

الحَرْبُ

The war was hard

كَانَت الحَرْبُ شَدِيدَةً

/kānat al ħarbu shadīdatan/

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مُسْتَمِرَّةً

الحَرْبُ

The war is still continuing

وَما زَالَتْ الحَرْبُ مُسْتَمِرَّةً

/mā zālat al ħarbu mustamirratan/

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أَمْرًا

السَّلامُ

And the peace became an important matter

وَأَصْبَحَ السَّلامُ أَمْرًا مُهِمًّا

/wa aŝbaħa as salāmu amran muhimman/

  • For more clarity, let’s compare the nominal sentence in the three situations:
    - Without an annuller,
    - With /inna/ and its sisters,
    - With /kāna/ and its sisters, in the following table:

With /kāna/ and its sisters

With /inna/ and its sisters

Normal nominal sentence

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

The farm was beautiful

كَانَتْ المَزْرَعَةُ جَمِيلَةً

/kānat al mazraξatu ğamīlatan/

Indeed, the farm is beautiful

إنَّ المَزْرَعَةَ جَمِيلَةٌ

/inaa al mazraξata ğamīlatun/

The farm is beautiful

المَزْرَعَةُ جَمِيلَةٌ

/al mazraξatu ğamīlatun/

The door is not open

لَيْسَ البَابُ مَفْتُوحاً

/laysa albābu maftūħan/

I wish that the door is open

لَعَلَّ البَابَ مَفْتُوحٌ

/laξalla al bāba maftūħun/

The door is open

البَابُ مَفْتُوحٌ

/al bābu maftūħun/