Lesson 60 – الدَّرْسُ السِّتُّونَ
Annuller particles (/inna/ and its sisters)- الحـُرُوفُ النَّاسِخَـةُ (إنَّ وأَخواتُها)
/inna/ and its sisters with the dual and the sound plural noun – إنَّ وَأخواتُها مع الاسم الْمُثَنَّى وَالجَمْع
- We are still in lesson sixty of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- We now clearly understand what /inna/ and its sisters are, what their meanings and their function are, and why they are called annullers.
- We also understand that they change the subject to the accusative case, so if the subject is a singular noun it will be originally signed with /fatħah/ on its last letter. we are going to learn about the dual and plural subjects in this part In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing).
1- The dual:
We learnt in lesson 17 that the dual is a noun ending with (انِ /āni) in the nominative case, and (ينِ /ayni/) in the accusative or genitive case. It indicates two units of the countable singular noun, as shown in the following examples:
| Genitive | Accusative | Nominative | Number |
| /waladin/ | /waladan/ | /waladun/ | Singular |
| /waladayni/ | /waladayni/ | Waladāni/ | Dual |
- We also learnt in an earlier lesson that the subject and the predicate of the normal nominal sentence are in nominative case, so both of them are signed originally with /đammah/ if they are singular. If any or both of them are dual they will be signed with /alif/ instead. Consider the following examples:
| Dual | Singular | ||
| English | Arabic | English | Arabic |
| The two boys are active | The boy is active | ||
| The two students are hardworking | The student is hardworking | ||
- When /inna/ and its sisters fall in the beginning of the nominal sentence the subject is changed to the accusative case. If the subject is singular it will be originally signed with /fatħah/ on its last letter, while if it is dual it will be signed with the letter /yaa’/ before its final letter. The /yaa’/ is the sign of the accusative case of the dual noun, while the penultimate /alif/ is the nominative sign. Consider attentively the following examples:
| Dual | Singular | ||
| English | Arabic | English | Arabic |
| Indeed, the two students are active | /inna al waladayni nashīŧâni/ | Indeed, the student is active | /inna al walada nashīŧun/ |
| Indeed, the two telephones are broken | /inna al hātifayni fāsidāni/ | Indeed, the telephone is broken | /inna al hātifa fāsidun/ |
| The two planes may fly | لَعَلَّ الطَّائِرَتَيْنِ تَطيرَانِ /laξalla aŧ ŧâ’ratayni taŧīrâni/ | The plane may fly | /laξalla aŧ ŧâ’ata taŧīru/ |
| But the two teachers are good | لَكِنَّ المُعَلِّمَيْنِ جَيِّدَانِ /lākinna al muξallimayni ğayyidāni/ | But the teacher is good | /lākinna al muξallima ğayyidun/ |
| The two rooms may be clean | لَيْتَ الغُرْفَتَيْنِ نَظِيفَتَانِ /layta al ghurfatayni nađhifatāni/ | The room may be clean | /layta al ghurfata nadhīfatun/ |
- The sound plural (masculine and feminine)
We studied in earlier lessons the sound masculine and the sound feminine plurals. We learnt that the sound masculine plural (جمع المذكر السالم) is ended with (ـونَ /ūna/) in the nominative case, and it is ended with (ـينَ /īna) in the accusative or genitive case.
See the following examples (for revision purposes):
| Example | Case | |
| English | Arabic | |
| The teachers came | Nominative | |
| I saw the teachers | Accusative | |
| I went to the teachers | Genitive | |
- We also learnt that the sound feminine plural is ended with (ات /aat/). It is signed with /đammah/ on its final /taa'/ in the nominative case, and it is signed with /kasrah/ in each of the accusative and the genitive case. Let's see the following revision examples:
| Example | Case | |
| English | Arabic | |
| The female teachers came | Nominative | |
| I saw the female teachers | Accusative | |
| I went to the female teachers | Genitive | |
- We also studied in this lesson that the noun of /inna/ and its sisters is always in accusative case, and the predicate is in the nominative case, so if any of the noun (subject) and the predicate is a sound plural we will use the suitable signs mentioned above, instead of the regular signs of the singular noun. Consider the following examples of sound plural sentences with /inna/ and its sisters:
| Sound feminine plural | Sound masculine plural | Singular | |||
| English | Arabic | English | Arabic | English | Arabic |
| The female racers are winners | إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقَاتِ فَائِزَاتٌ /inna al mutasābiqâti fā'izātun/ | The racers are winners (won) | إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقِينَ فَائِزُونَ /inna al mutasābiqīna fā'izūna/ | The racer (runner) is a winner (won) | /inna almutasābiqa fāza/ |
| If only the female workers are skilful | لَيْتَ العَامِلاتِ مُتْقِنَاتٌ /layta al ξāmilāti mutqinātun/ | If only the workers are skilful | لَيْتَ العَامِلِينَ مُتْقِنُونَ /layta al ξāmilīna mutqinūna/ | If only the worker is skilful | /layta al ξāmila mutqinun/ |
| As if the female writers are creative | كَأَنَّ الكاتِبَاتِ مُبْدِعَاتٌ /ka'anna al kātibāti mubdiξātun/ | As if the writers are creative | كَأَنَّ الكاتِبِينَ مُبْدِعُونَ /ka'anna al kātibīna mubdiξūna/
| As if the writer is a creative | /ka'anna al kātiba mubdiξun/ |
| The female farmers may be happy | لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعَاتِ سَعِيداتٌ /laξalla az zāriξāti saξīdātun/ | The farmers may be happy | لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعِينَ سَعِيدُونَ /laξalla az zāriξīna saξīdūna/ | The farmer may be happy | /laξalla az zāriξa saξīdun/ |
| If only the saleswomen are trustworthy | /layta al bā'iξāti amīnatun/ | If only the salesmen are trustworthy | /layta al bā'iξīna amīnūna/ | If only the salesman is trustworthy | /layta al bā'ξa amīnun/ |
| Indeed, the female engineers are clever | إنَّ المُهَنْدِسَاتِ بَارِعاتٌ /inna al muhandisāti bāriξātun/ | Indeed, the engineers are clever | إنَّ المُهَنْدِسِينَ بَارِعُونَ /inna al muhandisīna bāriξūna/ | Indeed, the engineer is clever | /inna al muhandisa bāriξun/ |
- You may now clearly notice the difference between the declension of the singular and the declension of the dual or the sound plural when they fall as a noun of /inna/ and its sisters (subject), and when they fall as a predicate.