Lesson 68 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ والسِّتُّونَ

The causal object - الْمَفْعُول لأَجْلِهِ

The conditions of the causal object – شُرُوط المَفْعُولِ لأَجْلِهِ

  • Let's Continue to learn Arabic through our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course contains Arabic grammar, Arabic syntax, Arabic morphology and more.
  • We studied in the second part of this lesson the definition of the Arabic causal object. We also studied the difference between the causal object and the other two previous objects (the direct object and the absolute object).
  • In this part we will study the conditions of the Arabic causal object In-Sā’-Allâh (God willing)
  • The conditions under which the noun can be an accusative causal object are as follows:

1-   to be an original noun:

If the noun which falls after the verb and shows the reason of the action is not an original noun, it will not be a causal object, rather it will be a genitive noun after a the preposition (لِ) as in the following examples:

Example with a genitive noun

Example with the causal object

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

God created the earth for mankind

خَلَقَ اللَّهُ الأِرْضَ لِلْبَشَرِ

/khalaqa Ahhâhu al arđa lil bashari/

God created the earth for the trial of mankind

خَلَقَ اللَّهُ الأرْضَ اِخْتِبارًا لِلْبَشَرِ

/khalaqa Allâhu al arđa ikhtibāran lil bashari/

I gave the poor for his miserable situation

أَعْطَيْتُ الفَقِيرَ لِحالِهِ البائِس

/aξŧaytu al faqīra liħālihi al bā’isi /

I gave the poor desiring the pleasure of God

أَعْطَيْتُ الفَقِيرَ رَغْبَةً فِي رِضا اللَّهِ

/aξŧaytu al faqīra raghbatan fī riđâ allâhi /

2-   The second condition of the causal object is to be derived from a verb of affectivity. If the noun falling after the verb and showing its reason is not derived from a verb of affectivity, it will not be an accusative causal verb, rather it will be a genitive noun after a preposition as in the following examples:

Examples of non-affectivity original noun

Examples with an affectivity original noun

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

I went to bed for sleeping

ذَهَبْتُ إلَى السَّرِيرِ لِلنَّوْمِ

/dhahabtu ilā as sarīri lin nawmi/

I went to bed (asking) for  relaxation

ذَهَبْتُ إلى السَّرِيرِ طَلَبًا لِلراحَة

/dhahabtu ilā as sarīri ŧalaban lir râħati/

I study Arabic to read Qur’an

أَدْرُسُ العَرَبِيَّةَ لقِراءَةِ القُرآنِ

/adrusu al ξarabiyyata li qirâ’ati al qur’āni/

I study Arabic because of loving it (because I like it)

أَدْرُسُ العَرَبِيَّةَ حُبًّا لَها

/adrusu al ξarabiyyata ħubban lahā/

I write the message to send it

أكْتُبُ الرسالَةَ لإرْسَالها

/aktubu ar risalata li’irsālihā/

I read Qur’an needing It

أَقْرَأُ القُرْآنَ حَاجَةً إِلَيْهِ

/aqra’u al qur’āna ħāgatan ilaihi/

  From the above mentioned examples you may notice that the causal objects on the right side are derived from verbs of affectivity which are respectively as follows:

حَاجَةً

حُبًّا

طَلَبًا

Arabic

Needing

Loving - liking

Requesting

English

  While the original nouns in the examples on the left side are not derived from verbs of affectivity, rather they are derived from normal verbs which can be done by the organs of the body as follows:

إرْسَالها

القِراءَةِ

النَّوْمِ

Arabic

Sending it

The reading

The sleeping

English

3-           the third condition of the causal object is that the original causal noun has to be related to the same doer and the same tense of the sentence as follows:

a-   The doer of the sentence has to be the doer of the original noun (the causal object). This is evident in all the examples above. For more clarity consider the following example in which the doer of the verb is different from the doer of the original noun:

انْتَخَبْتُ هَذا المُرَشَّحَ لِحُبِّه الدِّينَ

I elected this candidate for his loving of religion

  • In the above mentioned sentence the doer of the verb (انْتَخَبْتُ – I elected) is different from the doer of the original noun (حُبِّه his love), so it is not a causal object, rather it is a genitive noun after the preposition (لِ).

b-   The tense of the original noun (the causal object) has to be the same tense of the verb of the sentence. If the tense of the original noun precedes or follows the tense of the sentence, this means that the original noun cannot be a reason of the action of the verb, i.e. the reason has to be found at the same time of the action. Consider the following possible and not possible examples:

Not possible

Possible

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

I travelled today asking for job yesterday

سافَرْتُ الْيَوْمَ طَلَبًا لِلْعَمَلِ أَمْسِ

/sāfartu al yawma ŧalaban lilξamali amsi/

I travelled (asking) for job

سافَرْتُ طَلَبًا للعمَلِ

/sāfartu ŧalaban lilξamali/

4-           The fourth condition of the causal object is that it mustn’t be derived from the same root of the preceding verb, otherwise it would be an absolute object as follows:

وتُحِبُّونَ الْمالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا

And you love wealth with much love

  • The object in the above mentioned example is an absolute object, not a causal object, because it is derived from the same root of the verb.

5-           The fifth condition of the causal object is that it has to be an indefinite noun, otherwise it will be a genitive noun preceded by the preposition (لِ) as follows:

Example with definite original noun

Example with indefinite original noun

I came to you for the desire of your knowledge

جِئْتُكَ لِلرَّغْبَةِ في عِلْمِكَ

I came to you desiring your knowledge

جِئْتُكَ رغْبَةً في عِلْمِكَ