Lesson 69 – الدَّرْسُ التَّاسِعُ والسِّتُّونَ
The Circumstantial object (Adverbs of Time and Place) - الْمَفْعُولُ فِيهِ
Declinable adverbs – الظُّروف المُعْرَبة
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- The Arabic adverbs are divided into two types according to its declension or indeclension as follows:
- The declinable adverbs, which can be changed according to its position in the sentence.
- The indeclinable adverbs, which have one vowel-ending and do not change whatever its position in the sentence is.
- In this part we only study the declinable adverbs. The declinable adverbs have only two cases of declension as follows:
1- The accusative case (this is the main case of the declinable adverb)
2- The genitive case (after the preposition (فِي /fī)
- The adverb of time (ظرف الزمان): When we study the adverb of time we notice that it can only be declinable in the accusative case, whether it is limited as (يَوْمًا – ساعَةً - سَنَةً) or vague as (دَهْرًا – وَقْتًا - زَمَنًا).
| Picture | English meaning | Example |
|
| He stopped taking for a period | /sakata ξan al kalāmi dahran/ |
|
| I lived in London for a long time | عِشْتُ فِي لَنْدَنَ زَمَنًا طَوِيلاً /ξishtu fī landan zamanan ŧawīlan/ |
|
| I spent with my wife a beautiful time | قَضَيْتُ مَعَ زَوْجَتِي وَقتًا جَمِيلاً /qađaytu maξa zawĵati waqtan ŧawīlan/ |
|
| I only slept one hour | /mā nimtu illā sāξatan wāħidatan/ |
- The adverb of place (ظرف المكان): When we study the declension of the adverb of place we notice that there are two cases as follows
- The accusative case: This case occurs when the adverb of place is vague (unlimited) as (فَوقَ – تَحْتَ – يَمِينَ - شِمالَ). These adverbs has to be specified by an annexed noun as in the following examples:
| Pictures | English meaning | Examples |
|
| The car stopped in front of the house | وَقَفَت السَّيَّارةُ أَمامَ البَيْتِ /waqafat as sayyāratu amāma al bayti/ |
|
| The director sat behind the camera | جَلَسَ المُخْرِجُ خَلْفَ الكامِيرا /ĵalasa al mukhriĵu khlafa al camera/ |
- When the adverb is derived from the stem of the verb, it also has to be in the accusative case
| Verb | ||||||
| Adverb | ||||||
| Meaning | Sitting | School | Desk or office | Mosque | Kitchen | Airport |
- There is one condition under which these adverbs are in the accusative case: that they have to be mentioned with the verb of the same stem as follows:
| Explanation | English meaning | Example |
| i.e. in the place where the scientists sit | I sat in the place of scientists | /ĵalastu maĵlisa al ξulamā’i/ |
| i.e. in the place where the pilgrims run | I run the track of pilgrims | /saξaytu masξā al ħuĵĵāĵi/ |
| i.e. in the place where the rational people go | I (went) did as rationales | /dhahabtu madhhaba al ξuqalā’i/ |
- The genitive case: this occurs when the adverb is limited (not vague) as (بَيْتَ – قَرْيَة - شَقَّة) and not derived from the same stem of the verb, it has to be preceded with the preposition (فِي /fī/) which causes the genitive case as in the following examples:
| English meaning | Example |
| I lived in a flat | /sakantu fī shaqqatin/ |
| I stayed at the village | /aqamtu fī al baladi/ |
| I prayed in the Mosque | /ŝallaytu fī al masĵidi/ |
| I brought the things from the market | اِشْتِرَيْتُ الأَشْياءَ مِنَ السُّوقِ /ishtaraytu al ashyā’a min as sūqi/ |
| I prefer the life of the village | أُفَضِّلُ الحَياةَ فِي الْقَرْيَةِ /ufađđilu al ħayāta fī al qaryati/ |
- You may notice that the adverbs of the above mentioned examples are in the genitive case, because they are not vague (unlimited) rather each of them refers to a limited place as (شَقَّةٍ – البَلَدِ – السُّوقِ - الْقَرْيَةِ) and none of them is derived from the same stem of the preceding verb.