Lesson 80 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّمانون

The followers (3) The substitute - التَّــوَابِع(٣)الْـبَـدَل

The conditions of the substitute – أَحْكامُ الْبَدَلِ

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• We learnt earlier that the substitute is one of the four Arabic followers. We also learnt that the followers take the same declension case of the followed noun, and some followers (the adjectives) take also the same gender, number, and definition of the followed noun. Consider the following examples of the adjective (for revision purpose):

1-    Unlike the adjective, the substitute can be different from the substituted for in definition or non-definition, as in the following examples:

• We notice that in the examples no. 1 and 2 the substitute is definite noun, while the substituted for is indefinite. In example no. 3 the substitute is indefinite while the substituted for is definite noun.

2-    The substitute falls after the substituted for without any intermediary particle. This helps us to differentiate the substitute from the coordinated noun, because the coordinated noun falls after a coordinating particle.

3-    The substitution structure can be formed of two nouns as in the following examples:

• While it cannot be formed of a pronoun/ pronoun or of a noun/pronoun, as in the following examples:

• The structures in the above mentioned examples are not mistaken, but they are not substitution structures, rather they are confirmative structures (we will learn this type of follower in the following lesson, In-Shaa’-Allaah God willing).

4-    The substitution structure is generally formed of two noun, but it can also formed of two sentences, especially when the first sentence (the substituted for) needs some kind of clarification, and the clarification comes in the second sentence (the substitute sentence).

• Consider the following examples:

• In the above mentioned examples the verbs (يَحْرِمُهُ - يُعْطِيهِ) are respectively substitutes of the verbs (يُعاقِبُ - يُكافِئُ).

5-    Here is another condition which is related to the inclusive and the partial substitutes; that it has to contain a pronoun related to the substituted for. This pronoun has to follow the substituted for in gender and number. Consider the following examples:

• You may notice from the above mentioned examples that the substitute (لَحْمَها – نِصْفَهُ – عِلْمُهُ - بَعْضُهُم) is attached to a pronoun related to the substituted for. The attached pronoun matches the substituted for in gender and number. This only happens with the partial and the inclusive substitute.

6-    Here is not a condition; rather it is a general rule that may help you to know the correct declension of a certain structure. The rule is; if you find a demonstrative followed by a noun definite by (ال) this means that the structure is a concordant substitution structure. 

• Consider the following examples (please read from right to left):

In the above mentioned examples we notice that the noun after the demonstrative is a substitute, under a condition that it is definite by (ال). Therefore the noun (الطالِبُ) in the first example is in the nominative case because it follows the nominative subject (هَذا). And the noun (الْمَوْضُوعِ) is in the genitive case, because it follows the genitive noun (هَذا), which falls after a preposition.

If the demonstrative is followed by an indefinite noun, or by a definite noun without (ال) the structure will not be a substitution structure, rather it will be a normal nominal sentence consisting of a subject and predicate. Consider the following examples: