Components of the Nominal Sentence – Beginners Grammar 5.4

Arabic Grammar for Beginners · Lesson 5.4

قَوَاعِدُ اللُّغَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ لِلْمُبْتَدِئِينَ

Section 5.4 - Nominative Sentence جُملَةٌ اِسْمِيَّةٌ jum-la-tun is-miy-yatun

Componentsمُتَعَلَّقُ الْخَبَرِ mu-tal-la-qul kha-ba-ri (Associate)

Joined Nouns مَعْطُوْفٌ/مَعْطُوْفٌ اِلَيْهِ ma-toof-un/maa-too-fun ilai-hi (Additive/Independent)

 

Besides mub-tada and predicate, other components can be a part of the sentence. One of them is called مُتَعَلَّقُ الْخَبَرِ (mu-ta-al-la-qul Khabar) associate of the predicate.  For example, take the sentence:

 

اُوْلٰئِكَ عَليْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّنْ رَّبِّهِم وَ رَحْمَةٌ

 

 (oo-lai-ka alai-himsala-waa-tum mir rabbi-him wa rah-ma)

 

meaning “Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy”. Here, مِنْ رَبِّهِم mir-rabbi-him meaning from their Lord, is جَارٌ/مَجْرُوْرٌ Jaar-majroor since مِنْ is a jarrparticle and it is called مُتَعَلَّقُ الْخَبَرِ mu-tal-la-qul kha-ba-ri which literally means “associate with the predicate”.

 

 

Also, a predicate could be “joined Nouns” with a joining Particle (حَرْفُ الْعَطْفِ har-ful ata-fi) such as (وَ). In the above example, صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِم sala-waa-tum mir-rabbi-him is joined with رَحْمَةٌ rah-ma-tun with a (وَ) which means “and” meaning “blessings from their Lord and mercy”.

 

Joining Particles (حَرُوْفُ الْعَاطِفَةِ huroof-ul 'aa-ti-fa-ti) are several such as

-         (وَ wa) meaning and

-         (فَ fa) meaning and /then

-         (إِمَّا imma) meaning whether/or

-         (اَوْ aw) meaning or

-         etc.

These will be described in detail later.

 

 

 

 

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A closer look: when the predicate is a phrase

Often the predicate (الْخَبَرُ) of a nominal sentence is not a single word but a prepositional phrase or an adverb of place or time. Arabic grammar calls such a phrase شِبْهُ الْجُمْلَةِ (shibh al-jumlah, "almost a sentence"). The grammarians explain that the phrase hangs on an unspoken word such as كَائِنٌ or مُسْتَقِرٌّ (being, present), and that is what مُتَعَلَّقُ الْخَبَرِ refers to: the thing the predicate is attached to.

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (Al-Faatihah 1:2)
All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Here الْحَمْدُ is the subject (مُبْتَدَأٌ) and لِلَّهِ is the predicate, a preposition with its noun. There is no word for "is"; the phrase itself carries it: praise is for Allah.

When the predicate comes first

If the subject is indefinite and the predicate is such a phrase, the predicate normally comes first:

لِكُلِّ أَجَلٍ كِتَابٌ (Ar-Ra'd 13:38)
For every term is a decree.

وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ (Yoosuf 12:76)
And above every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing.

In both, the indefinite subject (كِتَابٌ, عَلِيمٌ) is held back to the end and stays nominative. Grammarians call it the delayed subject (مُبْتَدَأٌ مُؤَخَّرٌ) and the phrase before it the advanced predicate (خَبَرٌ مُقَدَّمٌ).

The example above, word by word

Word	Role
أُولَٰئِكَ	first subject (مُبْتَدَأٌ), a demonstrative pronoun
عَلَيْهِمْ	advanced predicate of the second sentence (خَبَرٌ مُقَدَّمٌ)
صَلَوَاتٌ	delayed subject of the second sentence, nominative
مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ	a phrase describing صَلَوَاتٌ: blessings from their Lord
وَرَحْمَةٌ	joined to صَلَوَاتٌ by وَ, so also nominative

The whole of عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ is itself the predicate of أُولَٰئِكَ: a sentence inside a sentence (Al-Baqarah 2:157).

Joined words share one case

A word joined by a conjunction (الْمَعْطُوفُ) takes the same case as the word it is joined to (الْمَعْطُوفُ عَلَيْهِ). In الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ (Ar-Rahmaan 55:5), "the sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation", الْقَمَرُ is joined to الشَّمْسُ and both are nominative subjects; بِحُسْبَانٍ is the predicate phrase.

Conjunction	Meaning	Note
وَ wa	and	joins without implying order
فَ fa	and so, and then	the second follows the first at once
ثُمَّ thumma	then	the second follows after an interval
أَوْ aw	or	one or the other
بَلْ bal	rather, no but	turns away from what came before
لٰكِنْ laakin	but	after a negation

Check yourself

Find the subject and the predicate: لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ and فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ (Al-Baqarah 2:10).

Answers: in both the indefinite noun (أَجْرٌ, مَرَضٌ) is the delayed subject and the phrase before it is the advanced predicate.