The Declinable and the Indeclinable
الْمُعْرَبُ وَالْمَبْنِيُّ
Verses 15–51 · chapter 3 of 78
The chapter divides nouns into muʿrab (declinable) and mabnī (indeclinable), explains that a noun becomes mabnī through resembling a particle, and states which verbs are mabnī and when the muḍāriʿ is muʿrab. It then sets out the four iʿrāb states (rafʿ, naṣb, jarr, jazm) with their basic vowel markers and the substitute markers: letters in the Five Nouns, the dual and the sound masculine plural; kasra in the feminine plural; fatḥa in the diptote; the nūn in the Five Verbs. It ends with implied (muqaddar) iʿrāb in weak-ended nouns and verbs. AI
Topics:Declinable and fixed wordsThe nominativeThe accusativeThe genitiveThe jussiveThe names of the vowelsPerfect, imperfect, imperativeSingular, dual, plural
- 15
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Nouns are of two kinds, muʿrab (declinable) and mabnī (indeclinable). [A noun is mabnī] because of a resemblance to particles that brings it close [to them].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 15AI
يشير إلى أن الاسم ينقسم إلى قسمين أحدهما المعرب وهو ما سلم من شبه الحروف والثاني المبني وهو ما أشبه الحروف وهو المعني بقوله لشبه من الحروف مدني أي لشبه مقرب من الحروف فعلة البناء منحصرة عند المصنف رحمه الله تعالى في شبه الحرف ثم نوع المصنف وجوه الشبه في البيتين الذين بعد هذا البيت وهذا قريب من مذهب أبي علي الفارسي حيث جعل البناء منحصرا في شبه الحرف أو ما تضمن معناه وقد نص سيبويه رحمه الله على أن علة البناء كلها ترجع إلى شبه الحرف
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 156 · vol. 1, p. 27 ↗He indicates that the noun (ism) divides into two kinds. The first is the declinable (muʿrab), which is free of resemblance to particles (ḥurūf). The second is the indeclinable (mabnī), which resembles particles; this is what he means by his words 'because of a resemblance to particles that brings it near (li-shabahin min al-ḥurūf mudnī)', that is, because of a resemblance that brings it close to particles. For the author (may God Most High have mercy on him), the cause of indeclinability (ʿillat al-bināʾ) is restricted to resemblance to the particle. The author then lists the kinds of resemblance in the two verses after this one. This is close to the doctrine of Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī, who restricted indeclinability to resemblance to the particle or to containing a particle's meaning. Sībawayh (may God have mercy on him) stated explicitly that every cause of indeclinability goes back to resemblance to the particle.
وممن ذكره ابن أبي الربيع
Among those who reported this is Ibn Abī al-Rabīʿ.
- 16
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Examples are the resemblance in form (waḍʿī) in the two nouns of jiʾtanā ['you came to us': the pronouns -ta and -nā, built on one or two letters as particles are], and the resemblance in meaning (maʿnawī) in matā ['when?'] and hunā ['here'] [which carry meanings of the kind particles express, interrogation or condition and pointing].
- 17
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Other examples are standing in for a verb without being affected [by governors, as the verbal nouns do, e.g. darāki 'take!'], and a dependence that is inherent [as in relative nouns like alladhī, which always need a ṣila].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 16–17AI
ذكر في هذين البيتين وجوه شبه الاسم بالحرف في أربعة مواضع
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 166 · vol. 1, p. 29 ↗In these two verses he mentions the ways in which a noun resembles a particle, under four headings.
فالأول شبهه له في الوضع كأن يكون الاسم موضوعا على حرف واحد كالتاء في ضربت أو على حرفين كنا في أكرمنا وإلى ذلك أشار بقوله في اسمي جئتنا فالتاء في جئتنا اسم لأنه فاعل وهو مبني لأنه أشبه الحرف في الوضع في كونه على حرف واحد وكذلك نا اسم لأنها مفعول وهو مبني لشبهه بالحرف في الوضع في كونه على حرفين
The first is resemblance in form of coinage (al-shabah al-waḍʿī): the noun is coined on a single letter, like the tā' in ḍarabtu 'I struck', or on two letters, like nā in akramanā 'he honoured us'. He refers to this with his words 'in the two nouns of jiʾtanā (you came to us)'. The tā' in jiʾtanā is a noun because it is the subject (fāʿil), and it is indeclinable because it resembles the particle in form, being of a single letter. Likewise nā is a noun because it is the object (mafʿūl), and it is indeclinable because it resembles the particle in form, being of two letters.
والثاني شبه الاسم له في المعنى وهو قسمان أحدهما ما أشبه حرفا موجودا والثاني ما أشبه حرفا غير موجود فمثال الأول متى فإنها مبنية لشبهها الحرف في المعنى فإنها تستعمل للاستفهام نحو متى تقوم وللشرط نحو متى تقم أقم وفي الحالتين هي مشبهة لحرف موجود لأنها في الاستفهام كالهمزة وفي الشرط كإن ومثال الثاني هنا فإنها مبنية لشبهها حرفا كان ينبغي أن يوضع فلم يوضع
The second is resemblance in meaning (al-shabah al-maʿnawī), and it is of two kinds: resemblance to an existing particle, and resemblance to a particle that does not exist. An example of the first is matā 'when', which is indeclinable because it resembles the particle in meaning. It is used for interrogation (istifhām), as in matā taqūmu? 'When will you stand?', and for condition (sharṭ), as in matā taqum aqum 'Whenever you stand, I will stand'. In both cases it resembles an existing particle: in interrogation it is like the hamza, and in condition it is like in 'if'. An example of the second is hunā 'here', which is indeclinable because it resembles a particle that ought to have been coined but was not.
وذلك لأن الإشارة معنى من المعاني فحقها أن يوضع لها حرف يدل عليها كما وضعوا للنفى ما وللنهي لا وللتمني ليت وللترجي لعل ونحو ذلك فبنيت أسماء الإشارة لشبهها في المعنى حرفا مقدرا
This is because pointing (ishāra) is one of the meanings, so it had the right to have a particle coined to indicate it, just as they coined mā for negation (nafy), lā for prohibition (nahy), layta for wishing (tamannī), laʿalla for hoping (tarajjī), and so on. So the demonstrative nouns (asmāʾ al-ishāra) were made indeclinable because they resemble in meaning a supposed particle (ḥarf muqaddar).
والثالث شبهه له في النيابة عن الفعل وعدم التأثر بالعامل وذلك كأسماء الأفعال نحو دراك زيدا فدراك مبنى لشبهه بالحرف في كونه يعمل ولا يعمل فيه غيره كما أن الحرف كذلك
The third is its resemblance to the particle in standing in for the verb (al-niyāba ʿan al-fiʿl) while being unaffected by an operator (ʿāmil). This is the case of verbal nouns (asmāʾ al-afʿāl), as in darāki Zaydan 'overtake Zayd!'. Darāki is indeclinable because it resembles the particle in that it governs and nothing else governs it, just as the particle does.
واحترز بقوله بلا تأثر عما ناب عن الفعل وهو متأثر بالعامل نحو ضربا زيدا فإنه نائب مناب اضرب وليس بمبني لتأثره بالعامل فإنه منصوب بالفعل المحذوف بخلاف دراك فإنه وإن كان نائبا عن أدرك فليس متأثرا بالعامل
By his words 'without being affected (bi-lā taʾaththur)' he excludes what stands in for the verb while being affected by an operator, as in ḍarban Zaydan 'strike Zayd!'. This stands in place of iḍrib 'strike!', yet it is not indeclinable, because it is affected by an operator: it is in the accusative (manṣūb) by the omitted verb. Darāki is different: although it stands in for adrik 'overtake!', it is unaffected by any operator.
وحاصل ما ذكره المصنف أن المصدر الموضوع موضع الفعل وأسماء الأفعال اشتركا في النيابة مناب الفعل لكن المصدر متأثر بالعامل فأعرب لعدم مشابهته الحرف وأسماء الأفعال غير متأثرة بالعامل فبنيت لمشابهتها الحرف في أنها نائبة عن الفعل وغير متأثرة به
The upshot of what the author mentions is this: the verbal noun of action (maṣdar) placed in the position of the verb and the verbal nouns (asmāʾ al-afʿāl) share in standing in place of the verb. The maṣdar, however, is affected by an operator, so it was made declinable, since it does not resemble the particle. The verbal nouns are unaffected by an operator, so they were made indeclinable, since they resemble the particle in standing in for the verb while being unaffected by it.
وهذا الذي ذكره المصنف مبني على أن أسماء الأفعال لا محل لها من الإعراب والمسألة خلافية وسنذكر ذلك في باب أسماء الأفعال
What the author mentions here rests on the view that verbal nouns have no position in inflection (lā maḥall lahā min al-iʿrāb). The question is disputed, and we will discuss it in the chapter on verbal nouns.
والرابع شبه الحرف في الافتقار اللازم وإليه أشار بقوله وكافتقار أصلا وذلك كالأسماء الموصولة نحو الذي فإنها مفتقرة في سائر أحوالها إلى الصلة فأشبهت الحرف في ملازمة الافتقار فبنيت
The fourth is resemblance to the particle in inherent need (al-iftiqār al-lāzim), to which he refers with his words 'and like a need that is rooted (wa-ka-ftiqārin uṣṣilā)'. This is the case of the relative nouns (al-asmāʾ al-mawṣūla), such as alladhī 'who, which': in all its states it needs a relative clause (ṣila). So it resembles the particle in constant need and was made indeclinable.
وحاصل البيتين أن البناء يكون في ستة أبواب المضمرات وأسماء الشرط وأسماء الاستفهام وأسماء الإشارة وأسماء الأفعال والأسماء الموصولة
The sum of the two verses is that indeclinability occurs in six categories: pronouns (al-muḍmarāt), conditional nouns (asmāʾ al-sharṭ), interrogative nouns (asmāʾ al-istifhām), demonstrative nouns (asmāʾ al-ishāra), verbal nouns (asmāʾ al-afʿāl), and relative nouns (al-asmāʾ al-mawṣūla).
- 18
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
The declinable noun is one that is free of resemblance to the particle, such as arḍ ['earth'] and sumā [a dialect form of ism 'name'].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 18AI
يريد أن المعرب خلاف المبني وقد تقدم أن المبني ما أشبه الحرف فالمعرب ما لم يشبه الحرف وينقسم إلى صحيح وهو ما ليس آخره حرف علة كأرض وإلى معتل وهو ما آخره حرف علة كسما وسما لغة في الاسم وفيه ست لغات اسم بضم الهمزة وكسرها وسم بضم السين وكسرها وسما بضم السين وكسرها أيضا
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 199 · vol. 1, p. 34 ↗He means that the declinable (muʿrab) is the opposite of the indeclinable (mabnī). It was stated above that the indeclinable is what resembles the particle, so the declinable is what does not resemble the particle. It divides into the sound (ṣaḥīḥ), whose last letter is not a weak letter (ḥarf ʿilla), like arḍ 'earth', and the weak (muʿtall), whose last letter is a weak letter, like samā. Samā is a dialectal form of ism 'name', which has six forms: ism with ḍamma or kasra on the hamza (usm, ism), sum with ḍamma or kasra on the sīn (sum, sim), and sumā, likewise with ḍamma or kasra on the sīn (sumā, simā).
وينقسم المعرب أيضا إلى متمكن أمكن وهو المنصرف كزيد وعمرو وإلى متمكن غير أمكن وهو غير المنصرف نحو أحمد ومساجد ومصابيح فغير المتمكن هو المبني والمتمكن هو المعرب وهو قسمان متمكن أمكن ومتمكن غير أمكن
The declinable also divides into the fully established (mutamakkin amkan), which is the fully declinable noun (munṣarif), like Zayd and ʿAmr, and the established but not fully established (mutamakkin ghayr amkan), which is the diptote (ghayr munṣarif), such as Aḥmad, masājid 'mosques', and maṣābīḥ 'lamps'. The non-established (ghayr mutamakkin) is the indeclinable, and the established (mutamakkin) is the declinable; the latter is of two kinds: fully established and established but not fully established.
- 19
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
The imperative and the past verb are mabnī. [The Arabs] made the muḍāriʿ muʿrab provided that it is free
- 20
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
of a directly attached nūn of emphasis [with it the verb is mabnī on fatḥa, e.g. la-yaḍribanna] and of the nūn of the feminine plural [with it the verb is mabnī on sukūn], as in yaruʿna man futin ['they (fem.) alarm whoever is infatuated'].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 19–20AI
لما فرغ من بيان المعرب والمبني من الأسماء شرع فى بيان المعرب والمبني من الأفعال ومذهب البصريين أن الإعراب أصل في الأسماء فرع في الأفعال فالأصل في الفعل البناء عندهم وذهب الكوفيون إلى أن الإعراب أصل في الأسماء وفي الأفعال والأول هو الصحيح ونقل ضياء الدين بن العلج في البسيط أن بعض النحويين ذهب إلى أن الإعراب أصل في الأفعال فرع في الأسماء
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 209 · vol. 1, p. 36 ↗Having finished explaining which nouns are declinable and which are indeclinable, he begins to explain which verbs are declinable and which are indeclinable. The doctrine of the Basrans is that inflection (iʿrāb) is original (aṣl) in nouns and secondary (farʿ) in verbs, so for them the original state of the verb is indeclinability. The Kufans held that inflection is original in both nouns and verbs. The first view is the correct one. Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn ibn al-ʿIlj reported in al-Basīṭ that some grammarians held that inflection is original in verbs and secondary in nouns.
والمبني من الأفعال ضربان
The indeclinable verbs are of two kinds.
أحدهما ما اتفق على بنائه وهو الماضي وهو مبني على الفتح نحو ضرب وانطلق ما لم يتصل به واو جمع فيضم أو ضمير رفع متحرك فيسكن
The first is the one whose indeclinability is agreed upon, namely the past tense (māḍī). It is fixed on fatḥa, as in ḍaraba 'he struck' and inṭalaqa 'he set off', unless the wāw of the plural is attached to it, in which case it takes ḍamma (ḍarabū), or a vowelled nominative pronoun (ḍamīr rafʿ mutaḥarrik) is attached, in which case it takes sukūn (ḍarabtu).
والثاني ما اختلف في بنائه والراجح أنه مبني وهو فعل الأمر نحو اضرب وهو مبني عند البصريين ومعرب عند الكوفيين
The second is the one whose indeclinability is disputed, and the preferred view is that it is indeclinable: the imperative (fiʿl al-amr), as in iḍrib 'strike!'. It is indeclinable for the Basrans and declinable for the Kufans.
والمعرب من الأفعال هو المضارع ولا يعرب إلا إذا لم تتصل به نون التوكيد أو نون الإناث فمثال نون التوكيد المباشرة هل تضربن والفعل معها مبني على الفتح ولا فرق في ذلك بين الخفيفة والثقيلة فإن لم تتصل به لم يبن وذلك كما إذا فصل بينه وبينها ألف اثنين نحو هل تضربان وأصله هل تضربانن فاجتمعت ثلاث نونات فحذفت الأولى وهى نون الرفع كراهة توالي الأمثال فصار هل تضربان
The declinable verb is the imperfect (muḍāriʿ). It is declinable only when neither the nūn of emphasis (nūn al-tawkīd) nor the feminine plural nūn (nūn al-ināth) is attached to it. An example of the nūn of emphasis directly attached is hal taḍribanna? 'Will you surely strike?'; with it the verb is indeclinable, fixed on fatḥa, and there is no difference here between the light and the heavy nūn. If it is not directly attached, the verb is not indeclinable. This is the case when the alif of the dual separates the verb from the nūn, as in hal taḍribānni? 'Will you two surely strike?', whose original form is hal taḍribānanni. Three nūns came together, so the first, the nūn of the nominative (nūn al-rafʿ), was dropped out of dislike for a succession of identical letters, giving hal taḍribānni.
وكذلك يعرب الفعل المضارع إذا فصل بينه وبين نون التوكيد واو جمع أو ياء مخاطبة نحو هل تضربن يا زيدون وهل تضربن يا هند وأصل تضربن تضربونن فحذفت النون الأولى لتوالي الأمثال كما سبق فصار تضربون فحذفت الواو لالتقاء الساكنين فصار تضربن وكذلك تضربن أصله تضربينن ففعل به ما فعل بتضربونن
Likewise the imperfect is declinable when the wāw of the plural or the yāʾ of the feminine addressee separates it from the nūn of emphasis, as in hal taḍribunna yā Zaydūn? 'Will you surely strike, O Zayds?' and hal taḍribinna yā Hind? 'Will you surely strike, O Hind?'. The original of taḍribunna is taḍribūnanna. The first nūn was dropped because of the succession of identical letters, as explained above, giving taḍribūnna; then the wāw was dropped because of the meeting of two quiescent letters (iltiqāʾ al-sākinayn), giving taḍribunna. Likewise the original of taḍribinna is taḍribīnanna, and the same was done to it as was done to taḍribūnanna.
وهذا هو المراد بقوله وأعربوا مضارعا إن عريا من نون توكيد مباشر فشرط في إعرابه أن يعرى من ذلك ومفهومه أنه إذا لم يعر منه يكون مبنيا
This is what he means by his words 'and they made the imperfect declinable if it is free of a directly attached nūn of emphasis'. He made it a condition of its declinability that it be free of that, and the implied sense (mafhūm) is that when it is not free of it, it is indeclinable.
فعلم أن مذهبه أن الفعل المضارع لا يبنى إلا إذا باشرته نون التوكيد نحو هل تضربن يا زيد فإن لم تباشره أعرب وهذا هو مذهب الجمهور
So it is known that his doctrine is that the imperfect is indeclinable only when the nūn of emphasis is directly attached to it, as in hal taḍribanna yā Zayd? 'Will you surely strike, O Zayd?'; when it is not directly attached, the verb is declinable. This is the doctrine of the majority.
وذهب الأخفش إلى أنه مبني مع نون التوكيد سواء اتصلت به نون التوكيد أو لم تتصل ونقل عن بعضهم أنه معرب وإن اتصلت به نون التوكيد
Al-Akhfash held that it is indeclinable with the nūn of emphasis whether the nūn is directly attached or not. It is reported from some that it is declinable even when the nūn of emphasis is attached to it.
ومثال ما اتصلت به نون الإناث الهندات يضربن والفعل معها مبني على السكون ونقل المصنف رحمه الله تعالى في بعض كتبه أنه لا خلاف في بناء الفعل المضارع مع نون الإناث وليس كذلك بل الخلاف موجود وممن نقله الأستاذ أبو الحسن بن عصفور في شرح الإيضاح
An example of the feminine plural nūn attached is al-Hindātu yaḍribna 'the Hinds strike'; with it the verb is indeclinable, fixed on sukūn. The author (may God Most High have mercy on him) reported in some of his books that there is no disagreement about the indeclinability of the imperfect with the feminine plural nūn. This is incorrect: the disagreement exists, and among those who reported it is the master Abū al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUṣfūr in his commentary on al-Īḍāḥ.
- 21
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Every particle is by right mabnī. The basic state of the mabnī is to end in sukūn.
- 22
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Some mabnī words end in fatḥa, some in kasra, and some in ḍamma, as ayna ['where?'], amsi ['yesterday'], ḥaythu ['where']. The one with sukūn is like kam ['how many?'].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 21–22AI
الحروف كلها مبنية إذ لا يعتورها ما تفتقر في دلالتها عليه إلى إعراب نحو أخذت من الدراهم فالتبعيض مستفاد من لفظ من بدون الإعراب
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 241 · vol. 1, p. 39 ↗All particles are indeclinable, since no meanings alternate on them that would require inflection to indicate them. For example, in akhadhtu min al-darāhim 'I took some of the dirhams', the partitive sense (tabʿīḍ) is conveyed by the word min itself, without inflection.
والأصل في البناء أن يكون على السكون لأنه أخف من الحركة ولا يحرك المبني إلا لسبب كالتخلص من التقاء الساكنين وقد تكون الحركة فتحة كأين وقام وإن وقد تكون كسرة كأمس وجير وقد تكون ضمة كحيث وهو اسم ومنذ وهو حرف إذا جررت به وأما السكون فنحو كم واضرب وأجل
The basic rule in indeclinability is that it be on sukūn, because sukūn is lighter than a vowel. An indeclinable word is given a vowel only for a reason, such as avoiding the meeting of two quiescent letters (iltiqāʾ al-sākinayn). The vowel may be fatḥa, as in ayna 'where', qāma 'he stood', and inna 'indeed'; it may be kasra, as in amsi 'yesterday' and jayri 'yes, indeed'; and it may be ḍamma, as in ḥaythu 'where', which is a noun, and mundhu 'since', which is a particle when it governs the genitive. Sukūn is found in kam 'how many', iḍrib 'strike!', and ajal 'yes'.
وعلم مما مثلنا به أن البناء على الكسر والضم لا يكون في الفعل بل فى الاسم والحرف وأن البناء على الفتح أو السكون يكون في الاسم والفعل والحرف
It is known from our examples that indeclinability on kasra and ḍamma does not occur in the verb and occurs only in the noun and the particle, and that indeclinability on fatḥa or sukūn occurs in the noun, the verb, and the particle.
- 23
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Treat rafʿ and naṣb as iʿrāb states shared by noun and verb, as in lan ʾahāba ['I will not fear': a verb in naṣb].
- 24
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Jarr belongs to the noun alone, just as jazm belongs to the verb alone.
- 25
Metre: not scanned
As vowelled here, this verse does not fit al-rajaz, the metre of the poem; it is left unscanned rather than forced.
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Mark rafʿ with ḍamma, naṣb with fatḥa, and jarr with kasra, as in dhikru llāhi ʿabdahu yasurru ['God's remembering His servant gives joy': dhikru and yasurru in rafʿ, llāhi in jarr, ʿabdahu in naṣb].
- 26
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Mark jazm with sukūn. Any marker other than these stands in for them, as in jā ʾakhū banī namir ['the brother of the Banū Namir came': ʾakhū in rafʿ with wāw, banī in jarr with yāʾ].
AI note on the transcription: No letter change: the transcription's جاأخو is spaced as جَا أَخُو (jā is jāʾa shortened for the metre).
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 23–26AI
أنواع الإعراب أربعة الرفع والنصب والجر والجزم فأما الرفع والنصب فيشترك فيهما الأسماء والأفعال نحو زيد يقوم وإن زيدا لن يقوم وأما الجر فيختص بالأسماء نحو بزيد وأما الجزم فيختص بالأفعال نحو لم يضرب
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 253 · vol. 1, p. 42 ↗The kinds of inflection (iʿrāb) are four: the nominative (rafʿ), the accusative (naṣb), the genitive (jarr), and the jussive (jazm). Nouns and verbs share the nominative and the accusative, as in Zaydun yaqūmu 'Zayd stands' and inna Zaydan lan yaqūma 'Zayd will not stand'. The genitive is specific to nouns, as in bi-Zaydin 'with Zayd', and the jussive is specific to verbs, as in lam yaḍrib 'he did not strike'.
والرفع يكون بالضمة والنصب يكون بالفتحة والجر يكون بالكسرة والجزم يكون بالسكون وما عدا ذلك يكون نائبا عنه كما نابت الواو عن الضمة في أخو والياء عن الكسرة في بني من قوله جا أخوبني نمر وسيذكر بعد هذا مواضع النيابة
The nominative is marked by ḍamma, the accusative by fatḥa, the genitive by kasra, and the jussive by sukūn. Anything other than these stands in for them (nāʾib), as the wāw stands in for the ḍamma in akhū and the yāʾ stands in for the kasra in banī in his words jā akhū banī Namir 'the brother of Banū Namir came'. The places where such substitution occurs will be mentioned after this.
- 27
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Mark rafʿ with wāw, naṣb with alif, and jarr with yāʾ in the nouns that I [now] describe.
AI note on the transcription: ʿAjuz: وَاجْرُرْ بِيَاءٍ مَا مِنَ الْأَسْمَا أَصِفْ. The transcription writes الأسماء, but with the final hamza the third foot becomes ʾas-mā-ʾi-ʾa-ṣif, which rajaz does not allow. The line is recited with the mamdūd shortened, as the standard editions print it.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 27AI
شرع في بيان ما يعرب بالنيابة عما سبق ذكره والمراد بالأسماء التي سيصفها الأسماء الستة وهي أب وأخ وحم وهن وفوه وذو مال فهذه ترفع بالواو نحو جاء أبو زيد وتنصب بالألف نحو رأيت أباه وتجر بالياء نحو مررت بأبيه والمشهور أنها معربة بالحروف فالواو نائبة عن الضمة والألف نائبة عن الفتحة والياء نائبة عن الكسرة وهذا هو الذي أشار إليه المصنف بقوله وارفع بواو إلى آخر البيت والصحيح أنها معربة بحركات مقدرة على الواو والألف والياء فالرفع بضمة مقدرة على الواو والنصب بفتحة مقدرة على الألف والجر بكسرة مقدرة على الياء فعلى هذا المذهب الصحيح لم ينب شيء عن شيء مما سبق ذكره
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 260 · vol. 1, p. 42 ↗He begins explaining the words that are inflected by substitution for the markers mentioned earlier. The nouns he is about to describe are the Six Nouns (al-asmāʾ al-sitta): ab 'father', akh 'brother', ḥam 'in-law', han 'thing', fū 'mouth', and dhū in the sense of 'possessor of', as in dhū māl 'possessor of wealth'. These take the nominative (rafʿ) with wāw, as in jāʾa abū Zaydin 'Zayd's father came'; the accusative (naṣb) with alif, as in raʾaytu abāhu 'I saw his father'; and the genitive (jarr) with yāʾ, as in marartu bi-abīhi 'I passed by his father'. The well-known view is that they are inflected with letters (muʿraba bi-l-ḥurūf): the wāw substitutes for the ḍamma, the alif for the fatḥa, and the yāʾ for the kasra. This is what the author refers to in his words 'and put in the nominative with wāw…' to the end of the verse. The correct view is that they are inflected with implied vowels (ḥarakāt muqaddara) on the wāw, the alif and the yāʾ: the nominative is by a ḍamma implied on the wāw, the accusative by a fatḥa implied on the alif, and the genitive by a kasra implied on the yāʾ. On this correct view, nothing substitutes for anything among the markers mentioned earlier.
- 28
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
These nouns include dhū when it expresses possession [meaning 'possessor of', as in dhū mālin, as distinct from the relative dhū of Ṭayyiʾ], and fam ['mouth'] when its mīm is gone [fū, fā, fī].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 28AI
أى من الأسماء التي ترفع بالواو وتنصب بالألف وتجر بالياء ذو وفم ولكن يشترط في ذو أن تكون بمعنى صاحب نحو جائني ذو مال أي صاحب مال وهو المراد بقوله إن صحبة أبانا أي إن أفهم صحبة واحترز بذلك عن ذو الطائية فإنها لا تفهم صحبة بل هي بمعنى الذي فلا تكون مثل ذي بمعنى صاحب بل تكون مبنية وآخرها الواو رفعا ونصبا وجرا نحو جاءني ذو قام ورأيت ذو قام ومررت بذو قام ومنه قوله
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 270 · vol. 1, p. 44 ↗That is: among the nouns that take the nominative with wāw, the accusative with alif and the genitive with yāʾ are dhū and fam 'mouth'. For dhū, the condition is that it have the meaning of ṣāḥib 'possessor', as in jāʾanī dhū mālin 'a possessor of wealth came to me', that is, ṣāḥibu mālin. This is what he means by 'if it makes companionship clear' (in ṣuḥbatan abānā), that is, if it conveys the sense of companionship. By this he excludes the dhū of the tribe of Ṭayyiʾ (dhū al-ṭāʾiyya), which does not convey companionship; it has the meaning of alladhī 'who, which'. It is therefore unlike dhū meaning 'possessor': it is indeclinable (mabnī), and ends in wāw in the nominative, accusative and genitive alike, as in jāʾanī dhū qāma 'the one who stood came to me', raʾaytu dhū qāma 'I saw the one who stood', and marartu bi-dhū qāma 'I passed by the one who stood'. An example is the poet's words:
فإما كرام موسرون لقيتهم … فحسبي من ذو عندهم ما كفانيا
If I meet noble, well-off people, then enough for me of what they have is what suffices me [cited for min dhū ʿindahum: Ṭāʾī dhū keeps its wāw after the preposition min]
وكذلك يشترط في إعراب الفم بهذه الأحرف زوال الميم منه نحو هذا فوه ورأيت فاه ونظرت إلى فيه وإليه أشار بقوله والفم حيث الميم منه بانا أي انفصلت منه الميم أي زالت منه فإن لم تزل منه أعرب بالحركات نحو هذا فم ورأيت فما ونظرت إلى فم
Likewise, the condition for inflecting fam with these letters is that the mīm be removed from it, as in hādhā fūhu 'this is his mouth', raʾaytu fāhu 'I saw his mouth', and naẓartu ilā fīhi 'I looked at his mouth'. He refers to this with his words 'and fam where the mīm has departed from it', that is, where the mīm has been separated and removed from it. If the mīm is not removed, it is inflected with vowels (ḥarakāt), as in hādhā famun 'this is a mouth', raʾaytu faman 'I saw a mouth', and naẓartu ilā famin 'I looked at a mouth'.
- 29
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Ab ['father'], akh ['brother'], and ḥam ['husband's kin'] are likewise, and so is han ['thing']. For this last one naqṣ is better [dropping the letter and declining with short vowels: hanu-ka, hana-ka, hani-ka].
- 30
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
In ab and the two that follow it [akh, ḥam], naqṣ is rare. Their qaṣr [alif in all three states: abā-ka, akhā-ka, ḥamā-ha] is better known than their naqṣ.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 29–30AI
يعني أن أبا وأخا وحما تجري مجرى ذو وفم اللذين سبق ذكرها فترفع بالواو وتنصب بالألف وتجر بالياء نحو هذا أبوه وأخوه وحموها ورأيت أباه وأخاه وحماها ومررت بأبيه وأخيه وحميها وهذه هي اللغة المشهورة في هذه الثلاثة وسيذكر المصنف في هذه الثلاثة لغتين أخريين
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 284 · vol. 1, p. 47 ↗He means that ab, akh and ḥam behave like dhū and fam mentioned above: they take the nominative with wāw, the accusative with alif and the genitive with yāʾ, as in hādhā abūhu wa-akhūhu wa-ḥamūhā 'this is his father, his brother, and her in-law', raʾaytu abāhu wa-akhāhu wa-ḥamāhā 'I saw his father, his brother and her in-law', and marartu bi-abīhi wa-akhīhi wa-ḥamīhā 'I passed by his father, his brother and her in-law'. This is the well-known dialect (lugha) for these three, and the author will mention two further dialects for them.
وأما هن فالفصيح فيه أن يعرب بالحركات الظاهرة على النون ولا يكون في آخره حرف علة نحو هذا هن زيد ورأيت هن زيد ومررت بهن زيد وإليه أشار بقوله والنقص في هذا الأخير أحسن أي النقص في هن أحسن من الإتمام والإتمام جائز لكنه قليل جدا هذا هنوه ورأيت هناه ونظرت إلى هنيه وأنكر الفراء جواز إتمامه وهو محجوج بحكاية سيبويه الإتمام عن العرب ومن حفظ حجة على من لم يحفظ
As for han, the most correct usage (al-faṣīḥ) is that it be inflected with vowels shown on the nūn, with no weak letter (ḥarf ʿilla) at its end, as in hādhā hanu Zaydin 'this is Zayd's thing', raʾaytu hana Zaydin 'I saw Zayd's thing', and marartu bi-hani Zaydin 'I passed by Zayd's thing'. He refers to this with his words 'and shortening (naqṣ) in this last one is better', that is, shortening han is better than completing it (itmām). Completing it is permissible but very rare: hādhā hanūhu, raʾaytu hanāhu, naẓartu ilā hanīhi. Al-Farrāʾ denied that completing it is permissible, and he is refuted by Sībawayh's report of the complete form from the Arabs; whoever has preserved a usage is proof against whoever has not.
وأشار المصنف بقوله وفي أب وتالييه يندر إلى آخر البيت إلى اللغتين الباقيتين في أب وتالييه وهما أخ وحم فإحدى اللغتين النقص وهو حذف الواو والألف والياء والإعراب بالحركات الظاهرة على الباء والخاء والميم نحو هذا أبه وأخه وحمها ورأيت أبه وأخه وحمها ومررت بأبه وأخه وحمها وعليه قوله
With his words 'and in ab and the two that follow it, it is rare…' to the end of the verse, the author points to the two remaining dialects for ab and the two that follow it, namely akh and ḥam. One of the two is shortening (naqṣ): dropping the wāw, alif and yāʾ and inflecting with vowels shown on the bāʾ, khāʾ and mīm, as in hādhā abuhu wa-akhuhu wa-ḥamuhā, raʾaytu abahu wa-akhahu wa-ḥamahā, and marartu bi-abihi wa-akhihi wa-ḥamihā. On this pattern is the poet's words:
بأبه اقتدى عدي في الكرم … ومن يشابه أبه فما ظلم
ʿAdī followed the example of his father (bi-abihi) in generosity, and whoever resembles his father (abahu) has done no wrong [cited for bi-abihi and abahu: ab shortened and inflected with shown vowels]
وهذه اللغة نادرة فى أب وتالييه ولهذا قال وفي أب وتالييه يندر أي يندر النقص
This dialect is rare in ab and the two that follow it; for this reason he said 'and in ab and the two that follow it, it is rare', that is, shortening is rare.
واللغة الأخرى في أب وتالييه أن يكون بالألف رفعا ونصبا وجرا نحو هذا اباه وأخاه وحماها ورأيت أباه وأخاه وحماها ومررت بأباه وأخاه وحماها وعليه قول الشاعر
The other dialect for ab and the two that follow it is to have alif in the nominative, accusative and genitive alike, as in hādhā abāhu wa-akhāhu wa-ḥamāhā, raʾaytu abāhu wa-akhāhu wa-ḥamāhā, and marartu bi-abāhu wa-akhāhu wa-ḥamāhā. On this pattern is the poet's words:
إن أباها وأبا أباها … قد بلغا في المجد غايتاها
Her father and her father's father have reached the utmost limits of glory [cited for abā abāhā: abā in the genitive with alif]
فعلامة الرفع والنصب والجر حركة مقدرة على الألف كما تقدر في المقصور وهذه اللغة أشهر من النقص
The marker of the nominative, accusative and genitive is a vowel implied on the alif, as it is implied in the noun ending in alif (al-maqṣūr). This dialect is better known than shortening.
وحاصل ما ذكره أن في أب وأخ وحم ثلاث لغات أشهرها أن تكون بالواو والألف والياء والثانية أن تكون بالألف مطلقا والثالثة أن تحذف منها الأحرف الثلاثة وهذا نادر وأن في هن لغتين إحداهما النقص وهو الأشهر والثانية الإتمام وهو قليل
In sum, what he has stated is that ab, akh and ḥam have three dialects: the best known is with wāw, alif and yāʾ; the second is with alif in all cases; and the third is dropping the three letters, which is rare. Han has two dialects: shortening, which is the better known, and completing, which is uncommon.
- 31
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
The condition for this iʿrāb is that these nouns be in iḍāfa, though not to the yāʾ [of the first person], as in jā ʾakhū ʾabīka dhā ʿtilā ['your father's brother came, a man of high standing': ʾakhū rafʿ, ʾabī jarr, dhā naṣb].
AI note on the transcription: Ṣadr: وَشَرْطُ ذَا الْإِعْرَابِ أَنْ يُضَفْنَ لَا. The transcription has إن with hamza below. The predicate of شرطُ needs the maṣdar-particle أَنْ ('the condition is that they be annexed'); conditional إِنْ gives no sense here. In the ʿajuz, للياكجا is spaced as لِلْيَا كَجَا.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 31AI
ذكر النحويون لإعراب هذه الأسماء بالحروف شروطا أربعة
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 314 · vol. 1, p. 52 ↗The grammarians have stated four conditions for inflecting these nouns with letters.
أحدها أن تكون مضافة واحترز بذلك من ألا تضاف فإنها حينئذ تعرب بالحركات الظاهرة نحو هذا أب ورأيت أبا ومررت بأب
The first is that they be in construct (muḍāfa). This excludes their not being in construct, for then they are inflected with shown vowels, as in hādhā abun 'this is a father', raʾaytu aban 'I saw a father', and marartu bi-abin 'I passed by a father'.
الثاني أن تضاف إلى غير ياء المتكلم نحو هذا أبو زيد وأخوه وحموه فإن أضيفت إلى ياء المتكلم أعربت بحركات مقدرة نحو هذا أبي ورأيت أبي ومررت بأبي ولم تعرب بهذه الحروف وسيأتي ذكر ما تعرب به حينئذ
The second is that they be annexed to something other than the first-person yāʾ (yāʾ al-mutakallim), as in hādhā abū Zaydin wa-akhūhu wa-ḥamūhu 'this is Zayd's father, his brother and his in-law'. If they are annexed to the first-person yāʾ, they are inflected with implied vowels, as in hādhā abī 'this is my father', raʾaytu abī 'I saw my father', and marartu bi-abī 'I passed by my father', and are not inflected with these letters. What they are inflected with in that case will be mentioned later.
الثالث أن تكون مكبرة واحترز بذلك من أن تكون مصغرة فإنها حينئذ تعرب بالحركات الظاهرة نحو هذا أبي زيد وذوي مال ورأيت أبي زيد وذوي مال ومررت بأبي زيد وذوي مال
The third is that they be in the non-diminutive form (mukabbara). This excludes their being diminutive (muṣaghghara), for then they are inflected with shown vowels, as in hādhā ubayyu Zaydin wa-dhuwayyu mālin 'this is Zayd's little father and a little possessor of wealth', raʾaytu ubayya Zaydin wa-dhuwayya mālin, and marartu bi-ubayyi Zaydin wa-dhuwayyi mālin.
الرابع أن تكون مفردة واحترز بذلك من أن تكون مجموعة أو مثناة فإن كانت مجموعة أعربت بالحركات الظاهرة نحو هؤلاء آباء الزيدين
The fourth is that they be singular (mufrada). This excludes their being plural or dual. If they are plural, they are inflected with shown vowels, as in hāʾulāʾi ābāʾu al-Zaydīna 'these are the fathers of the Zayds',
ورأيت آباءهم ومررت بآبائهم وإن كانت مثناة أعربت إعراب المثنى بالألف رفعا وبالياء جرا ونصبا نحو هذان أبوا زيد ورأيت أبويه ومررت بأبويه
raʾaytu ābāʾahum 'I saw their fathers', and marartu bi-ābāʾihim 'I passed by their fathers'. If they are dual, they are inflected as the dual (al-muthannā) is: with alif in the nominative and with yāʾ in the genitive and accusative, as in hādhāni abawā Zaydin 'these are Zayd's parents', raʾaytu abawayhi 'I saw his parents', and marartu bi-abawayhi 'I passed by his parents'.
ولم يذكر المصنف رحمه الله تعالى من هذه الأربعة سوى الشرطين الأولين ثم أشار إليهما بقوله وشرط ذا الإعراب أن يضفن لا لليا أي شرط إعراب هذه الأسماء بالحروف أن تضاف إلى غير ياء المتكلم فعلم من هذا أنه لا بد من إضافتها وأنه لا بد أن تكون إضافتها إلى غير ياء المتكلم
Of these four, the author (may God Most High have mercy on him) mentioned only the first two conditions, and he pointed to them with his words 'and the condition of this inflection is that they be annexed, not to the yāʾ', that is, the condition for inflecting these nouns with letters is that they be annexed to something other than the first-person yāʾ. From this it is understood that they must be annexed, and that their annexation must be to something other than the first-person yāʾ.
ويمكن أن يفهم الشرطان الآخران من كلامه وذلك أن الضمير في قوله يضفن راجع إلى الأسماء التي سبق ذكرها وهو لم يذكرها إلا مفردة مكبرة فكأنه قال وشرط ذا الإعراب أن يضاف أب وإخوته المذكورة إلى غير ياء المتكلم
The other two conditions can also be understood from his words. The pronoun in his word yuḍafna 'they be annexed' refers back to the nouns mentioned earlier, and he mentioned them only in the singular, non-diminutive form. So it is as if he said: the condition of this inflection is that ab and its sisters, as mentioned, be annexed to something other than the first-person yāʾ.
واعلم أن ذو لا تستعمل إلا مضافة ولا تضاف إلى مضمر بل إلى اسم جنس ظاهر غير صفة نحو جاءني ذو مال فلا يجوز جاءني ذو قائم
Know that dhū is used only in construct, and it is not annexed to a pronoun (muḍmar). It is annexed to an overt generic noun (ism jins ẓāhir) that is not an adjective (ṣifa), as in jāʾanī dhū mālin 'a possessor of wealth came to me'. So it is not permissible to say jāʾanī dhū qāʾimin.
- 32
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Mark the rafʿ of the dual with alif. Mark kilā ['both' (masc.)] the same way when it is joined, in iḍāfa, to a pronoun [kilāhumā; before an overt noun it keeps alif throughout: kilā r-rajulayni].
- 33
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Kiltā ['both' (fem.)] is likewise. Ithnāni and ithnatāni ['two' (masc., fem.)] behave like ibnāni and ibnatāni ['two sons, two daughters'], [taking the dual markers unconditionally, with or without iḍāfa].
- 34
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
In all of these, yāʾ replaces the alif in jarr and naṣb, after the customary fatḥa [al-zayday-ni, kilay-himā].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 32–34AI
ذكر المصنف رحمه الله تعالى أن مما تنوب فيه الحروف عن الحركات الأسماء الستة وقد تقدم الكلام عليها ثم ذكر المثنى وهو مما يعرب بالحروف
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 339 · vol. 1, p. 55 ↗The author (may God Most High have mercy on him) stated that among the words in which letters substitute for vowels are the Six Nouns, which have already been discussed. He then mentioned the dual (al-muthannā), which is among the words inflected with letters.
وحده لفظ دال على اثنين بزيادة في آخره صالح للتجريد وعطف مثله عليه فيدخل في قولنا لفظ دال على اثنين المثنى نحو الزيدان والألفاظ الموضوعة لاثنين نحو شفع وخرج بقولنا بزيادة نحو شفع وخرج بقولنا صالح للتجريد نحو اثنان فإنه لا يصلح لإسقاط الزيادة منه فلا تقول اثن وخرج بقولنا وعطف مثله عليه ما صلح للتجريد وعطف غيره عليه كالقمرين فإنه صالح للتجريد فتقول قمر ولكن يعطف عليه مغايره لامثله نحو قمر وشمس وهو المقصود بقولهم القمرين
Its definition: a word indicating two by means of an addition at its end, fit to be stripped of that addition and to have its like coordinated to it. The phrase 'a word indicating two' includes the dual, such as al-Zaydāni 'the two Zayds', and words coined for two, such as shafʿ 'pair'. The phrase 'by means of an addition' excludes words like shafʿ. The phrase 'fit to be stripped' excludes words like ithnāni 'two', since the addition cannot be dropped from it: one does not say ithn. The phrase 'and to have its like coordinated to it' excludes a word that is fit to be stripped but has something different coordinated to it, such as al-qamarāni 'the two moons': it is fit to be stripped, for one says qamar 'moon', but what is coordinated to it is something different from it, not its like, namely qamar wa-shams 'moon and sun', which is what they mean by al-qamarāni.
وأشار المصنف بقوله بالألف ارفع المثنى وكلا إلى أن المثنى يرفع بالألف وكذلك شبه المثنى وهو كل ما لا يصدق عليه حد المثنى وأشار إليه المصنف بقوله وكلا فما لا يصدق عليه حد المثنى مما دل على اثنين بزيادة أو شبهها فهو ملحق بالمثنى فكلا وكلتا واثنان واثنتان ملحقة بالمثنى لأنها لا يصدق عليها حد المثنى ولكن لا يلحق كلا وكلتا بالمثنى إلا إذا أضيفا إلى مضمر نحو جائني كلاهما ورأيت كليهما ومررت بكليهما وجاءتني كلتاهما ورأيت كلتيهما ومررت بكلتيهما فإن أضيفا إلى ظاهر كانا بالألف رفعا ونصبا وجرا نحو جائني كلا الرجلين وكلتا المرأتين ورأيت كلا الرجلين وكلتا المرأتين ومررت بكلا الرجلين وكلتا المرأتين فلهذا قال المصنف وكلا إذا بمضمر مضافا وصلا
With his words 'put the dual and kilā in the nominative with alif', the author indicates that the dual takes the nominative with alif, as does what resembles the dual, namely every word to which the definition of the dual does not apply. The author points to this with the word kilā. Whatever indicates two by means of an addition or something like it, and to which the definition of the dual does not apply, is attached to the dual (mulḥaq bi-l-muthannā). So kilā and kiltā 'both' and ithnāni and ithnatāni 'two' are attached to the dual, since the definition of the dual does not apply to them. However, kilā and kiltā are attached to the dual only when annexed to a pronoun, as in jāʾanī kilāhumā 'both of them came to me', raʾaytu kilayhimā 'I saw both of them', marartu bi-kilayhimā 'I passed by both of them', jāʾatnī kiltāhumā, raʾaytu kiltayhimā, and marartu bi-kiltayhimā (feminine). If they are annexed to an overt noun (ẓāhir), they have alif in the nominative, accusative and genitive alike, as in jāʾanī kilā al-rajulayni wa-kiltā al-marʾatayni 'both men and both women came to me', raʾaytu kilā al-rajulayni wa-kiltā al-marʾatayni, and marartu bi-kilā al-rajulayni wa-kiltā al-marʾatayni. For this reason the author said 'and kilā, when it is joined in annexation to a pronoun'.
ثم بين أن اثنين واثنتين يجريان مجرى ابنين وابنتين فاثنان واثنتان ملحقان بالمثنى كما تقدم وابنان وابنتان مثنى حقيقة
He then made clear that ithnāni and ithnatāni behave like ibnāni and ibnatāni 'two sons' and 'two daughters'. Ithnāni and ithnatāni are attached to the dual, as stated above, while ibnāni and ibnatāni are true duals.
ثم ذكر المصنف رحمه الله تعالى أن الياء تخلف الألف في المثنى والملحق به في حالتي الجر والنصب وأن ما قبلها لا يكون إلا مفتوحا نحو رأيت الزيدين كليهما ومررت بالزيدين كليهما واحترز بذلك عن ياء الجمع فإن ما قبلها لا يكون إلا مكسورا نحو مررت بالزيدين وسيأتي ذلك
The author (may God Most High have mercy on him) then stated that yāʾ replaces alif in the dual and what is attached to it in the genitive and accusative, and that the letter before it is always vowelled with fatḥa, as in raʾaytu al-Zaydayni kilayhimā 'I saw both Zayds' and marartu bi-al-Zaydayni kilayhimā 'I passed by both Zayds'. By this he excludes the yāʾ of the plural, before which the letter is always vowelled with kasra, as in marartu bi-al-Zaydīna 'I passed by the Zayds'. This will come later.
وحاصل ما ذكره أن المثنى وما ألحق به يرفع بالألف وينصب ويجر بالياء وهذا هو المشهور والصحيح أن الإعراب في المثنى والملحق به بحركة مقدرة على الألف رفعا والياء نصبا وجرا
In sum, what he has stated is that the dual and what is attached to it take the nominative with alif and the accusative and genitive with yāʾ. This is the well-known view. The correct view is that the inflection in the dual and what is attached to it is by an implied vowel on the alif in the nominative and on the yāʾ in the accusative and genitive.
وما ذكره المصنف من أن المثنى والملحق به يكونان بالألف رفعا والياء نصبا وجرا هو المشهور في لغة العرب ومن العرب من يجعل المثنى والملحق به بالألف مطلقا رفعا ونصبا وجرا فيقول جاء الزيدان كلاهما ورأيت الزيدان كلاهما ومررت بالزيدان كلاهما
What the author stated, that the dual and what is attached to it have alif in the nominative and yāʾ in the accusative and genitive, is the well-known usage in the language of the Arabs. Some Arabs give the dual and what is attached to it alif in all cases, nominative, accusative and genitive, saying jāʾa al-Zaydāni kilāhumā 'both Zayds came', raʾaytu al-Zaydāni kilāhumā 'I saw both Zayds', and marartu bi-al-Zaydāni kilāhumā 'I passed by both Zayds'.
- 35
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Mark with wāw the rafʿ, and with yāʾ the jarr and naṣb, of the sound plural of [a proper name like] ʿĀmir and [an adjective like] mudhnib ['sinner']: ʿāmirūna, mudhnibīna.
OpenITI line 83 · vol. 1, p. 10 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: Ṣadr: وَارْفَعْ بِوَاوٍ وَبِيَا اجْرُرْ وَانْصِبِ. The transcription adds a wāw before اجرر (وبيا واجرر). With that wāw the second and third feet do not scan; without it they scan as win-wa-bi-yaj / rur-wan-ṣi-bī, and the meaning is unchanged.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 35AI
ذكر المصنف قسمين يعربان بالحروف أحدهما الأسماء الستة والثاني المثنى وقد تقدم الكلام عليهما ثم ذكر في هذا البيت القسم الثالث وهو جمع المذكر السالم وما حمل عليه وإعرابه بالواو رفعا وبالياء نصبا وجرا
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 372 · vol. 1, p. 59 ↗The author (al-muṣannif) has mentioned two classes that are inflected with letters: the first is the Six Nouns (al-asmāʾ al-sitta), and the second is the dual (al-muthannā). Both have already been discussed. In this verse he mentions the third class, the sound masculine plural (jamʿ al-mudhakkar al-sālim) and what is treated like it. It is inflected with wāw in the nominative (rafʿ) and with yāʾ in the accusative (naṣb) and genitive (jarr).
وأشار بقوله عامر ومذنب إلى ما يجمع هذا الجمع وهو قسمان جامد وصفة
With his words ʿĀmir and mudhnib (sinner) he points to what can take this plural. It is of two kinds: a non-derived noun (jāmid) and an adjective (ṣifa).
قيشترط في الجامد أن يكون علما لمذكر عاقل خاليا من تاء التأنيث ومن التركيب فإن لم يكن علما لم يجمع بالواو والنون فلا يقال في رجل رجلون نعم إذا صغر جاز ذلك نحو رجيل ورجيلون لأنه وصف وإن كان علما لغير مذكر لم يجمع بهما فلا يقال في زينب زينبون وكذا إن كان علما لمذكر غير عاقل فلا يقال في لاحق اسم فرس لاحقون وإن كان فيه تاء التأنيث فكذلك لا يجمع بهما فلا يقال في طلحة طلحون وأجاز ذلك الكوفيون وكذلك إذا كان مركبا فلا يقال في سيبويه سيبويهون وأجازه بعضهم
For the non-derived noun, the condition is that it be a proper name (ʿalam) of a rational male, free of the feminine tāʾ (tāʾ al-taʾnīth) and free of compounding (tarkīb). If it is not a proper name, it is not pluralized with wāw and nūn: one does not say rajulūn for rajul (man). When it is made diminutive, however, this is allowed, as in rujayl (little man) and rujaylūn, because the diminutive is a description (waṣf). If it is a proper name of something that is not male, it is not pluralized with them: one does not say Zaynabūn for Zaynab. Likewise if it is a proper name of a non-rational male: one does not say Lāḥiqūn for Lāḥiq, the name of a horse. If it contains the feminine tāʾ, it is likewise not pluralized with them: one does not say Ṭalḥūn for Ṭalḥa, though the Kūfans allowed it. Likewise if it is compound: one does not say Sībawayhūn for Sībawayh, though some allowed it.
ويشترط في الصفة أن تكون صفة لمذكر عاقل خالية من تاء التأنيث ليست من باب أفعل فعلاء ولا من بان فعلان فعلى ولا مما يستوي فيه المذكر والمؤنث فخرج بقولنا صفة لمذكر ما كان صفة لمؤنث فلا يقال في حائض حائضون وخرج بقولنا عاقل ما كان صفة لمذكر غير عاقل فلا يقال في سابق صفة فرس سابقون وخرج بقولنا خالية من تاء التأنيث ما كان صفة لمذكر عاقل ولكن فيه تاء التأنيث نحو علامة فلا يقال فيه علامون وخرج بقولنا ليست من باب أفعل فعلاء ما كان كذلك نحو أحمر فإن مؤنثه حمراء فلا يقال فيه أحمرون وكذلك ما كان من باب فعلان فعلى نحو سكران وسكرى فلا يقال سكرانون وكذلك إذا استوى في الوصف المذكر والمؤنث نحو صبور وجريح فإنه يقال رجل صبور وامرأة صبور ورجل جريح وامرأة جريح فلا يقال في جمع المذكر السالم صبورون ولا جريحون
For the adjective, the condition is that it be an adjective of a rational male, free of the feminine tāʾ, not of the pattern afʿal–faʿlāʾ, not of the pattern faʿlān–faʿlā, and not of the kind in which masculine and feminine are the same. Our phrase 'an adjective of a male' excludes an adjective of a female: one does not say ḥāʾiḍūn for ḥāʾiḍ (menstruating). Our phrase 'rational' excludes an adjective of a non-rational male: one does not say sābiqūn for sābiq (outrunning), as an adjective of a horse. Our phrase 'free of the feminine tāʾ' excludes an adjective of a rational male that contains the feminine tāʾ, such as ʿallāma (very learned): one does not say ʿallāmūn for it. Our phrase 'not of the pattern afʿal–faʿlāʾ' excludes what is of that pattern, such as aḥmar (red), whose feminine is ḥamrāʾ: one does not say aḥmarūn for it. Likewise what is of the pattern faʿlān–faʿlā, such as sakrān and sakrā (drunk): one does not say sakrānūn. Likewise when masculine and feminine are the same in the adjective, such as ṣabūr (patient) and jarīḥ (wounded): one says rajul ṣabūr (a patient man) and imraʾa ṣabūr (a patient woman), rajul jarīḥ (a wounded man) and imraʾa jarīḥ (a wounded woman), so one does not say ṣabūrūn or jarīḥūn as a sound masculine plural.
وأشار المصنف رحمه الله إلى الجامد الجامع للشروط التي سبق ذكرها بقوله عامر فإنه علم لمذكر عاقل خال من تاء التأنيث ومن التركيب فيقال فيه عامرون
The author (may God have mercy on him) points with his word ʿĀmir to the non-derived noun that meets the conditions mentioned above: it is a proper name of a rational male, free of the feminine tāʾ and of compounding, so one says ʿĀmirūn for it.
وأشار إلى الصفة المذكورة أولا بقوله ومذنب فإنه صفة لمذكر عاقل خالية من تاء التأنيث وليست من باب أفعل فعلاء ولا من باب فعلان فعلى ولا مما يستوي فيه المذكر والمؤنث فيقال فيه مذنبون
He points with his word mudhnib to the adjective mentioned first: it is an adjective of a rational male, free of the feminine tāʾ, not of the pattern afʿal–faʿlāʾ, not of the pattern faʿlān–faʿlā, and not of the kind in which masculine and feminine are the same, so one says mudhnibūn (sinners) for it.
- 36
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
[The same applies to] what resembles these two. Attached to this plural [as mulḥaq, 'joined to it'] are ʿishrūna ['twenty'] and its class [the tens up to tisʿūna], and ahlūna ['families, kin'].
- 37
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Also attached are ulū ['possessors of'], ʿālamūna ['worlds'], ʿilliyyūna [a name of the highest heaven], and araḍūna ['lands'], which is anomalous, and sinūna ['years']
- 38
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
and its class [nouns like thubūna, ʿiḍūna]. This class sometimes occurs declined like ḥīn [yāʾ kept throughout and the iʿrāb carried on the nūn: sinīnun, sinīnan, sinīnin]; among some Arabs this is regular.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 36–38AI
أشار المصنف رحمه الله بقوله وشبه ذين إلى شبه عامر وهو كل علم مستجمع للشروط السابق ذكرها كمحمد وإبراهيم فتقول محمدون وإبراهيمون وإلى شبه مذنب وهو كل صفة اجتمع فيها الشروط كالأفضل والضراب ونحوهما فتقول الأفضلون والضرابون وأشار بقوله وبه عشرون إلى ما ألحق بجمع المذكر السالم في إعرابه بالواو رفعا وبالياء جرا ونصبا
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 402 · vol. 1, p. 62 ↗With his words 'and what resembles these two' the author (may God have mercy on him) points to what resembles ʿĀmir, which is every proper name that meets the conditions mentioned above, such as Muḥammad and Ibrāhīm, so you say Muḥammadūn and Ibrāhīmūn; and to what resembles mudhnib, which is every adjective in which the conditions are met, such as al-afḍal (the most excellent) and al-ḍarrāb (the one who strikes much) and the like, so you say al-afḍalūn and al-ḍarrābūn. With his words 'and with it ʿishrūn' he points to what is attached (mulḥaq) to the sound masculine plural in being inflected with wāw in the nominative and with yāʾ in the genitive and accusative.
وجمع المذكر السالم هو ما سلم فيه بناء الواحد ووجد فيه الشروط التي سبق ذكرها فمالا واحد له من لفظه أوله واحد غير مستكمل للشروط فليس بجمع مذكر سالم بل هو ملحق به فعشرون وبابه وهو ثلاثون إلى تسعين ملحق بجمع المذكر السالم لأنه لا واحد له من لفظه إذ لا يقال عشر وكذلك أهلون ملحق به لأن مفرده وهو أهل ليس فيه الشروط المذكورة لأنه اسم جنس جامد كرجل وكذلك أولو لأنه لا واحد له من لفظه وعالمون جمع عالم وعالم كرجل اسم جنس جامد وعليون اسم لأعلى الجنة وليس فيه الشروط المذكورة لكونه لما لايعقل وأرضون جمع أرض وأرض اسم جنس جامد مؤنث والسنون جمع سنة والسنة اسم جنس مؤنث فهذه كلها ملحقة بالجمع المذكر لما سبق من أنها غير مستكملة للشروط
The sound masculine plural is a plural in which the form of the singular remains intact and in which the conditions mentioned above are met. What has no singular from its own root letters, or has a singular that does not meet the conditions, is therefore an attached form (mulḥaq) and does not count as a sound masculine plural. So ʿishrūn (twenty) and its class, which is thalāthūn (thirty) up to tisʿūn (ninety), is attached to the sound masculine plural, because it has no singular from its own root letters: one does not say ʿishr. Likewise ahlūn (family members) is attached to it, because its singular, ahl, does not meet the stated conditions, being a non-derived generic noun (ism jins jāmid) like rajul. Likewise ulū (possessors of), because it has no singular from its own root letters. ʿĀlamūn is the plural of ʿālam (world), and ʿālam, like rajul, is a non-derived generic noun. ʿIlliyyūn is a name for the highest part of Paradise, and it does not meet the stated conditions because it denotes something non-rational. Araḍūn is the plural of arḍ (earth), and arḍ is a feminine non-derived generic noun. Al-sinūn is the plural of sana (year), and sana is a feminine generic noun. All of these are attached to the masculine plural, because, as stated, they do not fully meet the conditions.
وأشار بقوله وبابه إلى باب سنة وهو كل اسم ثلاثي حذفت لامه وعوض عنها هاء التأنيث ولم يكسر كمائة ومئتين وثبة وثبين وهذا الاستعمال شائع في هذا ونحوه فإن كسر كشفة وشفاه لم يستعمل كذلك إلا شذوذوا كظبة فإنهم كسروه على ظباة وجمعوه أيضا بالواو رفعا وبالياء نصبا وجرا فقالوا ظبون وظبين
With his words 'and its class' he points to the class of sana: every three-letter noun whose final radical (lām) has been dropped and replaced by the feminine hāʾ, and which is not given a broken plural (lam yukassar), such as miʾa (hundred), miʾūn, and thuba (group), thubūn. This usage is common in these words and their like. If it does have a broken plural, as shafa (lip), shifāh, it is used this way only irregularly (shudhūdhan), as with ẓuba (sword-edge): they gave it the broken plural ẓubāt, and also pluralized it with wāw in the nominative and yāʾ in the accusative and genitive, saying ẓubūn and ẓubīn.
وأشار بقوله ومثل حين قد يرد ذا الباب إلى أن سنين ونحوه قد تلزمه الياء ويجعل الإعراب على النون فتقول هذه سنين ورأيت سنينا ومررت بسنين وإن شئت حذفت التنوين وهو أقل من إثباته واختلف في اطراد هذا والصحيح أنه لا يطرد وأنه مقصور على السماع ومنه قوله صلى الله عليه وسلم ( اللهم اجعلها عليهم سنينا كسنين يوسف ) في إحدى الروايتين ومثله قول الشاعر
With his words 'and like ḥīn this class may occur' he points to the fact that sinīn and its like may keep the yāʾ throughout, with the inflection placed on the nūn. You say hādhihi sinīnun (these are years), raʾaytu sinīnan (I saw years), marartu bi-sinīnin (I passed by years). If you wish you may drop the nunation (tanwīn), though this is less frequent than keeping it. There is disagreement over whether this is a regular (muṭṭarid) usage. The correct view is that it is not regular and is limited to what is heard from the Arabs (samāʿ). An example is his saying (God bless him and grant him peace), in one of the two transmissions: 'O God, make them years against them, sinīnan ka-sinīni Yūsuf (like the years of Joseph).' Similar is the poet's saying:
دعاني من نجد فإن سنينه … لعبن بنا شيبا وشيبننا مردا
Leave me [to speak] of Najd, for its years (sinīnahu) have played with us as grey-haired men, and made us grey when we were beardless youths [cited for sinīnahu].
الشاهد فيه إجراء السنين مجرى الحين في الإعراب بالحركات وإلزام النون مع الإضافة
The evidence (shāhid) in it is that sinīn is treated like ḥīn, being inflected with vowels, and that the nūn is kept even in annexation (iḍāfa).
- 39
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Give fatḥa to the nūn of the [sound masculine] plural and of what is attached to it [zaydūna, ʿishrūna]. Few pronounce it with kasra.
AI note on the transcription: Ṣadr: وَنُونَ مَجْمُوعٍ وَمَا بِهِ الْتَحَقْ. The transcription writes ألتحق with hamza on the alif, marking hamzat qaṭʿ. التحق (form VIII) begins with hamzat waṣl, and the metre requires elision (bi-hil-ta-ḥaq); a pronounced hamza adds a syllable.
- 40
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
The nūn of the dual and of what is attached to it was used the opposite way [usually with kasra, rarely with fatḥa]. Take note.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 39–40AI
حق نون الجمع وما ألحق به الفتح وقد تكسر شذوذا ومنه قوله
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 429 · vol. 1, p. 66 ↗The proper vowel of the nūn of the plural and of what is attached to it is fatḥa. It may take kasra irregularly (shudhūdhan), as in the poet's saying:
عرفنا جعفرا وبني أبيه … وأنكرنا زعانف آخرين
We knew Jaʿfar and the sons of his father, and we did not recognize other hangers-on (zaʿānif) [cited for ākharīni, with kasra on the nūn].
وقوله
And his saying:
أكل الدهر حل وارتحال … أما يبقي علي ولا يقيني
Is all of time a halting and a departing? Does it not spare me, and does it not protect me?
وماذا تبتغي الشعراء مني … وقد جاوزت حد الأربعين
And what do the poets want from me, when I have passed the limit of forty? [cited for al-arbaʿīni, with kasra on the nūn].
وليس كسرها لغة خلافا لمن زعم ذلك
Its kasra is not a dialect usage (lugha), contrary to the claim of those who said so.
وحق نون المثنى والملحق به الكسر وفتحها لغة ومنه قوله
The proper vowel of the nūn of the dual and of what is attached to it is kasra, and giving it fatḥa is a dialect usage (lugha), as in the poet's saying:
على أحوذيين استقلت عشية … فما هي إلا لمحة وتغيب
On two swift wings (aḥwadhiyyayna) it rose up in the evening; it is only a glance, and it disappears [cited for aḥwadhiyyayna, with fatḥa on the nūn of the dual].
وظاهر كلام المصنف رحمه الله تعالى أن فتح النون في التثنية ككسر نون الجمع في القلة وليس كذلك بل كسرها في الجمع شاذ وفتحها في التثنية لغة كما قدمناه وهل يختص الفتح بالياء أو يكون فيها وفي الألف قولان وظاهر كلام المصنف الثاني ومن الفتح مع الألف قول الشاعر
The apparent sense of the author's words (may God Most High have mercy on him) is that fatḥa on the nūn of the dual is as rare as kasra on the nūn of the plural. This is incorrect: kasra in the plural is irregular (shādhdh), while fatḥa in the dual is a dialect usage, as we stated. Is fatḥa limited to the yāʾ form, or does it occur with both the yāʾ and the alif? There are two views, and the apparent sense of the author's words is the second. An example of fatḥa with the alif is the poet's saying:
أعرف منها الجيد والعينانا … ومنخرين أشبها ظبيانا
I recognize of her the neck and the two eyes (al-ʿaynāna), and two nostrils that resembled [those of] Ẓabyān [cited for al-ʿaynāna, with fatḥa on the nūn after the alif].
وقد قيل إنه مصنوع فلا يحتج به
It has been said that this verse is fabricated (maṣnūʿ), so it cannot be used as evidence.
- 41
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
A plural formed with tāʾ and alif takes kasra in jarr and in naṣb alike [raʾaytu l-hindāti, marartu bi-l-hindāti].
AI note on the transcription: No letter change: the transcription's ومابتا is spaced as وَمَا بِتَا.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 41AI
لما فرغ من الكلام على الذي تنوب فيه الحروف عن الحركات شرع في ذكر ما نابت فيه حركة عن حركة وهو قسمات أحدهما جمع المؤنث السالم نحو مسلمات وقيدنا بالسالم احترازا عن جمع التكسير وهو ما لم يسلم فيه بناء واحده نحو هنود وأشار إليه المصنف رحمه الله تعالى بقوله وما بتا وألف قد جمعا أي جمع بالألف والتاء المزيدتين فخرج نحو قضاة فإن ألفه غير زائدة بل هي منقلبة عن أصل وهو الياء لأن أصله قضية ونحو أبيات فإن تاءه أصلية والمراد منه ما كانت الألف والتاء سببا في دلالته على الجمع نحو هندات فاحترز بذلك عن نحو قضاة وأبيات فإن كل واحد منهما جمع ملتبس بالألف والتاء وليس مما نحن فيه لأن دلالة كل واحد منهما على الجمع ليس بالألف والتاء وإنما هو بالصيغة فاندفع بهذا التقرير الاعتراض على المصنف بمثل قضاة وأبيات وعلم أنه لا حاجة إلى أن يقول بألف وتاء مزيدتين فالباء في قوله بتا متعلقة بقوله جمع
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 445 · vol. 1, p. 72 ↗Having finished discussing what has letters standing in for vowels, he begins to mention what has one vowel standing in for another. This is of two kinds. The first is the sound feminine plural (jamʿ al-muʾannath al-sālim), such as muslimāt (Muslim women). We specified 'sound' to exclude the broken plural (jamʿ al-taksīr), which is a plural in which the form of its singular does not remain intact, such as hunūd (women named Hind). The author (may God Most High have mercy on him) points to it with his words 'and what has been pluralized with tāʾ and alif', that is, pluralized with an added alif and tāʾ. This excludes the likes of quḍāt (judges), whose alif is not added: it is converted from a root letter, the yāʾ, since its original form is quḍayat. It also excludes the likes of abyāt (verses, houses), whose tāʾ is a root letter. What is meant is a plural in which the alif and tāʾ are what make it indicate plurality, such as hindāt. By this he excludes the likes of quḍāt and abyāt: each of them is a plural that happens to contain alif and tāʾ, and it does not belong to our topic, because each of them indicates plurality through its pattern (ṣīgha), and the alif and tāʾ play no role in that. With this explanation the objection to the author from words like quḍāt and abyāt is removed, and it becomes clear that he has no need to say 'with an added alif and tāʾ'. The preposition bi- in his word bi-tā is attached to (mutaʿalliqa bi) his word jumiʿa (has been pluralized).
وحكم هذا الجمع أن يرفع بالضمة وينصب ويجر بالكسرة نحو جاءنى هندات ورأيت هندات ومررت بهندات فنابت فيه الكسرة عن الفتحة وزعم بعضهم أنه مبني في حالة النصب وهو فاسد إذ لا موجب لبنائه
The rule for this plural is that it is put in the nominative with ḍamma and in the accusative and genitive with kasra, as in jāʾanī hindātun (the Hinds came to me), raʾaytu hindātin (I saw the Hinds), marartu bi-hindātin (I passed by the Hinds). Here kasra stands in for fatḥa. Some claimed that it is indeclinable (mabnī) in the accusative, which is a false view, since there is nothing that requires it to be indeclinable.
- 42
Metre: not scanned
As vowelled here, this verse does not fit al-rajaz, the metre of the poem; it is left unscanned rather than forced.
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Ulātu ['possessors of' (fem.)] is the same. For a plural of this kind that has been made a name, such as Adhriʿāt [a town in Syria], this treatment is also accepted.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 42AI
أشار بقوله كذا أولات إلى أن أولات تجرى مجرى جمع المؤنث السالم في أنها تنصب بالكسرة وليست بجمع مؤنث سالم بل هي ملحقة به وذلك لأنها لا مفرد لها من لفظها
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 461 · vol. 1, p. 74 ↗With his words 'likewise ulāt' he points to the fact that ulāt (possessors of, fem.) is treated like the sound feminine plural in being put in the accusative with kasra. It is not itself a sound feminine plural; it is attached (mulḥaq) to it, because it has no singular from its own root letters.
ثم أشار بقوله والذي اسما قد جعل إلى أن ما سمي به من هذا الجمع والملحق به نحو أذرعات ينصب بالكسرة كما كان قبل التسمية به ولا يحذف منه التنوين نحو هذه أذرعات ورأيت أذرعات ومررت بأذرعات هذا هو المذهب الصحيح وفيه مذهبان آخران أحدهما أنه يرفع بالضمة وينصب ويجر بالكسرة ويزال منه التنوين نحو هذه أذرعات ورأيت أذرعات ومررت بأذرعات والثاني أنه يرفع بالضمة وينصب ويجر بالفتحة ويحذف منه التنوين نحو هذه أذرعات ورأيت أذرعات ومررت بأذرعات ويروى قوله
Then with his words 'and what has been made a name' he points to the fact that a name taken from this plural or from what is attached to it, such as Adhriʿāt (a place name), is put in the accusative with kasra as it was before being used as a name, and its nunation (tanwīn) is not dropped: hādhihi Adhriʿātun (this is Adhriʿāt), raʾaytu Adhriʿātin (I saw Adhriʿāt), marartu bi-Adhriʿātin (I passed by Adhriʿāt). This is the correct view. There are two other views on it. The first is that it is put in the nominative with ḍamma and in the accusative and genitive with kasra, and its nunation is removed: hādhihi Adhriʿātu, raʾaytu Adhriʿāti, marartu bi-Adhriʿāti. The second is that it is put in the nominative with ḍamma and in the accusative and genitive with fatḥa, and its nunation is dropped: hādhihi Adhriʿātu, raʾaytu Adhriʿāta, marartu bi-Adhriʿāta. The poet's saying:
تنورتها من أذرعات وأهلها … بيثرب أدنى دارها نظر عالي
I looked toward her fire from Adhriʿāt, while her people were in Yathrib; the nearest of her dwelling is a far-reaching gaze [cited for min Adhriʿāt].
بكسر التاء منونة كالمذهب الأول وبكسرها بلا تنوين كالمذهب الثاني وبفتحها بلا تنوين كالمذهب الثالث
is transmitted with kasra on the tāʾ and nunation, as in the first view; with kasra and no nunation, as in the second view; and with fatḥa and no nunation, as in the third view.
- 43
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Mark the jarr of the diptote (mā lā yanṣarif) with fatḥa [marartu bi-aḥmada], as long as it is not in iḍāfa and does not follow al [then it takes kasra: bi-afḍalikum, fī l-masājidi].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 43AI
أشار بهذا البيت إلى القسم الثاني مما ناب فيه حركة عن حركة وهو الاسم الذي لا ينصرف وحكمه أنه يرفع بالضمة نحو جاء أحمد وينصب بالفتحة نحو رأيت أحمد ويجر بالفتحة أيضا نحو مررت بأحمد فنابت الفتحة عن الكسرة هذا إذا لم يضف أو يقع بعد الألف واللام فإن أضيف جر بالكسرة نحو مررت بأحمدكم وكذا إذا دخله الألف واللام نحو مررت بالأحمد فإنه يجر بالكسرة
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 475 · vol. 1, p. 76 ↗With this verse he points to the second kind of what has one vowel standing in for another: the diptote, the noun that does not take full declension (al-ism alladhī lā yanṣarif). Its rule is that it is put in the nominative with ḍamma, as in jāʾa Aḥmadu (Aḥmad came), in the accusative with fatḥa, as in raʾaytu Aḥmada (I saw Aḥmad), and in the genitive also with fatḥa, as in marartu bi-Aḥmada (I passed by Aḥmad). Here fatḥa stands in for kasra. This holds when it is not annexed (muḍāf) and does not come after the article al-. If it is annexed, it is put in the genitive with kasra, as in marartu bi-Aḥmadikum (I passed by your Aḥmad). Likewise when the article al- enters it, as in marartu bi-l-Aḥmadi (I passed by the Aḥmad), it is put in the genitive with kasra.
- 44
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
For verbs like yafʿalāni ['they two do'], and tadʿīna ['you (fem.) call'] and tasʾalūna ['you (pl.) ask'], make the nūn the marker of rafʿ [the Five Verbs].
- 45
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Dropping the nūn is the sign of jazm and of naṣb, as in lam takūnī li-tarūmī maẓlamah ['you (fem.) were not one to seek a wrong': takūnī in jazm after lam, tarūmī in naṣb after the lām of denial].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 44–45AI
لما فرغ من الكلام على ما يعرب من الأسماء بالنيابة شرع في ذكر ما يعرب من الأفعال بالنيابة وذلك الأمثلة الخمسة فأشار بقوله يفعلان إلى كل فعل اشتمل على ألف اثنين سواء كان في أوله الياء نحو يضربان أو التاء نحو تضربان وأشار بقوله وتدعين إلى كل فعل اتصل به ياء مخاطبة نحو أنت تضربين وأشار بقوله وتسألون إلى كل فعل اتصل به واو الجمع نحو أنتم تضربون سواء كان في أوله التاء كما مثل أو الياء نحو الزيدون يضربون
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 482 · vol. 1, p. 78 ↗Having finished discussing the nouns that are inflected by substitution [of letters for vowels] (bi-l-niyāba), he begins to mention the verbs that are inflected by substitution, namely the five patterns (al-amthila al-khamsa). With his word yafʿalāni he refers to every verb that contains the alif of the dual, whether it begins with yāʾ, as in yaḍribāni 'they two strike', or with tāʾ, as in taḍribāni 'you two strike / they two (fem.) strike'. With his word wa-tadʿīna he refers to every verb to which the yāʾ of the addressed female (yāʾ al-mukhāṭaba) is attached, as in anti taḍribīna 'you (fem.) strike'. With his word wa-tasʾalūna he refers to every verb to which the wāw of the plural is attached, as in antum taḍribūna 'you (pl.) strike', whether it begins with tāʾ, as in his example, or with yāʾ, as in al-Zaydūna yaḍribūna 'the Zayds strike'.
فهذه الأمثلة الخمسة وهي يفعلان وتفعلان ويفعلون وتفعلون وتفعلين ترفع بثبوت النون وتنصب وتجزم بحذفها فنابت النون فيه عن الحركة التي هى الضمة نحو الزيدان يفعلان فيفعلان فعل مضارع مرفوع وعلامة رفعه ثبوت النون وتنصب وتجزم بحذفها نحو الزيدان لن يقوما ولم يخرجا فعلامة النصب والجزم سقوط النون من يقوما ويخرجا ومنه قوله تعالى ﴿ فإن لم تفعلوا ولن تفعلوا فاتقوا النار ﴾
These five patterns, namely yafʿalāni, tafʿalāni, yafʿalūna, tafʿalūna and tafʿalīna, are put in the nominative (rafʿ) by the retention of the nūn, and in the subjunctive (naṣb) and the jussive (jazm) by its deletion. So the nūn in them substitutes for the vowel that is the ḍamma, as in al-Zaydāni yafʿalāni 'the two Zayds do': yafʿalāni is an imperfect verb (fiʿl muḍāriʿ) in the nominative, and the sign of its nominative is the retention of the nūn. They are put in the subjunctive and the jussive by its deletion, as in al-Zaydāni lan yaqūmā 'the two Zayds will not stand' and lam yakhrujā 'they did not go out'; the sign of the subjunctive and the jussive is the dropping of the nūn from yaqūmā and yakhrujā. Of this kind is the saying of God Most High: 'But if you do not do it (lam tafʿalū), and you will never do it (lan tafʿalū), then fear the Fire' [Q 2:24].
- 46
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Call muʿtall (weak) those nouns that are like al-muṣṭafā ['the chosen'] and al-murtaqī makārimā ['one who rises to noble qualities'].
AI note on the transcription: ʿAjuz: كَالْمُصْطَفَى وَالْمُرْتَقِي مَكَارِمَا. The transcription writes المرتقى with alif maqṣūra. The word is the active participle al-murtaqī, ending in yāʾ; it is the example of the manqūṣ in the next two abyāt, and it governs makārima. With alif it would read as the passive al-murtaqā, a second maqṣūr.
- 47
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
In the first type [ending in alif], all of the iʿrāb is implied (muqaddar). This is the noun called maqṣūr.
- 48
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
The second type [ending in yāʾ after kasra] is the manqūṣ. Its naṣb is visible [raʾaytu l-qāḍiya]; its rafʿ is implied, and so too is its jarr [jāʾa l-qāḍī, marartu bi-l-qāḍī].
OpenITI line 97 · vol. 1, p. 11 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: Ṣadr: وَالثَّانِ مَنْقُوصٌ. The transcription writes والثاني; the metre (waṯ-ṯā-ni-man) needs the yāʾ dropped, as standard editions print it. ʿAjuz: وَرَفْعُهُ يُنْوَى. The transcription writes ينوي with a dotted yāʾ; the sense 'its rafʿ is implied' requires the passive yunwā, ending in alif maqṣūra.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 46–48AI
شرع في ذكر إعراب المعتل من الأسماء والأفعال فذكر أن ما كان مثل المصطفى والمرتقي يسمى معتلا وأشار بالمصطفى إلى ما في آخره ألف لازمة قبلها فتحة مثل عصا ورحى وأشار بالمرتقي إلى ما في آخره ياء مكسور ما قبلها نحو القاضي والداعي
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 497 · vol. 1, p. 80 ↗He begins to mention the inflection of the weak (muʿtall) among nouns and verbs. He states that what is like al-muṣṭafā 'the chosen' and al-murtaqī 'the one who ascends' is called weak (muʿtall). By al-muṣṭafā he refers to a word ending in a permanent alif preceded by a fatḥa, such as ʿaṣā 'stick' and raḥā 'millstone'; by al-murtaqī he refers to a word ending in a yāʾ preceded by a kasra, as in al-qāḍī 'the judge' and al-dāʿī 'the caller'.
ثم أشار إلى أن ما في آخره ألف مفتوح ما قبلها يقدر فيه جميع حركات الإعراب الرفع والنصب والجر وأنه يسمى المقصور فالمقصور هو الاسم المعرب الذي فى آخره ألف لازمة فاحترز بالاسم من الفعل نحو يرضى وبالمعرب من المبني نحو إذا وبالألف من المنقوص نحو القاضي كما سيأتى وبلازمة من المثنى في حالة الرفع نحو الزيدان فإن ألفه لا تلزمه إذ تقلب ياء في الجر والنصب نحو رأيت الزيدين
Then he indicates that in a word ending in an alif preceded by a fatḥa all the inflectional vowels, nominative, accusative and genitive (al-rafʿ wa-l-naṣb wa-l-jarr), are supposed (tuqaddar), and that it is called the shortened noun (al-maqṣūr). The maqṣūr is the declinable (muʿrab) noun that ends in a permanent alif. By 'noun' the verb is excluded, as in yarḍā 'he is pleased'; by 'declinable' the indeclinable (mabnī) is excluded, as in idhā 'when'; by 'alif' the defective noun (manqūṣ) is excluded, as in al-qāḍī, as will come; and by 'permanent' the dual in the nominative is excluded, as in al-Zaydāni, since its alif does not remain in it, because it changes to yāʾ in the genitive and accusative, as in raʾaytu l-Zaydayni 'I saw the two Zayds'.
وأشار بقوله والثان منقوص إلى المرتقي فالمنقوص هو الاسم المعرب الذي آخره ياء لازمة قبلها كسرة نحو المرتقي فاحترز بالاسم عن الفعل نحو يرمي وبالمعرب عن المبني نحو الذي وبقولنا قبلها كسرة عن التي قبلها سكون نحو ظبي ورمي فهذا معتل جار مجرى الصحيح في رفعه بالضمة ونصبه بالفتحة وجره بالكسرة
With his words 'and the second is manqūṣ' he refers to al-murtaqī. The defective noun (manqūṣ) is the declinable noun whose end is a permanent yāʾ preceded by a kasra, as in al-murtaqī. By 'noun' the verb is excluded, as in yarmī 'he throws'; by 'declinable' the indeclinable is excluded, as in alladhī 'who, which'; and by our saying 'preceded by a kasra' a word whose yāʾ is preceded by a sukūn is excluded, as in ẓaby 'gazelle' and ramy 'throwing'. Such a word is weak but is treated like the sound (ṣaḥīḥ) word: it takes the nominative with ḍamma, the accusative with fatḥa and the genitive with kasra.
وحكم هذا المنقوص أنه يظهر فيه النصب نحو رأيت القاضي وقال الله تعالى ﴿ يا قومنا أجيبوا داعي الله ﴾ ويقدر فيه الرفع والجر لثقلهما على الياء نحو جاء القاضي ومررت بالقاضي فعلامة الرفع ضمة مقدرة على الياء وعلامة الجر كسرة مقدرة على الياء
The rule for this manqūṣ is that the accusative appears on it, as in raʾaytu l-qāḍiya 'I saw the judge', and God Most High said: 'O our people, respond to the caller of God (dāʿiya llāhi)' [Q 46:31]. The nominative and the genitive are supposed on it, because they are heavy on the yāʾ, as in jāʾa l-qāḍī 'the judge came' and marartu bi-l-qāḍī 'I passed by the judge'. The sign of the nominative is a supposed ḍamma on the yāʾ, and the sign of the genitive is a supposed kasra on the yāʾ.
وعلم مما ذكر أن الاسم لا يكون في آخره واو قبلها ضمة نعم إن كان مبنيا وجد ذلك فيه نحو هو ولم يوجد ذلك في المعرب إلا في الأسماء الستة في حالة الرفع نحو جاء أبوه وأجاز ذلك الكوفيون في موضعين آخرين أحدهما ما سمي به من الفعل نحو يدعو ويغزو والثاني ما كان أعجميا نحو سمندو وقمندو
It is known from what has been said that a noun does not end in a wāw preceded by a ḍamma. This is found in an indeclinable noun, as in huwa 'he'. It is not found in a declinable noun except in the six nouns (al-asmāʾ al-sitta) in the nominative, as in jāʾa abūhu 'his father came'. The Kūfans allowed it in two further cases: first, a verb used as a name, such as yadʿū and yaghzū; second, a foreign word, such as samandū and qamandū.
- 49
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Any verb whose last letter is alif, wāw, or yāʾ is known as muʿtall (weak) [yakhshā, yadʿū, yarmī].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 49AI
أشار إلى أن المعتل من الأفعال هو ما كان في آخره واو قبلها صمة نحو يغزو أو ياء قبلها كسرة نحو يرمى أو ألف قبلها فتحة نحو يخشى
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 521 · vol. 1, p. 83 ↗He indicates that the weak verb is one that ends in a wāw preceded by a ḍamma, as in yaghzū 'he raids', or a yāʾ preceded by a kasra, as in yarmī 'he throws', or an alif preceded by a fatḥa, as in yakhshā 'he fears'.
- 50
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–––مَفْعُولُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
In the alif-final verb, imply every state except jazm [rafʿ and naṣb: yakhshā, lan yakhshā]. Show the naṣb of verbs like yadʿū and yarmī [lan yadʿuwa, lan yarmiya].
AI note on the transcription: No letter change: the transcription's انوفيه is spaced as انْوِ فِيهِ.
- 51
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Imply the rafʿ in both [yadʿū, yarmī]. In jazm, drop the final letter in all three [lam yakhsha, lam yadʿu, lam yarmi]; in doing so you apply a binding rule.
AI note on the transcription: No letter change: the transcription's انوواحذف is spaced as انْوِ وَاحْذِفْ.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 50–51AI
ذكر في هذين البيتين كيفية الإعراب في الفعل المعتل فذكر أن الألف يقدر فيها غير الجزم وهو الرفع والنصب نحو زيد يخشى فيخشى مرفوع وعلامة رفعه ضمة مقدرة على الألف ولن يخشى فيخشى منصوب وعلامة النصب فتحة مقدرة على الألف وأما الجزم فيظهر لأنه يحذف له الحرف الآخر نحو لم يخش
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 525 · vol. 1, p. 83 ↗In these two verses he states how the weak verb is inflected. He states that in the alif everything other than the jussive is supposed, namely the indicative (rafʿ) and the subjunctive (naṣb), as in Zaydun yakhshā 'Zayd fears': yakhshā is in the indicative, and the sign of its indicative is a ḍamma supposed on the alif; and lan yakhshā 'he will not fear': yakhshā is in the subjunctive, and the sign of the subjunctive is a fatḥa supposed on the alif. The jussive, however, is apparent, because the final letter is deleted for it, as in lam yakhsha 'he did not fear'.
وأشار بقوله وأبد نصب ما كيدعو يرمي إلى أن النصب يظهر فيما آخره واو أو ياء نحو لن يدعو ولن يرمي
With his words 'and show the naṣb of what is like yadʿū and yarmī' he indicates that the subjunctive appears in a verb ending in wāw or yāʾ, as in lan yadʿuwa 'he will not call' and lan yarmiya 'he will not throw'.
وأشار بقوله والرفع فيهما انو إلى أن الرفع يقدر فى الواو والياء نحو يدعو ويرمي فعلامة الرفع ضمة مقدرة على الواو والياء
With his words 'and intend (i.e. suppose) the rafʿ in both' he indicates that the indicative is supposed on the wāw and the yāʾ, as in yadʿū and yarmī; the sign of the indicative is a ḍamma supposed on the wāw and the yāʾ.
وأشار بقوله واحذف جازما ثلاثهن إلى أن الثلاث وهي الألف والواو والياء تحذف في الجزم نحو لم يخش ولم يغز ولم يرم فعلامة الجزم حذف الألف والواو والياء
With his words 'and delete, when putting in the jussive, all three of them' he indicates that the three, namely the alif, the wāw and the yāʾ, are deleted in the jussive, as in lam yakhsha 'he did not fear', lam yaghzu 'he did not raid' and lam yarmi 'he did not throw'; the sign of the jussive is the deletion of the alif, the wāw and the yāʾ.
وحاصل ما ذكره أن الرفع يقدر في الألف والواو والياء وأن الجزم يظهر في الثلاثة بحذفها وأن النصب يظهر في الياء والواو ويقدر في الألف
In sum, what he has stated is that the indicative is supposed on the alif, the wāw and the yāʾ; that the jussive is apparent in all three through their deletion; and that the subjunctive appears on the yāʾ and the wāw and is supposed on the alif.
- مُعْرَبٌ muʿrab · declinable: a word whose ending changes with its governor · عرب
- مَبْنِيٌّ mabnī · indeclinable: a word with a fixed ending · بني
- إِعْرَابٌ iʿrāb · inflection: the change of a word's ending according to its governor · عرب
- بِنَاءٌ bināʾ · indeclinability: the fixed ending of a word · بني
- رَفْعٌ rafʿ · the nominative case (nouns) or indicative mood (verbs), marked basically by ḍamma · رفع
- نَصْبٌ naṣb · the accusative case (nouns) or subjunctive mood (verbs), marked basically by fatḥa · نصب
- جَرٌّ jarr · the genitive case, found only in nouns, marked basically by kasra · جرر
- جَزْمٌ jazm · the jussive mood, found only in verbs, marked basically by sukūn · جزم
- مُضَارِعٌ muḍāriʿ · the imperfect (present-future) verb · ضرع
- مُثَنًّى muthannā · the dual · ثني
- جَمْعٌ سَالِمٌ jamʿ sālim · sound plural: a plural formed by suffix, leaving the singular's shape intact · سلم
- مُلْحَقٌ mulḥaq · attached: a word treated like a category without fully meeting its definition · لحق
- مَقْصُورٌ maqṣūr · a noun ending in fixed alif, all of whose iʿrāb is implied · قصر
- مَنْقُوصٌ manqūṣ · a noun ending in yāʾ after kasra, whose rafʿ and jarr are implied · نقص
- مُعْتَلٌّ muʿtall · weak: a word ending in alif, wāw or yāʾ · علل
- مَا لَا يَنْصَرِفُ mā lā yanṣarif · the diptote: a noun that takes no tanwīn and marks jarr with fatḥa · صرف
- تَقْدِيرٌ taqdīr · implication: positing a case or mood marker that cannot be pronounced · قدر
- نِيَابَةٌ niyāba · substitution: one marker or word standing in for another · نوب