The Noun Annexed to the Yāʾ of the Speaker
الْمُضَافُ إِلَى يَاءِ الْمُتَكَلِّمِ
Verses 420–423 · chapter 31 of 78
The chapter explains how a noun changes when the first-person pronoun -ī ('my') is attached to it. A sound noun takes kasra on its last letter before the yāʾ. The manqūṣ, the maqṣūr, the dual and the sound masculine plural keep their final letter, and the yāʾ then takes fatḥa, with assimilation of yāʾ or wāw into it and the dialect of Hudhayl noted for the maqṣūr. AI
Topic:The construct: annexation
- 420
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–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.
Put kasra on the last letter of a noun annexed to the yāʾ [of the speaker] if that noun is not weak-ended [muʿtall], such as rāmin ['thrower', a manqūṣ] and qadhan ['mote', a maqṣūr]. [Examples of the sound case: ghulāmī 'my servant', kitābī 'my book'.]
AI note on the transcription: لَمْ يَكُ مُعْتَلًّا كَرَامٍ وَقَذَى — the word qadhan has the root q-dh-y, so its final alif is written as alif maqṣūra (ى) in standard editions. The transcription's قذا writes it with a tall alif, which is an orthographic slip.
- 421
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–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.
[Also do not put kasra] if the noun is like ibnayn ['two sons', a dual] or zaydīn [a sound masculine plural]. In all of these, the fatḥa of the yāʾ that comes after them is followed [the yāʾ of the speaker takes fatḥa]: rāmiyya 'my thrower', qadhāya 'my mote', ibnāya / ibnayya 'my two sons', zaydiyya 'my Zayds'.
- 422
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–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.
The yāʾ [ending the manqūṣ, and the yāʾ of the dual or plural in the accusative and genitive] is assimilated into it [the yāʾ of the speaker]. So is the wāw [of the nominative plural, after it becomes yāʾ]. If the letter before the wāw has ḍamma, change it to kasra, and [the pronunciation] becomes easy: zaydūna + ī → zaydiyya. [If the letter before the wāw has fatḥa, the fatḥa stays: muṣṭafawna + ī → muṣṭafayya.]
- 423
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–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.
Leave an alif unchanged [the alif of the dual and of the maqṣūr]: ibnāya, qadhāya. In the maqṣūr, turning the alif into yāʾ [and assimilating it], as reported from [the tribe of] Hudhayl, is good: qadhayya 'my mote', hawayya 'my desire'.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 420–423Arabic
يكسر آخر المضاف إلى ياء المتكلم إن لم يكن مقصورا ولا منقوصا ولا مثنى ولا مجموعا جمع سلامة لمذكر كالمفرد وجمعى التكسير الصحيحين وجمع السلامة للمؤنث والمعتل الجاري مجرى الصحيح نحو غلامي وغلماني وفتياتي ودلوى وظبيي
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 4691 · vol. 3, p. 88 ↗وإن كان معتلا فإما أن يكون مقصورا أو منقوصا فإن كان منقوصا أدغمت ياؤه في ياء المتكلم وفتحت ياء المتكلم فتقول قاضي رفعا ونصبا وجرا وكذلك تفعل بالمثنى وجمع المذكر السالم في حالة الجر والنصب فتقول رأيت غلامي وزيدي ومررت بغلامي وزيدي والأصل بغلامين لي وزيدين لي فحذفت النون واللام للاضافة ثم أدغمت الياء في الياء وفتحت ياء المتكلم
وأما جمع المذكر السالم في حالة الرفع فتقول فيه أيضا جاء زيدي كما تقول في حالة النصب والجر والأصل زيدوي اجتمعت الواو والياء وسبقت إحداهما بالسكون فقلبت الواو ياء ثم قلبت الضمة كسرة لتصح الياء فصار اللفظ زيدي
وأما المثنى في حالة الرفع فتسلم ألفه وتفتح ياء المتكلم بعده فتقول زيداي وغلاماي عند جميع العرب
وأما المقصور فالمشهور في لغة العرب جعله كالمثنى المرفوع فتقول عصاي وفتاي
وهذيل تقلب ألفه ياء وتدغمها في ياء المتكلم وتفتح ياء المتكلم فتقول عصى ومنه قوله
245 ( سبقوا هوى وأعنقوا لهواهم … فتخرموا ولكل جنب مصرع
فالحاصل أن ياء المتكلم تفتح مع المنقوص ك رامي والمقصور ك عصاى والمثنى ك غلاماي رفعا و غلامي نصبا وجرا وجمع المذكر السالم ك زيدي رفعا ونصبا وجرا
وهذا معنى قوله فذى جميعها اليا بعد فتحها احتذى
وأشار بقوله وتدغم إلى أن الواو في جمع المذكر السالم والياء في النقوص وجمع المذكر السالم والمثنى تذغم في ياء المتكلم
وأشار بقوله وإن ما قبل واوضم إلى أن ما قبل واو الجمع إن انضم عند وجود الواو يجب كسره عند قلبها ياء لنسلم الياء فإن لم ينضم بل انفتح بقي على فتحه نحو مصطفون فتقول مصطفى
وأشار بقوله وألفا سلم إلى أن ما كان آخره ألفا كالمثنى والمقصور لا تقلب ألفه ياء بل تسلم نحو غلاماي وعصاى
وأشار بقوله وفي المقصور إلى أن هذيلا تقلب ألف المقصور خاصة فتقول عصى
وأما ما عدا هذه الأربعة فيجوز في الياء معه الفتح والتسكين فتقول غلامى وغلامى
- الْمُضَافُ al-muḍāf · the annexed noun (first term of a genitive construct) · ضيف
- يَاءُ الْمُتَكَلِّمِ yāʾ al-mutakallim · the yāʾ of the speaker (first-person singular pronoun suffix -ī / -ya) · كلم
- الْمُعْتَلُّ al-muʿtall · weak-ended (a word whose last radical is alif, wāw or yāʾ) · علل
- الْمَقْصُورُ al-maqṣūr · a noun ending in a fixed alif (e.g. qadhan, hawan) · قصر
- الْإِدْغَامُ al-idghām · assimilation (merging one consonant into a following identical one, written with shadda) · دغم
- الِانْقِلَابُ al-inqilāb · conversion (of one letter into another) · قلب