الجَزْمThe jussive
al-jazm
Only the imperfect verb takes the jussive: after lam, lammā, the lām of command, lā of prohibition, and in conditional sentences. Its signs are the sukūn and, for weak-final verbs and the five verbs, the dropping of a letter. AI
The words behind the terms
جَزْمjussivejazm
Root ج ز م · cutting off; deciding
The vowel at the end of the verb is 'cut off', leaving sukūn: lam yaktub.
Reference
What Ibn Ājurrūm saysThe Chapter on Verbs
بَابُ الْأَفْعَالِ
الْأَفْعَالُ ثَلَاثَةٌ: مَاضٍ، وَمُضَارِعٌ، وَأَمْرٌ، نَحْوَ: ضَرَبَ، وَيَضْرِبُ، وَاضْرِبْ. فَالْمَاضِي: مَفْتُوحُ الْآخِرِ أَبَدًا. وَالْأَمْرُ: مَجْزُومٌ أَبَدًا.
Verbs are three: the past (al-māḍī), the present (al-muḍāriʿ), and the imperative (al-amr), as in: ḍaraba (he struck), yaḍribu (he strikes), iḍrib (strike!). The past: its final letter always bears a fatḥa, so it is called 'open at the end' (mafūḥ al-ākhir abadan). The imperative: it is always in the jussive-state (majzūm abadan).
وَالْمُضَارِعُ: مَا كَانَ فِي أَوَّلِهِ إِحْدَى الزَّوَائِدِ الْأَرْبَعِ الَّتِي يَجْمَعُهَا قَوْلُكَ: "أَنَيْتُ" وَهُوَ مَرْفُوعٌ أَبَدًا، حَتَّى يَدْخُلَ عَلَيْهِ نَاصِبٌ أَوْ جَازِمٌ.
The present tense (al-muḍāriʿ) is that at whose beginning stands one of the four additional letters (al-zawāʾid al-arbaʿ) gathered in the mnemonic word 'anaytu' [hamza, nūn, yāʾ, tāʾ]. It is always in the nominative (marfūʿ abadan), until an accusative-causing particle (nāṣib) or a jussive-causing particle (jāzim) enters upon it.
فَالنَّوَاصِبُ عَشَرَةٌ، وَهِيَ: أَنْ، وَلَنْ، وَإِذَنْ، وَكَيْ، وَلَامُ كَيْ، وَلَامُ الْجُحُودِ، وَحَتَّى، وَالْجَوَابُ بِالْفَاءِ وَالْوَاوِ، وَأَوْ.
The accusative-causing particles (al-nawāṣib) are ten, and they are: an, lan, idhan, kay, the lām of purpose (lām kay), the lām of denial (lām al-juḥūd), ḥattā, the response introduced by fāʾ or wāw (al-jawāb bi-l-fāʾ wa-l-wāw), and aw.
وَالْجَوَازِمُ ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ، وَهِيَ: لَمْ، وَلَمَّا، وَأَلَمْ، وَأَلَمَّا، وَلَامُ الْأَمْرِ وَالدُّعَاءِ، وَ"لَا" فِي النَّهْيِ وَالدُّعَاءِ، وَإِنْ، وَمَا، وَمَنْ، وَمَهْمَا، وَإِذْمَا، وَأَيٌّ، وَمَتَى، وَأَيَّانَ، وَأَيْنَ، وَأَنَّى، وَحَيْثُمَا، وَكَيْفَمَا، وَإِذَا فِي الشِّعْرِ خَاصَّةً.
The jussive-causing particles (al-jawāzim) are eighteen, and they are: lam, lammā, a-lam, a-lammā, the lām of command and supplication (lām al-amr wa-l-duʿāʾ), and 'lā' used in prohibition and supplication (al-nahy wa-l-duʿāʾ), in (if), mā, man, mahmā, idhmā, ayy, matā, ayyāna, ayna, annā, ḥaythumā, kayfamā, and idhā—in poetry specifically.
Vowelling and English: AIWhole chapter and text →
In the classics6 books · why the rule holds · disputed
- The ĀjurrūmiyyaIbn ĀjurrūmChapter on Knowing the Signs of Declension (iʿrāb)The Chapter on Verbs
- Qaṭr al-nadāIbn HishāmSection: The kinds of inflection (iʿrāb) are fourSection: The imperfect verb is in the indicative when free of [any subjunctive or jussive particle]
- The AlfiyyaIbn MālikThe Declinable and the Indeclinable (vv. 15–51)The Agents of the Jussive (jazm) (vv. 695–708)with Ibn ʿAqīl's commentary under each verse
- Shudhūr al-dhahabIbn HishāmJussive verbs and the particles causing the jussive
- Mughnī al-labībIbn Hishāmلملمالااللامإن المكسورة الخفيفةمهمامتى
- Sībawayh, al-KitābSībawayhParticles that put verbs in the jussive
Why?al-Zajjājī, al-ĪḍāḥWhy “cutting”: the jussive cuts the vowel off the word. And nouns never take it, because a jussive noun would lose both its vowel and its nunation.
وأما الجزم فأصله القطع
As for jazm, its root sense is cutting. al-Īḍāḥ, line 1002 (vol. 1, p. 93) ↗
فكأن معنى الجزم قطع الحركة عن الكلمة
So the meaning of jazm is, as it were, cutting the vowel off the word. al-Īḍāḥ, lines 1003–1004 (vol. 1, p. 94) ↗
لم تجزم الأسماء لخفتها ولزوم التنوين إياها، فلو جزمت سقطت منها الحركة والتنوين
[Sībawayh:] Nouns are not put in the jussive because of their lightness and because nunation clings to them; if they were, they would lose both the vowel and the nunation. al-Īḍāḥ, lines 1140–1141 (vol. 1, p. 102) ↗
English: AI translation AI The summary lines are ours.
al-Zajjājī (d. 337/949), al-Īḍāḥ fī ʿilal al-naḥw, ed. Māzin al-Mubārak (Beirut: Dār al-Nafāʾis, 5th ed., 1406/1986). Digital text: 0337IbnIshaqZajjaji.IdahCilalNahw.Sham19Y0143170-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.
- DisputedIbn al-Anbārī, al-Inṣāf
What makes the answer of a condition jussive (in taqum aqum)?Kufa: its neighbouring the conditional verb · Basra: the conditional particle (most Basrans) · he sides with Basra
Question 84: مسألة عامل الجزم في جواب الشرط
ذهب الكوفيون إلى أن جواب الشرط مجزوم على الجوار
KufaThe Kufans held that the answer of the condition is jussive by neighbourhood. al-Inṣāf, line 6494 (vol. 2, p. 602) ↗
واختلف البصريون فذهب الأكثرون إلى أن العامل فيهما حرف الشرط
BasraThe Basrans differed: most held that what governs both is the conditional particle. al-Inṣāf, lines 6494–6495 (vol. 2, p. 602) ↗
VerdictHe gives the Basran proofs, then answers the Kufans’ arguments one by one; that is how he sides with Basra:
وأما الجواب عن كلمات الكوفيين
As for the answer to the Kufans' arguments… al-Inṣāf, line 6564 (vol. 2, p. 609) ↗
He answers the Kufans; the Basrans' own three accounts are set out without a choice among them.
English: AI translation AI The summary lines are ours.
Ibn al-Anbārī (d. 577/1181), al-Inṣāf fī masāʾil al-khilāf bayna al-naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn wa-l-Kūfiyyīn, ed. Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr; year not recorded by OpenITI). Digital text: 0577AbuBarakatAnbari.InsafFiMasail.JK001424-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.
Arabic texts from OpenITI (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); English titles and translations are AI. All the classics →