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Baitul Ilm Notes for Classical Arabic Class 201 1-12 Reference Book: An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic by W. M. Thackston Lesson: 02 (Pg 9 -13) Gender of Nouns Arabic has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine. Nouns are considered to be feminine if they belong to any one of the following categories: 1- Nouns referring to intrinsically female beings. Examples are: ""J ' ^1=k' ' 2- Names of towns and cities except <J' J0. Examples are: (jllwiSu < -il-iij t 3- Parts of body that are in pairs. Examples are: tip' ' j^- ' -^
* * *

4- Most ^^EJffjTil ll'l singular nouns ending in o. Examples are! A few exceptions are: 5678Collection nouns. Examples are: fjj '^JJ ' Names given to the wind. Examples are: ^J ' Names given to fire. Examples are: f^-?- ' J^ Some feminine nouns give no external indication of grammatical femininity. Examples are: *^ ' * ' ' ^1^^ ' ^ '

Adjectives and Adjectival Agreement The function of a given word in a sentence determines whether it is a modified noun * * (L_fl^j-iaj^) or adjective (4-aj-a). Adjectives invariably follow the noun and agree in (i) state, (ii) gender, (iii) number and (iv) case. (i) (ii) (iii) State: If the noun is definite or indefinite, the adjective will be identical. Examples are: jtff^i <L&&\ t 0^ M^ Gender: If the noun is masculine or feminine, the adjective will be identical. Examples are: ^^ A> ' f^- (3^ Number: If the noun is singular, dual or plural, the adjective will be identical. Examples are: (singular) J^-3 ^j , ' (dual) j^U-=> g^j , (plural) ^M Ca^g: Adjective will have the same ^bc-j as the noun. Examples are

(iv)

(J-aaJ!

* iS I ^ ^ 0

\ / j \~\ A \ Q-%. ^ ^-\

A\ M

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Baitul Ilm Notes for Classical Arabic Class 201 1-12 Reference Book: An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic by W. M. Thackston Lesson: 02 (Pg 9 -13) Predicate adjectives and verbal compliments agree with their subjects in gender and number but not in case and state. Predicates occur in indefinite state and case of predicate varies as well depending on the sentence construct.
The man is wise Sulayman is smart Zaid was great I jjj AJ j (jl

Predication of Existence Existential Predication (English "there is, there are") is achieved by reversing the normal order of the sentence by placing the subject (necessarily indefinite) after the predicate. Examples are: A man in the city. 4-jj.Xall

There is a man in the city.

Such sentences are almost always introduced by (j) which will put the subject in i case. Preposition u Preposition J gets directly attached to the following word and the case of the word changes to jjjzu*. Examples are: <Jr^ ' 4-^ For words that begin with letter hamzah, sometimes the letter hamzah is pronounced and sometimes not. If the letter hamzah is not pronounced, it is known as u**jp\ oj**. and is written as I or '. As an example, "^J*\ becomes *' J^V. If the hamzah is pronounced, it is known as <*-l=>^ j-<^ and will be written ' or ). For example, U When the preposition J is added to words that begin with the letter J and have the definite article, the letter J is doubled in pronunciation and written with a fa*, and the

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Baitul Ilm Notes for Classical Arabic Class 2011-12 Reference Book: An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic by W. M. Thackston Lesson: 02 (Pg 9-13) -"i of the definite article is dropped. In writing, both the definite and indefinite words will look the same if the fa* is not written. For example: for a night for the night for Allah ^ &\
<=

The preposition J is also used to express possession as in the following examples:

The earth belongs to Allah The man has a daughter

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