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Arabiccasesystem

Introduction
Nominativecase
Genitivecase
Accusativecase
Additionalnotes

Introduction

First,whatarecaseendingsinArabic?Theyarelittlemarkings(Harakaat)thatareattachedtotheendsofwordstoindicatethe
words'grammaticalfunction.Thatis,ifawordisthesubjectofasentence,youuseacaseendingtoindicatethatifawordisthe
objectofaverb,youuseanothercaseendingtoindicatethat.Soclearly,usingcaseendingscorrectlyrequiresasolidknowledgeof
grammar.Ifyou'reanativeEnglishspeakerwhohasn'tstudiedalanguagewithacasesystem,likeLatinorRussian,gettingusedto
thismaybedifficult.

Caseendingsareusuallynotwritten(withoneexception)outsideoftheQur'an/Bibleandchildren'sbooks.Butyouwillhear
newscasterspronouncethem,andifyouwanttospeakfuSHawell,it'sagoodideatobefamiliarwiththecasesystem.Eachcase
markercorrespondstooneofthreedifferentcasesnominative(marf3),genitive(majrr),andaccusative(
manSb)andispronouncedasashortvowel.Herearethethreecasemarkers:

Ontheleftisthe(Damma).Itresemblesatiny,goesabovetheendofaword,andispronouncedasashort"u."Itmarkswords
inthenominativecase.Inthemiddleisthe(kasra),whichgoesbelowtheendofawordandispronouncedasashort"i."It
markswordsinthegenitivecase.Ontherightisthe(fatHa),whichgoesabovetheendofawordandispronouncedasashort"a."
Itmarkswordsintheaccusativecase.

Note:Ifthewordyou'remarkingisanindefiniteadjectiveornoun,thecasemarkerwillbenunated.Thatis,theDammawillbe
pronounced"un"insteadof"u,"thekasrawillbepronounced"in"insteadof"i,"andthefatHawillbepronounced"an"insteadof"
a."Andthemarkingswilllooklikethis:

Someexamples:

(alliqaa'a) (liqaa'an)
(almaktabu) (maktabun)
(almaktabata)
(maktabatan)

(Taawilati) (Taawilatin)

Note:Ifawordintheaccusativecase(i.e.thatneedsafatHa)isnunatedanddoesnotendinataamarbuuTaorhamza,itwouldtake
analifalongwiththenunatedfatHa.

(alwalada) (waladan)
 (albinta) (bintan)
(assa3iida) (sa3iidan)

(alHaziina) (Haziinan)

Sowhenexactlydoyouusethesecasemarkers?Let'sgoontodiscussthethreecases.

Nominativecase(almarf3)

ThiscaseismarkedbyaDamma.Wordsthatfallintothefollowingcategoriesarenominative:

1.thesubjectofaverbalsentence

.
(dahabalwaladuilalmadrasati.)
Theboywenttoschool.

2.thesubjectandpredicateofanominalsentence

. (alwaladuTawlun.)
Theboyistall.Notethatisnunated(uninsteadofjustu)becauseitisindefinite.

.
(beitulbintikabrun.)
Thegirl'shouseislarge.Again,notethenunationoftheindefiniteadjective.

3.thevocative(addressingsomeonedirectly)

...
(ayyuhassayyidtuwassdatu...)
Ladiesandgentlemen...

4.Thenominativecaseisalsothedefaultforwordsthatareontheirown.

(aarqulawsaTu)
theMiddleEast

5.It'salsousedwithcertainadverbsregardlessoftheirpositioninthesentence.

(mundu)

sinceago

(Haytu)

wherewhereas

Genitivecase(almajrr)

Thiscaseismarkedbyakasra.Wordsthatfallintothefollowingcategoriesaregenitive:

1.Theobjectofapreposition

(ilalyamni)
totheright

(filmaktabati)
inthelibrary
2.theobjectofalocativeadverb

(taHtanriamsi)
underthesunlight(lit.lightofthesun)

(qablaayymin)
[afew]daysago(lit.beforedays)Notethenunationoftheindefinitenoun.

3.thesecondtermofaniDfa

(mudrulmu'assasati)
thefoundation'sdirector(or"thedirectorofthefoundation")

(urfatuttijrati)
thechamberofcommerce

Accusativecase(almanSb)

ThiscaseismarkedbyafatHa.Wordsthatfallintothefollowingcategoriesareaccusative:

1.theobjectofatransitiveverb

(latu3ilnran)
Don'tlightafire.Again,isnunatedbecauseitisindefinite.Ithasanalifbecauseitordinarilywouldhavearegular
fatHa,anddoesn'tendinataamarbuuTaorhamza.

(HaDarlliq'a)
Theyattendedthemeeting.

2.adverbialexpressionsoftime,place,andmanner,indicatingthecircumstancesunderwhichanactiontakesplace

.(tastamirruyoomanwHidan.)
Itlastsoneday.

.


(j'fajrayoomiliqtir3i.)
Theycameatdawnonthedayofballoting.

.
(HaSaltuHadtan3alaljinsiyyati.)
Irecentlyobtainedcitizenship.

3.theinternalobjectorcognateaccusativestructure.Whatdoesthatmean?It'sjustawayofintensifyinganaction
byfollowingtheverbwithitscorrespondingverbalnoun(maSdar)andanadjectivemodifyingit.

.
(HallatilmawD3aHallanjidriyyan.)
Itsolvedtheissuefundamentally.

. (shammushamatanfa33latan.)
They[dual]participatedeffectively.

4.thecircumstantialaccusative.Thisisawaytodescribeacondition/actiongoingonatthesametimeasthemainaction.

.
(rafa3ayadahumu3tariDan.)
Heraisedhishandobjecting.

.
(daxalaSSaffamuta'axxiran.)
Heenteredclasslate.
 .
(qafazatmad3ratan.)
Shejumped,frightened.

...
(waqlaraddan3alasu'lin...)
[And]hesaid,replyingtoaquestion...

5.showsthepurposeofanaction,usuallyusinganindefinite.

.
(alquwwtutaunnuHamlatanbaHtan3anasliHatin.)
Theforcesarelaunchingacampaignsearchingforweapons.

(xillaHaflatinistiqblinaqmhatakrmanlahu)
duringareceptiontheygaveinhishonor

6.theaccusativeofspecificationoftenanswersthequestion"inwhatway?"Includesthecomparative/superlativeand
countednounsbetween11and99.

.
(nu3linudkaqawlanwafi3lan.)
Weannouncethatinspeechandaction.

.

(knatakbara3Simatinjhanwafaxmatan.)

Itwasthegreatestcapitalinfameandsplendor.

(f3irnamujalladan)
intwentyvolumes

(3alamadaxamsata3ara3man)
forfifteenyears

Thosearethemaininstanceswhereyouusetheaccusative.Therearealsoother,specialwordsthatshiftwordsintotheaccusative
case:

Clickhereformoreinformationonthat.

Acoupleofnotes:

Withfemininepluralnounsendingin,changeanyfatHathatwouldordinarilygoattheendtoakasra.

. (asalalrajulussayyrti.)
Themanwashedthecars.Ithastobesayyrti,notsayyrta!

Notethatdualandregularpluralnounslike(bintn,twogirls)or(miSriyn,Egyptians)changeendingsinthegenitive
casethe(n)becomes(ein),andthe(n)becomes(n).

(hdnilkitaabaanu)

(fhdeinilkitbeini)
thesetwobooks inthesetwobooks

.
(3aqadalmudruijtim3anma3almuwaZZafna.)
Thedirectorheldameetingwiththeemployees.

Maingrammarpage kaana,inna,Zanna,andtheirsisters