Arabic Case System

The Arabic language has 3 parts of speech:

1. ‫ِاْس ٌم‬ = noun.
2. ‫ِفْعٌل‬ = verb.
3. ‫ = َح ْر ٌف‬article.
Here, it is important to note that ‘Ism’ is a broader
category which comprises of Noun, Adjective, Pronoun
and Adverb. Every Ism in Arabic Grammar has four
properties: Status, Number, Gender, and Type. Here,
we will discuss about the status/cases of Ism.
Status/Cases of an Ism indicates what Role it plays in
a sentence, its grammatical function.
There are three cases in Arabic:
1. Nominative [al-marfū - ‫]المرفوع‬
2. Accusative [al-mansūb - ‫]المنصوب‬
3. Genitive [al-majrūr - ‫]المجرور‬
 To identify the Case of an Ism we need to look at
its ending sound or ending combination usually. This
change accruing at the end of an Ism is called
I’raab (Declension). The case endings will be
 determined by the status, number, gender, type of
an Ism.
 The nominative case ends on ‘u’ when definite and
on ‘un’ when indefinite, the accusative case on ‘a or
an’, and the genitive case on ‘i or in’.
 If the Ism is definite that is with a prefix ‘al,’ the
tanween will drop and it will have only one ‘harakat’
on it. For instance:
INDEFINITE DEFINITE
ٌ ‫ِكــَت‬
‫ــاب‬ ‫اْل ــِكــَتــاُب‬
‫َقــَلــٌم‬ ‫اْل ــَقــَلــُم‬

Reasons for a noun to be in Nominative,

Accusative or Genitive Case

1. NOMINATIVE CASE [ ‫]المرفوع‬:

This case is marked by a Damma.
REASON EXAMPLE TRANSLATION
the subject of a ُ ‫َذَهَب الَّطِبي‬
‫ب ِإَلى‬ The doctor went
verbal sentence to the hospital.
‫الُم سَتشفى‬
the subject and
predicate of a ‫الَو َلُد َطويٌل‬ The boy is tall.
nominal sentence
 ‘An-nida'
addressing ‫يا ُمَحَّم ُد‬ Ya Muhammad.
someone directly
Default status of ‫ُم ْسلٌِم‬ A Muslim
an Ism on its own
certain adverbs
regardless of their ، ‫منُذ‬ Since, ago
position in the ‫ْث‬
ُ ‫َح ي‬ where, whereas
sentence
Subject of kaana ‫َك اَن الَب ْيُت َك ِبْيًرا‬ The house was big.
and its sisters
Predicate of inna ٌ‫ِإَّن الَّطاِلَب َنِش يط‬ Indeed, the
and its sisters student is
hardworking.

2. ACCUSATIVE CASE [ ‫]المنصوب‬:

This case is marked by a Fatha.
REASON EXAMPLE TRANSLATION
the object of a ‫ال َتْس ِع ل ناًرا‬ Do not light a fire.
transitive verb
 Adverbial
expressions of ‫َتْسَتِم ُر َيْو ًم ا واحًِد ا‬ It lasts one day.
time, place, and
َ
manner, indicating They came at
the circumstances
‫ِ جاءوا َفجَْر‬ dawn.
under which an
action takes place

‫ المفعول المطلق‬- They [dual]

adjective used to ‫ساَهما مساَهَم ًة َفعاَلًة‬ participated
intensify an action effectively.
Describing the ً‫قفزْت مذعورة‬ She jumped,
main action Frightened.
To show the The forces are
purpose of an ‫الُقّو اُت َتُش ُن َح ْم َلًة َبَح ًثا‬ launching a
action ‫َع ن أسِلحٍة‬ campaign
searching for
weapons.
the accusative of We announce that
specification ‫نعلُن ذاَك قوال وفعال‬ in speech and
[Includes the action.
comparative/super
lative and counted ‫في َع ْش ريَن ُمَج لًَّد ا‬ ...in twenty
nouns between 11 volumes.
and 99.]
Predicate of kaana ‫َك اَن الَبْيُت َك ِبْيًرا‬ The house was big.
and its sisters
Subject of inna ‫ب َنِش يٌط‬
َ ‫ِإَّن الَّطاِل‬ Indeed, the
 and its sisters student is
hardworking.
Both subject and
‫ظن أحمد القيادَة‬ Ahmed believed
predicate of zanna
‫سهلَة‬ driving was easy.
and its sisters

3. GENETIVE CASE [ ‫]المجرور‬:

This case is marked by a kasra.
REASON EXAMPLE TRANSLATION
The object of a
preposition I am in the
‫أنا في المكتبِة‬ library.
The object of a
locative adverb Under the
‫َتْح َت نوِر الَش ْمِس‬
sunlight.
The second term
of ‘idafa’ (Mudaf ‫بيُت المدرِس‬ The house of the
ilayh teacher.

PRONOUN:
In Arabic we have attached and detached pronouns.
Detached pronouns are always in Nominative case.
Whereas attached pronoun can be either in accusative
or genitive case.
 IF A
PRONOUN STATUS
REASON EXAMPLE
IS
ATTACHED
TO...
Ism Genitive It acts as
Mudhaf Ilayh ‫ِكِتاِبــي‬
Harf of Jarr Object of a
or Genitive preposition /
Prepositions Preceded by ِ ‫َع َلْيـ‬
‫ك‬
Harf of Jar
Inna and its Accusative Subject of
sisters Inna and its
sisters
‫إنََّك‬

Feil Accusative It provides

details of the ‫َسِمَعتْـَنا‬
Verb

FLEXIBILITY OF ISM:
Most of the Arabic words are flexible in nature. They easily
change their appearance between different status or case
like Raf’a, Nasb or Jarr.

NON-FLEXIBLE ISM
There are few words in Arabic that will not change their
appearance irrespective of what state they are in. They will
appear the same in all three Cases.

Ism that falls in this category:

Pronouns [ ‫]الَّض ماِئر‬: I, you, we, he, she, they...
‫ هم‬،‫ هي‬،‫ هو‬،‫ نحن‬،‫ أنت‬،‫أنا‬...
Demonstrative Nouns [ ‫]أْس ماُء اِإل شاَر ة‬: this, that, these, those...
‫ أولئك‬،‫ هؤالء‬،‫ هذا‬،‫هذه‬...
Relative Pronouns [ ‫]األْس ماُء الَمْو ضولة‬: who, which...
‫ اّل ذين‬،‫ الّل تان‬،‫ الّل ذان‬،‫ اّل تي‬،‫اّل ذي‬...
Interrogative (Questioning) Nouns [ ‫]أْس ماُء االْس ِتفهام‬: Who?
What? Where? When? How many?...
‫كم؟ من؟ ما؟ أين؟ متى؟‬...
Conditional Nouns [ ‫]أْس ماُء الَّش ْر ط‬: He who, if, wherever,
wherever...
. ‫ أْينما‬،‫ حيثما‬، ‫ لْو‬/‫ إذا‬/ ‫ ِإْن‬، ‫ مْن‬...
Compound Numbers [ ‫]األْعداُد الُمَر َّك َبة‬: twelve, nineteen...
‫ تسعة عشر‬،‫إثنا عشر‬...
Certain Adverbs (and compound adverbs) [ ‫الُّظ روف والُّظ روُف‬
‫]الُمَر َّك َبة‬: where (wherever, when how can...), where now, here,
there, at, yesterday, day and night, morning, and evening... ،‫أَّنى‬
‫ صباَح مساَء‬، ‫ ليَل نهاَر‬،‫ِع ْن َد‬،‫ أْم ِس‬،‫ هناك‬،‫ هنا‬،‫ اآلن‬،‫حيث‬...

PARTIALLY FLEXIBLE ISM

The case ending in such type of word is not effected
completely in singular forms, which means when in a
nominative case they appear with a dhammah whereas in
accusative and genitive they take a Fathah. They dont take
tanween or kasrah.
The type of words that belong to this category are:
♦ Names of places
♦ Non-Arab names
♦ Feminine names
♦ Letters of the Arabic alphabet.

NAME: N.Safiya Fathima Sheikh

EMAIL: [email protected]
COURSE DETAILS: Arabic 202