Noun Phrases In Arabic

Arabic noun phrases may consist minimally of the head noun or could extend to include
any or all the other constituents ( i.e. it is either Simple or Complex). The noun and its
modifiers must also agree on the noun's gender ( male or female), number (plural, dual or
singular) and case ( nominative, accusative or Genitive). Arabic has many descriptive
options, and noun phrases (NPs) are essential for giving sentences meaning:
1. Noun (‫)االسم‬: A noun is the core of any NP in Arabic: ٌ‫( هذا كتابٌ جديد‬Hatha kitab jadid.)
"This is a new book.“
2. Adjective (‫)الصفة‬: Adjectives provide additional information about the noun, such as its
characteristics or qualities: ‫طاولة كبيرة‬. (Tawila kabeera.) - "A big table.“
3. Demonstrative (‫)اإلشارة‬: Demonstratives indicate the proximity of the noun in relation
to the speaker: ‫هذا الكرسي أحمر‬. (Hatha al-kursi ahmar.) - "This chair is red.“
4. Possessive (‫)الملكية‬: Possessive constructions indicate ownership or association with a
noun: ‫( كتابي‬kitabi) - "my book," ‫( كتابها‬kitabuha) - "her book“, ‫هذا كتابي‬. (Hatha kitabi.) -
"This is my book.“
5. Quantifier (‫)الكمية‬: Quantifiers specify the quantity or number of nouns: ‫( بعض‬ba'd) -
"some," ‫( كل‬kul) - "all“, ‫لدي بعض األموال‬. (Laday ba'd al-amwal.) - "I have some money."
6. Prepositional Phrase (‫)عبارة اإلدراج‬: Prepositional phrases are used to describe the
relationship between the noun and other elements in a sentence: ‫( في المدينة‬fi al-madina)
- ‫ الكتاب في المدينة‬, (Al-kitab fi al-madina.) - "The book is in the city."
Grammatically speaking, the structure of the complex noun phrase in Arabic
may be represented as: Complex NPs In Arabic
Det1 ( Premodify items)+Head( Noun)+ Det2 ( Postmodify items)+Modifiers
‫الكتاب الجديد الذيٌاشتريته‬, ‫الفندق الكبيرٌالواقع فيٌوسطٌالمدينة‬
e.g. 1. Quantifiers:
‫بعض الطالب جيدين‬. (Ba'd al- talabjayidin.) - Some of the students are good.“
2. Demonstratives :‫تلك الكتبٌجميلة‬. (Tilka al-kutub jameela.) - "Those books are beautiful.“
3. Articles (‫)التعريف‬:‫السيارةٌحمراء‬. (Al-sayara hamra.) - "The car is red.”
4. Numerals( either cardinal” ‫ الخ‬,ٌ‫ اثنان‬,‫ “ واحد‬or ordinal “ ‫ الخ‬,‫ الثاني‬,‫( االول‬: ‫لديٌواحدة فقط‬. (Laday
wahida faqat.) - "I have only one.” The number 2 is expressed by the dual form alone: ٌٌ‫ الخ‬,‫رجالن‬
5. Possessive NPs :‫هذاٌكتابي‬. (Hatha kitabi.) - "This is my book.“
6. Pronouns :‫ هو طالبٌجيد‬. (Huwa talib jayid.) - "He is a good
7. Noun Head: ‫كتاب مفيد‬- (kitab mufeed) - "a useful book“
Determiners in Arabic: determiners play a crucial role in specifying and providing
context to nouns in Arabic sentences. These are the indefinite suffix /-n/, the clitic
objective pronouns or the genitive noun phrases. Determiners that come after the
head noun are commonly used to indicate possession, describe the noun, or provide
additional information. Below are examples of sentences with determiners that come
after the head noun, including the indefinite suffix /-n/, clitic objective pronouns, and
genitive noun phrases:
1 Indefinite Suffix /-n/: ٌ‫البيتٌجميلٌجدا‬. (Al-bayt jameelun jiddan.)
Nunation )ٌ‫( تنوين‬ Trans.: The house is very beautiful.
2 Clitic Objective Pronouns: ٌ‫أحبٌهذاٌالكتاب‬.
ّ (Uhibb haatha al-kitaab.)
Trans.: I love this book.
3 Genitive Noun Phrases: ‫الكتابٌألحمد‬.
ُ (Al-kitaabu li-Ahmad.)
Trans.: The book belongs to Ahmad.

‫هذاٌهاتفٌمحمد‬.
ُ (Haatha haatifu Muhammad.)
Trans.: This is Muhammad's phone.
Modifiers: In Arabic, the basic NP modifiers are mainly premodify and others postmodify the
head. Thus, the structure of the basic NP in Arabic is both premodification and
postmodification (cf. the structure of English NP is premodification.) For example, the articles
premodify the head: ‫ ;البيت‬whereas, the possessive pronouns follow the head:‫كتابي‬. The status
of the demonstrative is ambivalent; they may precede or follow the head which is already
determined by other means, e.g. ‫هذا البيت‬. Grammatically speaking, ‫ هذا‬is not a determiner but
a pronoun in apposition to the NP. The main items of Arabic Modifiers are adjective phrases,
preposition phrases, or relative clauses. Similar to what we saw in English, the noun phrase in
Arabic realizes several syntactic functions. In other words:

1. ‫( الكتابٌالجديدٌجميل‬al-kitāb al-jadīd jamīl) - "The new book is beautiful.”

2.‫(الكتابٌفي الحقيبة‬al-kitāb fī al-ḥaqība) - "The book is in the bag.”
3. ‫( الرجلٌالذيٌيقودٌالسيارة‬ar-rajul al-ẓī yaqūd as-siyāra) - "The man who is driving
the car.“
 Comparing the noun phrase in English and Arabic
The main points of similarity and difference between the noun phrase in English
and the noun phrase in Arabic may be summarized in the following:
1. In both languages, NPs have the same functions: subjects, direct and indirect
objects, subject and object complements, adverbials, noun modifiers,
appositives, and preposition phrase complements.
2. They have the same range of constituents: determiners, modifiers and
heads.
3. Differences can be observed in the order of the constituents. In English,
determiners occupy an initial place in the noun phrase. In Arabic, there seem to
be two positions that determiners occupy: before and after the head.
4. All noun phrase modifiers in Arabic occupy a post-head position, whereas
their English counterparts occupy both, pre-head and post-head positions.
Sentences in English and in Arabic
Traditionally, a sentence is said to be made up of two parts: the subject
and the predicate:
Subject Predicate
John Will arrive tomorrow.
Mary Is helping her mother.
The little child Is crying in the next room.
The same division is recognize in Arabic:
Subject Predicate Sentence
ٌ‫علي‬ ٌ‫يصل غدا‬ .‫يصلٌعليٌغدا‬
ٌ‫مريم‬ ٌ‫تساعدٌامها‬ .‫تساعد مريمٌامها‬
ٌ‫الطفل الصغير‬ ٌ‫يبكيٌفيٌالغرفةٌالمجاورة‬ .‫يبكيٌالطفلٌالصغيرٌفيٌالغرفةالمجاورة‬
 The structure of the Subject in both languages is considered
to be homogeneous. Whereas the predicate in both languages is
less homogeneous; it comprises a number of elements.
In English, the predicate may comprises the verb alone, as in,
“ They are reading.” Or, the verb and one or more of the
following elements: the complement( C), the object ( O) and
the adverbial (A):
- Kate is clever. ( SC ), Jane is here. ( A), She bought a
dress.(O), They elected him (O) their chairman.(OC).
Thus, the structure of the predicate in English may be stated
as:
V(C) (O) (A), the brackets contain optional elements, the verb
is the only non-optional element.
In Arabic, the predicate may or may not contain a verb. On this basis, Arabic
sentences may be classified into verbal ( containing a verb) and non- verbal
( containing no verb).
- Verbal Sentences: the verb precedes the subject, ‫جاء المهندس‬
- The structure of the Arabic predicate may be said to comprise one element or more.
The one-element predicate may be a verb, a complement or an adverbial phrase:
V
C { (C) (O) (A) } = The braces refer to alternative structures.
A
- Nominal Sentences in Arabic are of two types. The first type is called Equational
sentences. They have no verb. And, since they have no verb, they are considered
timeless and the time reference of such sentences is derived from the context: .‫ الخ‬,
‫ ليلى تلميذة‬,‫ الثعلب حيوان ماكر‬,‫ الطفل في سريره‬, . The second type is called Non- Equational
sentences, in which the subject precedes the predicate: ‫ أحمد‬,‫صديقي كتب قصة قصيرة‬
‫ الخ‬,‫وضع الكتاب على الطاولة‬