an-na't | The rules of an Adjective in Arabic

By Learning with abi and ummi
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Today, we are going to learn adjective in Arabic.

In Arabic grammar, it is discussed in na't & man'ut or sifah & mausuf chapter.

In this lesson, we focus on the rules of adjective in Arabic grammar.

Arabic Terms

نَعْتٌ = adjective (we can also say it "صِفة" )

مَنْعُوْتٌ = the object that is described by the adjective (we can also say it "مَوصُوف" )

نَعْتٌ or صِفة

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The adjective rules

About the adjective, let's read the Arabic text below:

النَّعْتُ : تَابِعٌ لِلْمَنْعُوتِ فِي رَفْعِهِ وَنَصْبِهِ وَخَفْضِهِ , وَتَعْرِيْفِهِ وَتَنْكِيْرِهِ

(excerpt from al-ajooroomiyyah book)

The word by word translation

- النَّعْتُ = the adjective

- تَابِعٌ = follow

- مَنْعُوت = object of description (the object that is described by the adjective)

- رَفْعٌ = raf' (nominative case)

- نَصْب = nasb (accusative case)

- خَفْض = khafdh, we can also say it "jar" (genitive case)

- تَعْرِيف = definiteness

- تَنكِير = indefiniteness

Translation Summary:

The adjective follows the object of description in its cases (raf'/nominative, nasb/accusative, khafdh/jar/genitive), also following the object of description in its definiteness or indefiniteness

Recap

The basic concept of adjective in Arabic

There are agreements between the noun and it's adjective in:

cases (nominative, accusative, genitive)
definiteness or indefiniteness
gender (masculine or feminine)
singular, dual, plural

Examples

1. البَيْتُ الكَبِيْرُ = the big house

- البَيْتُ = definite, singular, masculine, nominative case

- الكَبِيْرُ = definite, singular, masculine, nominative case

2. رَأَيْتُ البَيْتَ الكَبِيْرَ = I saw the big house

البَيْتَ = definite, singular, masculine, accusative case

الكَبِيْرَ = definite, singular, masculine, accusative case

3. أَوْلاَدٌ مُجْتَهِدُوْنَ = the diligent boys

أَوْلاَدٌ = indefinite, plural, masculine, nominative case

مُجْتَهِدُوْنَ = indefinite, plural, masculine, nominative case

4. بِنْتٌ مُجْتَهِدَةٌ = a diligent girl

بِنْتٌ = indefinite, singular, feminine, nominative case

مُجْتَهِدَةٌ = indefinite, singular, feminine, nominative case

5. مَرَرْتُ بِمُهَنْدِسَةٍ مُجْتَهِدَةٍ = I went through a diligent engineer

مُهَنْدِسَةٍ = indefinite, singular, feminine, genitive case

مُجْتَهِدَةٍ = indefinite, singular, feminine, genitive case