Verb of wonder in Arabic - Durusul lughah book 2 - lesson 9

Today we are going to learn فِعْلُ التَّعَجُّب (fi'l ta'ajjub) or verb of wonder.

Verb of wonder in Arabic (fi'l ta'ajjub)

In daily life, we often express a wonder or amazement, such as "How beautiful you are!", "What a beautiful house this is!", etc.

At chapter 9, Durus al-lughah al-'arabiyyah volume 2, this expression can be uttered by using one of the several patterns, the pattern that is explained in this chapter is =>

 مَا أَفْعَلَ + اسم منصوب

Let's observe the picture, study the example and do the exercise below.

1. هَذَا الرَّجُلُ طَوِيْلٌ 

the meaning: This man is tall.

طَوِيْلٌ means tall. It's an adjective.

How to express "how tall are you!" in Arabic?

You can follow the pattern: مَا أَفْعَلَ then ism mansuub (accusative noun).

So, "how tall are you!" in Arabic is =>  مَا أَطْوَلَ هَذَا الرّجُلَ

sentence analysis

مَا أَطْوَلَ هَذَا الرّجُلَ

 مَا : maa ta'ajjubiyyah, it is acted as mubtada'.

أَطْوَلَ : fi'l madhi, it follows the wazan (pattern) أَفْعَلَ to show the ta'ajjub (amazement or wonder). This fi'il plus damir mustatir (hidden pronoun) is acted as khabar.

هَذَا : ism ishaarah, it is acted as an object of أَطْوَلَ or  maf'uul bih

 الرّجُلَ : badal of maf'uul bih, manshuub.

Summary : This sentence is jumlah ismiyyah which contains mubtada' and khabar. the mubtada is مَا whereas the khabar is jumlah fi'liyyah which contains fi'l + faa'il + maf'uul bih

2. هَذَا البَيْتُ كَبِيْرٌ 

the meaning : This house is big.

By following the pattern above, we can say "how big the house is!" in Arabic => مَا أَكْبَرَ هَذَا البَيْتَ

3. هَذِهِ السَّيَّارَةُ جَمِيْلَةٌ

the meaning : This car is beautiful.

"How beautiful this car is!" in Arabic => مَا أَجْمَلَ هَذِهِ السَّيَّارَةَ

Exercises

Answer the questions in the picture below.

Answers

1. مَا أَبْرَدَ هَذَا المَاءَ

How cold this water is!

2. مَا أَجْمَلَ النُّجُومَ

How beautiful the stars are!

3. مَا أَرْخَصَ هَذَا القَلَمَ

How cheap this pen is!

4. مَا أَصْهَلَ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ

How easy the Arabic language is!

5. مَا أَكْثَرَ النُّجُومَ

How plentiful the stars!

6. مَا أَحْسَنَ اللَّبَنَ 

How good the milk!

7. مَا أَسْرَعَ هَذِهِ السَّيَّارَةَ

How fast this car is!

8. مَا أَجْمَلَ القَمَرَ

How beautiful the moon is!

9. مَا أَوْسَخَ هَذَا القَمِيصَ

How dirty this shirt is!


10. مَا أَنْظَفَ هَذَا الفَصْلَ 

How clean this class is!