Quick Guide: Basic Arabic Nominal Sentences with Definite & Indefinite Nouns

In the previous lesson, we've learned what is definite article (حرف التّعريف or لاَمُ التَّعْرِيْفِ), indefinite noun (اسم نكرة), definite noun (اسم معرفة). We have also learned how to change indefinite noun to definite noun. 

Today, we are going to learn a lesson related to what has been mentioned above, which is nominal sentence (جملة اسميّة).

But, before continuing to study jumlah ismiyyah (جملة اسميّة), let's review the previous lesson on definite noun (اسم معرفة) and indefinite noun (اسم نكرة) focusing specifically on the steps to transform indefinite noun into definite noun.

Review the previous lesson: transformation indefinite noun into definite noun

Pay close attention to the image below.

Now let's focus on today's core lesson, which is nominal sentences.

First of all, be sure to read the Arabic text from the book entitled “durusul lughah” volume 1 chapter 3.

Terms that are used in this lesson

1. اسْمٌ مُفْرَدٌ مُذَكَّرٌ  (ism mufrad mudhakkar): masculine singular noun.

2. اسْمٌ نَكِرَةٌ  (ism nakirah): indefinite noun.

3. اسْمٌ مَعْرِفَةٌ  (ism ma'rifah): definite noun.

4. جُمْلَةٌ اِسْمِيَّةٌ (jumlah ismiyyah): nominal sentence.

5. مُبْتَدَأٌ (mubtada'): the literal translation is “beginning”, but it is similar to the function of subject in English, so we can consider it as subject.

6. خَبَرٌ (khabar): In English, khabar is often translated as the predicate, as it describes the subject.

For ease in conveying the lesson, I will from now on use English terms. If you want to know the Arabic terms, please refer to this section.

Arabic Text from Durusul Lughah Book 1 Chapter 3

Let's read the Arabic text in the book “Durusul lughah” volume 1 chapter 3. Pay close attention to the following text.

Sentence Pattern

Did you notice the pattern?

I'm sure you can find the pattern. Observe the image below.

From the image above, we notice that the sentences:

القَمَرُ جَمِيْلٌ (al-qamaru jamiilun).

• Al-qamaru jamiilun is a sentence. It is a simple and basic sentence.
• This sentence starts with a noun. Therefore, it is called a nominal sentence. 
• The sentence contains two parts, first part is called mubtada' (مُبْتَدَاْ), and second part is called khabar (خَبَرٌ).
• In this case, the mubtada' is "al-qamaru", whereas the khabar is "jamiilun".
• Mubtada (mostly) must be definite (There is a small exception, but we talk about this later).
• There are three types of khabar, they are: mufrad (one single word), phrase (contains two or more words), and sentence.
• In this lesson, we focus on the type of khabar that contains one word.
• If khabar contains one single word, the khabar must be indefinite.
• There’s also an agreement between mubtada' and khabar in terms of gender and number. The khabar matches the subject (or mubtada') in both gender and number. 
• In the sentence above, the mubtada' is masculine singular, so the khabar is also masculine singular.

القَمَرُ means the moon.

جَمِيْلٌ means beautiful.

So, القَمَرُ جِمِيْلٌ means "The moon is beautiful".

Nominal Sentence in Arabic Recap

• Jumlah ismiyyah contains mubtada' and khabar.
• Types of khabar are mufrad (only one word), shib-hul jumlah (phrase), jumlah (sentence).

• In this lesson, we only focus on the first type of khabar, which is mufrad.
• In this type, khabar must be nakirah, whereas mubtada' must be ma'rifah.
• We will study the others in the next lesson.

Reading the Arabic text and translate them

Summary