الفَاعِل
al-fāʿil
The doer (grammatical subject of a verb)
The noun in the nominative whose verb is mentioned before it.
- الفَاعِلُal-fāʿilThe doer
- The noun in rafʿ whose verb is mentioned before it.
Note what the definition does not say: it does not say “the one who performs the action.” The fāʿil is a syntactic office, not a description of who did what. In “Zaydun māta” — Zayd died — Zayd performs nothing, yet he is the fāʿil, because the verb is mentioned before him and he is in rafʿ.
قَامَ زَيْدٌ
Sources
- المقدمة الآجروميةAl-Muqaddima al-Ājurrūmiyya
The primer every student of Nahw begins with; the ḥadd (definition) of each term below is its wording.
- قطر الندى وبلّ الصدىQaṭr al-Nadā wa Ball al-Ṣadā
In the glossary
Related entries
The noun in the accusative upon which the action of the verb falls.
Read entryThe change that comes over the end of a word because of the governor that enters upon it — whether the change is pronounced or only intended.
Read entryThe noun in the nominative with which a sentence begins, free of any expressed governor.
Read entry