الإعْراب
al-iʿrāb
Case and mood inflection
The 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.
- الإعْرابُal-iʿrābInflection
- The change of the end of a word on account of the governors that enter upon it, whether that change is uttered or merely intended.
Iʿrāb is the hinge of the whole science. A noun does not carry a case because of what it means but because of what governs it: a verb, a preposition, or the act of beginning a sentence. Change the governor and the ending changes with it.
The four states
- Rafʿ (nominative) — the state of the subject, the mubtadaʾ and its khabar.
- Naṣb (accusative) — the state of the object and the other manṣūbāt.
- Jarr (genitive) — carried by nouns only, after a preposition or by annexation.
- Jazm (jussive) — carried by verbs only.
كَتَبَ زَيْدٌ الدَّرْسَ
Sources
- المقدمة الآجروميةAl-Muqaddima al-Ājurrūmiyya
The primer every student of Nahw begins with; the ḥadd (definition) of each term below is its wording.
- ألفية ابن مالكAlfiyyat Ibn Mālik
In the glossary
Related entries
The noun in the nominative with which a sentence begins, free of any expressed governor.
Read entryThe noun in the nominative that is predicated of the mubtadaʾ, and by which the sense of the sentence is completed.
Read entryThe noun in the nominative whose verb is mentioned before it.
Read entryThe noun in the accusative upon which the action of the verb falls.
Read entry