المَفْعُول به

al-mafʿūl bihi

The direct object

The noun in the accusative upon which the action of the verb falls.

المَفْعُولُ بِهِal-mafʿūl bihiDirect object: The noun in naṣb upon which the action falls.; Al-Ājurrūmiyya, the chapter on the manṣūbāt.

The mafʿūl bihi is the first of the manṣūbāt a student meets, and the clearest demonstration of ʿamal — governance. The transitive verb reaches past its fāʿil and puts the next noun into naṣb.

قَرَأَ الطَّالِبُ الكِتَابَ

“The student read the book.” Al-ṭālibu is the fāʿil in rafʿ; al-kitāba is the mafʿūl bihi in naṣb, its sign being the fatḥa.

A verb may take two objects (aʿṭaytu Zaydan dirhaman — I gave Zayd a dirham), and the object may precede the verb for emphasis or for restriction — a matter of Balagha as much as of Nahw.

Sources

المقدمة الآجروميةAl-Muqaddima al-ĀjurrūmiyyaIbn Ājurrūm (d. 723 AH)
The primer every student of Nahw begins with; the ḥadd (definition) of each term below is its wording.
ألفية ابن مالكAlfiyyat Ibn MālikIbn Mālik (d. 672 AH)

In the glossary

المَفْعُولُ بِهThe direct object

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