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How to Say You Did Something “Once” in Arabic: A Guide to the Noun of Frequency – اسم المرة
Arabic has an elegant way to express how often an action occurs using the “noun of frequency” (اسم المرة), or فَعْلة. This article differentiates between the general absolute object (مَفْعُولٌ مُطْلَقٌ) and the specific noun of frequency, which denotes an action done a certain number of times (e.g., “jumped once” vs. “jumped generally”).
Arabic offers a nuanced and elegant way to express how often someone has done something, distinguishing between an action performed generally and one done a specific number of times.
This article delves into the difference between using the absolute object (مَفْعُولٌ مُطْلَقٌ) for general actions and the special form, اسم المرة (ism al-marra), or noun of frequency, to explicitly denote an action performed once or a certain number of times.
Let’s take a look at these two sentences:
- قَفَزَ اللّاعِبُ قَفْزًا
- قَفَزَ اللّاعِبُ قَفْزَةً
What is the difference?
The first two words are the same and mean the player jumped. So, what about the object? Foremost, both sentences are correct, but the meaning is slightly different.
In Arabic, there is a way to emphasize if a person has done…
- Something in general (الْمَفْعُول الْمُطْلَق): قَفَزَ اللّاعِبُ قَفْزًا = the player jumped
- Something only once or a certain number of times: قَفَزَ اللّاعِبُ قَفْزَةً = the player jumped once
Examples of the اسم المرة
| I ate in this restaurant. (once; exactly one time) | أَكَلْتُ فِي هٰذا الْمَطْعَمِ أَكْلَةً |
| I ate in this restaurant. (unknown how often) | أَكَلْتُ فِي هٰذا الْمَطْعَمِ أَكْلاً |
| I ate in this restaurant three times. | أَكَلْتُ فِي هٰذا الْمَطْعَمِ ثَلاثَ أَكَلْاتٍ |
| The child smiled (one time only). | اِبْتَسِمَ الطِّفْلُ اِبْتِسامةً |
| The child smiled (unknown how often). | اِبْتَسِمَ الطِّفْلُ اِبْتِسامًا |
If you use the regular مَصْدَر after a verb to emphasize an action, it means you are saying something in general or that you don’t know how often the action was being done. Such forms do emphasize the action and are called absolute object (مَفْعُولٌ مُطْلَقٌ).
➤ In Arabic, however, there is a special form to emphasize the amount of times an action was being done.
The form فَعْلة is called اِسْم الْمَرّة (ism al-marra; noun of frequency or occurrence) and is a form of a مَصْدَر. You can recognize this form easily: It is the مَصْدَر plus a ة. The plural is built by the usual pattern for feminine nouns: ات. Since it has to be the object of a sentence, it has to be مَنْصُوب.
You will find more examples and tricky situations in the book Arabic for Nerds. Notice that there are many types of masdar forms as well that are a great and handy tool to express certain ideas nicely.
The Masdar Sina’i – مصدر صناعي: A Simple Guide to Arabic Abstract Nouns
This article explains the formation and importance of artificial infinitive nouns (مَصْدَرٌ صِناعِيٌّ) in Arabic. These nouns, often built from Nisba nouns, are crucial for expressing abstract concepts in modern Arabic.
The Masdar Mimy (مَصْدَرٌ مِيمِيٌّ) vs. the Original Masdar (مَصْدَرٌ أصْلِيٌّ) in Arabic: A Guide to Arabic Verbal Nouns
Arabic dictionaries often list multiple words for the same English term. This article differentiates between the Masdar Mimy (مَصْدَرٌ مِيمِيٌّ) and Masdar Asly (مَصْدَرٌ أصْلِيٌّ), showing their forms and subtle meaning differences.
Understanding the Interpreted Infinitive (الْمَصْدَر الْمُؤَوَّل) in Arabic Grammar
The Arabic verbal noun often appears as الْمَصْدَر الْمُؤَوَّل (interpreted infinitive), formed by أَنْ or ما followed by a verb. This article clarifies how it achieves the same meaning as the explicit Masdar (e.g., أُريدُ أَنْ أذْهَبَ vs. أُريدُ الذَّهابَ), and notes the verb's accusative mood.
Wanna cite this article?
Drißner, G. (2016, April 2). How to Say You Did Something “Once” in Arabic: A Guide to the Noun of Frequency – اسم المرة. Arabic for Nerds. https://arabic-for-nerds.com/grammar/ism-marra-arabic/
Published: April 2, 2016
Please check the citation before use, especially if your style guide has local requirements.
Publication ISSN: 3055-1730
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