What is a مصدر مؤول in Arabic?

In this article, we delve into Arabic grammar and a common misconception among learners, which has to do with the verbal noun (infinitive). Let’s start with a question:

أُريدُ أَنْ أذْهَبَ and أُريدُ الذَّهابَ – Do they both mean the same?

Yes, both sentences mean the same: I want to go.

The word ذِهابٌ is the مَصْدَر of ذَهَبَ.

You can build the الْمَصْدَر الْمُؤَوَّل by using the particles أَنْ or ما. They are a so called حَرْف مَصْدَرِيّ. Let us take a look at it:

Watch out: The verb in the sentence above has a فَتْحة at the end, as it is preceded by أَنْ.

Therefore, the verb has to be مَنْصُوب.

Did you know? There are many other masdar forms in Arabic. You can denote the number of times an action is done or express certain actions.

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