A HOME FOR ANYONE ADDICTED TO ARABIC. 
JOIN ARABIC FOR NERDS➕

Support this site with a membership: For only $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, you can have a true AD-FREE experience. You also get a 15% discount in my shop and a monthly premium newsletter. Find out more here.

SUPPORT THIS SITE

Passion doesn't need money. Unfortunately, my web provider does. Your contribution ensures that this site will grow and grow.

Buy Me A Coffee

PayPal Donate
amazon wishlist button
Free monthly newsletter

Subscribe to my FREE newsletter and get 10% off in my store!

car

السّيارةُ الْجميلُ لونُها – Is there a mistake?

The causative description (na’at sababy نعت سببي) in Arabic is pretty tricky and often misunderstood. Let’s see why.

Last updated: 8 months ago

First of all, to answer our question: No, there isn't a mistake! If you thought that the word الْجَمِيل should be written with a ة, you might have misunderstood the meaning of the sentence.

The second part of the sentence is a so-called causative descrip­tion (نَعْت سَبَبِيّ). The sentence …السيارةُ الجميلُ لونُها means: The car whose color is beautiful. Or: The car with the beautiful color.

Watch out! The sentence doesn't mean: The color of the nice car

Let us make the difference clear:

نَعْت حَقِيقِيّThe successful student.الطَّالِبُ النَّاجِحُ
نَعْت سَبَبِيّThe student whose sister is successful.الطَّالِبُ النَّاجِحةُ أُخْتُهُ

Let us check the different parts of the النَّعْت السَّبَبِيّ.

نَعْت مُؤَنَّثAlthough it is a نَعْت, it doesn't describe what precedes, but what comes after it. The word sister (أُخْت) is the thing being de­scribed (مَوْصُوف) because it is not the (male) student, who is successful.النَّاجِحةُ
فاعِلSubject; the thing which is being described.أُخْتُهُ
In order to understand the exact meaning of the نَعْت سَّبَبِيّ you could rewrite the sen­tence with a  اِسمْ إشارة –>الطَّالِبُ الذي نَجَحَتْ أُخْتُهُ

The rules for the النَّعْت السَّبَبِيّ

  1. The النَّعْت السَّبَبِيّ is always singular and comes before the subject of the sentence (فاعِل) which is a اِسْم مَرْفُوع
  2. It agrees with the preceding اِسْم in: * definite/indefinite form (تَعْريف/تَنْكِير) AND * إِعْراب
  3. It agrees with the following اِسْم – which is the فاعِل – in: * (masculine/feminine) (تَنْكِير/ تَأْنِيث)
  4. The noun after it (فاعِل) takes the pronoun which refers to the first subject in the sentence! Notice: the فاعِل is always مَرْفُوع

Let us have a look at some examples to understand the rules:

The man whose brother is honorable came.جاءَ الرَّجُلُ الْفاضِلُ أَخُوهُ
The man whose two brothers are honorable came.جاءَ الرَّجُلُ الْفاضِلُ أَخَواهُ
Two men whose two brothers are honorable came.جاءَ رَجُلانِ فاضِلٌ أَخَواهُما
The two men whose sisters are honorable came.جاءَ الرَّجُلانِ الْفاضِلةُ أَخَواتُهُما
Ladies whose sisters are honorable came.جاءَتْ سَيِّداتٌ فاضِلةٌ أَخَواتُهُنَّ

A summary:

  • The النَّعْت الْحَقِيقِيّ always comes after the noun which it describes. It follows the noun in gender, negated/not negated, case and singular//.
  • The النَّعْت السَّبَبِيّ always comes before the thing which it de­scribes. It is always singular!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.


Interesting stuff:

picture credit: pixabay (Toby Parsons)

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Previous Article
Names in Arabic

How are family names constructed in Arabic?

Next Article
roots

Which letters can you add to an Arabic root?

Related Posts
taghout
Read More

What is a Taghut?

Taghut or Taghout - Arabic: طاغوت - is a term that is specifically used to denounce everything that is worshiped instead or besides Allah.

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter

Don't miss any updates and get your regular dose of Arabic.