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A comprehensive guide to واو الحال and مفعول معه
The و does not always mean “and”. It can also work as واو الحال or مفعول معه. Such constructions are tricky because we need different words in English.
There are situations when وَ does not express and, but when, with or while. Such constructions with وَ are often difficult to translate as we need different words in English.
But when does this happen?
When وَ does not mean “and”
There are two situations when this happens:
- The وَ is a واوُ الْحالِ (Waw al-Hal) and part of a circumstantial description.
- The وَ is part of a مَفْعُولٌ مَعَهُ (Mafoul mahu), i.e., an object of accompaniment.
Let’s check them both now.
The وَ is a واو الحال
First, I assume you know what a الحال is. If you’re not familiar with this concept, you can learn more about it here.
How to tell adjectives and حال apart
The adjective and Hal are often confused and mistranslated in Arabic. Checking whether the targeted word is definite or not will help.
Now let’s move on and check an example of a واو الحال:
سافَرَ زَيْدٌ وَهُوَ طالِبٌ فِي كُلِيّةِ الطِّبِّ إِلَى مِصْرَ
Zayd traveled to Egypt when he was a student in the Faculty of medicine.
Note: This sentence does not mean: Zayd, who is a student in the faculty of medicine, traveled to Egypt.
If you want to express that, you should use dashes (…- سافَرَ زَيْدٌ – وَهُوَ طالِبٌ).
Some more examples.
.جاءَ الطِّفْلُ وَهُوَ يَبْكِي
The child came crying.
.تَخَرَّجْتُ فِي الْجامِعةِ وَأنا فِي الثّانِيةِ وَالْعِشْرِينَ مِنْ عُمْرِي
I graduated from university when I was 22 years old.
The وَ is part of the مفعول معه
The مَفْعُولٌ مَعَهُ is often confused. Let’s start with a simple example to explain the concept.
.سِرْتُ وَالنَّهْرَ
I walked along the river.
اِسْتَيْقَظْتُ وَأذانَ الْفَجْرِ
I woke up with (at the same time of) the call to prayer.
A Wāw of accompaniment (واو المَعِيّة) can’t share the action with what’s before it. Watch out: Don’t mix it up with the Waw al-Hal!
We know that in our example, the وَ introduces an object which the subject (in our example: I) is doing actions next to. Hence, we call it an object in connection with which something is done (مَفْعُول مَعَهُ).
Nevertheless, the most common application of وَ is to convey the meaning of and (واو الْعطْف). Even if you don’t understand the words in a sentence, you can get closer to the meaning by looking at the cases.
| 1 | مَفْعُول مَعَهُ | I walked with Zayd. | سِرْتُ وَزَيْدًا |
| 2 | مَعْطُوف | I and Zayd walked. | سِرْتُ وَزَيْدٌ |
In the book Arabic for Nerds 2, I cover this topic in detail.
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If you want to dig deeper regarding the fineness of the مفعول معه, the following article might be a good start:
How a wrong case marker in Sura 9:3 can lead to blasphemy
The correct vowel endings ضمة, كسرة, فتحة in Arabic can be a headache. If you are careless, you could turn verse 9:3 of the Qur'an into blasphemy (kufr).
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Thank you, Gerald. The content is amazing, and I cited it in my dissertation.
Thanks a lot for your kind words! I appreciate it.
shouldn’t it be sirtu and saara?
.سارَ وَالنَّهْرَ
Yes, that was a typo. Thanks!! I have corrected it.
Is this post in arabic for nerds 2