In Lesson 12, we saw ar-rajul uL-kabiir. Where did this "u" come from?
In English, there are three cases:
Subject: I he she we they
Object: me him her us them
Possessive: my his her our their
Arabic has these same three cases. In the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, all the case endings are written on the end of every noun, and they are always pronounced. However, in normal speech, the case endings are dropped. The only evidence of them is when they show up as "ghosts" in "helper vowel" situations with the definite article, as in ar-rajul uL-kabiir.
The fact is, you don't need to memorize and use these case endings correctly to speak Modern Spoken Standard Arabic, since they are not used. However, it is good to glance over them a few times so that you can understand what they are and why the definite article sometimes looks/sounds different.
Here are the three cases:
Subject: -u
Object: -a
Possessive: -i (also called "Genitive")
These vowels are often combined with the usually unpronounced indefinite article -n.
Indefinite case endings:
Subject case: -un
Object case: -an
Genitive case: -in
These attached to nouns in the following ways.
Masculine nouns: The indefinite case endings are attached directly to masculine nouns.
rajul-un A man (subject)
beyt-un A house (subject)
dars-un A lesson (subject)
rajul-an A man (object) [as in, "I hit a man"]
beyt-an A house (object) [as in, "I entered a house"]
dars-an A lesson (object) [as in, "I studied a lesson"]
rajul-in of a man (genitive) [as in, "The strength of a man"]
beyt-in of a house (genitive) [as in, "The size of a house"]
dars-in of a lesson (genitive) [as in, "The subject of a lesson"]
The regular case endings are used when the Definite Article is attached to the front of the noun.
ar- rajul-u The man (subject)
aL-beyt-u The house (subject)
ad-dars-u The lesson (subject)
ar-rajul-a The man (object) [as in, "I hit the man"]
aL-beyt-a The house (object) [as in, "I entered the house"]
ad-dars-a The lesson (object) [as in, "I studied the lesson"]
ar-rajul-i of the man (genitive) [as in, "The strength of the man"]
al-beyt-i of the house (genitive) [as in, "The size of the house"]
ad-dars-i of the lesson (genitive) [as in, "The subject of the lesson"]
The feminine forms of the case endings are almost never heard in Standard Spoken Arabic, since they change the silent "h" at the end of feminine words to a "t" before being added.
madrasa-t-un a grade school (subject)
imra'a-t-un a woman (subject)
sayaara-t-un a car (subject)
madrasa-t-an a grade school (object) [as in "I entered a school"]
imra'a-t-an a woman (object) [as in "I love a woman"]
sayaara-t-an a car (object) [as in "I crashed a car"]
madrasa-t-in of a grade school (genitive) [as in, "a student of a school"]
imra'a-t-in of a woman (genitive) [as in, "the scent of a woman"]
sayaara-t-in of a car (genitive) [as in, "the sound of a car"]
With the definite article, the -n is removed.
aL-madrasa-t-u the grade school (subject)
aL-mar'a-t-u the woman (subject)
as-sayaara-t-u the car (subject)
aL-madrasa-t-a the grade school (object) [as in "I entered the school"]
aL-mar'a-t-a the woman (object) [as in "I love the woman"]
as-sayaara-t-a the car (object) [as in "I crashed the car"]
aL-madrasa-t-i of the grade school (genitive) [as in, "a student of the school"]
aL-mar'a-t-i of the woman (genitive) [as in, "the scent of the woman"]
as-sayaara-t-i of the car (genitive) [as in, "the sound of the car"]
Speaking like this makes you sound like a schoolteacher or someone reciting Bible verses all the time from the King James version.
Oba 1:2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
Oba 1:3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
However, Sheikhs and Imams in Mosques do talk like this in their sermons, especially when reciting the Qur'an or the Hadiith (the sayings of Muhammad).
In English, there are three cases:
Subject: I he she we they
Object: me him her us them
Possessive: my his her our their
Arabic has these same three cases. In the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, all the case endings are written on the end of every noun, and they are always pronounced. However, in normal speech, the case endings are dropped. The only evidence of them is when they show up as "ghosts" in "helper vowel" situations with the definite article, as in ar-rajul uL-kabiir.
The fact is, you don't need to memorize and use these case endings correctly to speak Modern Spoken Standard Arabic, since they are not used. However, it is good to glance over them a few times so that you can understand what they are and why the definite article sometimes looks/sounds different.
Here are the three cases:
Subject: -u
Object: -a
Possessive: -i (also called "Genitive")
These vowels are often combined with the usually unpronounced indefinite article -n.
Indefinite case endings:
Subject case: -un
Object case: -an
Genitive case: -in
These attached to nouns in the following ways.
Masculine nouns: The indefinite case endings are attached directly to masculine nouns.
rajul-un A man (subject)
beyt-un A house (subject)
dars-un A lesson (subject)
rajul-an A man (object) [as in, "I hit a man"]
beyt-an A house (object) [as in, "I entered a house"]
dars-an A lesson (object) [as in, "I studied a lesson"]
rajul-in of a man (genitive) [as in, "The strength of a man"]
beyt-in of a house (genitive) [as in, "The size of a house"]
dars-in of a lesson (genitive) [as in, "The subject of a lesson"]
The regular case endings are used when the Definite Article is attached to the front of the noun.
ar- rajul-u The man (subject)
aL-beyt-u The house (subject)
ad-dars-u The lesson (subject)
ar-rajul-a The man (object) [as in, "I hit the man"]
aL-beyt-a The house (object) [as in, "I entered the house"]
ad-dars-a The lesson (object) [as in, "I studied the lesson"]
ar-rajul-i of the man (genitive) [as in, "The strength of the man"]
al-beyt-i of the house (genitive) [as in, "The size of the house"]
ad-dars-i of the lesson (genitive) [as in, "The subject of the lesson"]
The feminine forms of the case endings are almost never heard in Standard Spoken Arabic, since they change the silent "h" at the end of feminine words to a "t" before being added.
madrasa-t-un a grade school (subject)
imra'a-t-un a woman (subject)
sayaara-t-un a car (subject)
madrasa-t-an a grade school (object) [as in "I entered a school"]
imra'a-t-an a woman (object) [as in "I love a woman"]
sayaara-t-an a car (object) [as in "I crashed a car"]
madrasa-t-in of a grade school (genitive) [as in, "a student of a school"]
imra'a-t-in of a woman (genitive) [as in, "the scent of a woman"]
sayaara-t-in of a car (genitive) [as in, "the sound of a car"]
With the definite article, the -n is removed.
aL-madrasa-t-u the grade school (subject)
aL-mar'a-t-u the woman (subject)
as-sayaara-t-u the car (subject)
aL-madrasa-t-a the grade school (object) [as in "I entered the school"]
aL-mar'a-t-a the woman (object) [as in "I love the woman"]
as-sayaara-t-a the car (object) [as in "I crashed the car"]
aL-madrasa-t-i of the grade school (genitive) [as in, "a student of the school"]
aL-mar'a-t-i of the woman (genitive) [as in, "the scent of the woman"]
as-sayaara-t-i of the car (genitive) [as in, "the sound of the car"]
Speaking like this makes you sound like a schoolteacher or someone reciting Bible verses all the time from the King James version.
Oba 1:2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
Oba 1:3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
However, Sheikhs and Imams in Mosques do talk like this in their sermons, especially when reciting the Qur'an or the Hadiith (the sayings of Muhammad).
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