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مبتدا خبر (Mubtada khabar)

In موصوف/صفة (Mawsoof-siffah), one of the examples was اَلْرَجُلُ اَلْطَوِيْلُ ("the tall man"). موصوف/صفة like this can be turned into a complete sentence by changing this to اَلْرَجُلُ طَوِيْلٌ, which means "the man is tall" (it's just the second word that's been changed to nakirah).

Note

There is no word for "is" in Arabic. But when translating into English, sometimes we need to add "is".

Here's another example: قَمْرٌ عَظِيْمٌ ("a mighty castle"). We can turn this into اَلْقَمْرُ عَظِيْمٌ ("the castle is mighty").

A couple of points:

  • In the example اَلْرَجُلُ طَوِيْلٌ, the word اَلْرَجُلُ is called the مٌبْتَدَا (mubtada), or the subject.
  • In the example اَلْرَجُلُ طَوِيْلٌ, the word طَوِيْلٌ is called the خَبَر (khabar), or the predicate.
  • The mubtada and khabar only correspond (i.e. match) in gender and number
  • The mubtada is marifah
  • The khabar is nakirah ~90% of the time
    • TODO-when isn't it?
  • The mutada and khabar are generally in the state of rafa
  • Mubtada khabar is a jumla ismiyyah, or a sentence that starts with an اسم.

اِنَّ وَاَخَوَاتِهَا

The following words can be prepended to a mubtada khabar:

  • اِنَّ - "indeed"
  • اَنَّ - "that"
  • لٰكِنَّ - "however/but"
  • لَيْتَ - "if only/I wish"
  • كَأَنَّ - "as if"
  • لّعَّلَ - "perhaps"

Note

These words are known as اِنَّ وَاَخَوَاتِهَا ("اِنَّ and it's sisters") or الحُرٌوْفُ المٌشَّبَهَةُ بِالفِعْلِ ("particles that are given resemblance to a verb")

When these words are prepended to a mubtada khabar, the mubtada gets a fatha at the end (i.e. the mubtada becomes nasab).

For example, we could change اَلْرَجُلُ طَوِيْلٌ to اِنَّ اَلْرَجُلَ طَوِيْلٌ ("indeed the man is tall")

Note

In this example, if we wanted to add even more emphasis, we could say اِنَّ اَلْرَجُلَ لَطَوِيْلٌ (where a ل has been added) "most certainly the man is tall".

كَانَ وَاَخَوَاتِهَا

The following words can also be prepended to a mubtada khabar:

TODO

  • كَانَ - "was"
  • صَارَ - "became"
  • اَصْبَحَ - "happen in the morning / became"
  • اَمْسٰى - "happen in the evening / became"
  • اَضْحٰى - "happen at midmorning / became"
  • ظَلَّ - "happen during the day / became"
  • بَاتَ - "happen during the night / became"
  • مَا دَامَ - "as long as"
  • مَا زَالَ - "always/continuously"
  • مَا بَرِحَ - "always/continuously"
  • مَا فَتِئَ - "always/continuously"
  • مَا اَنْفَكَّ - "always/continuously"
  • لَيْسَ - "no/not"

Note

These words are known as كَانَ وَاَخَوَاتِهَا ("كَانَ and it's sisters") or اَلفعال الناقصة ("incomplete verbs")

When these words are prepended to a mubtada khabar, the khabar becomes nasab.

For example, we could change اَلْرَجُلُ طَوِيْلٌ to كَانَ اَلْرَجُلُ طَوِيْلً ("the man was tall")

TODO - كان الرجل طويل (I think)

TODO - and other rules/things (like switching of order)