Chapter 1.2 Part 1
The Ism, The Phrase, and The Sentence - Their usage within the 22 Places
٢ - وَلَدُ آزَرَ
وَ كَانَ آزَرُ لَهُ وَلَدٌ رَشِيْدٌ ، رَشِيْدٌ جِدًّا.
وَ كَانَ اسْمُ هٰذَا الْوَلَدِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ.
وَ كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ يَرَى النَّاسَ يَسْجُدُوْنَ لِلْأَصْنَامِ.
وَلَدُ آزَرَ
The word وَلَدُ can mean both 'boy', and 'son'. The heading is a مضاف مضاف إليه.
For the eagle eyed student, alarm bells might be going off at this point. We said that the heading is مضاف مضاف إليه, and yet آزَرَ ends in a fathah, despite the fact that مضاف إليه must be in جرّ...
This is not a typo, and will be resolved in future lessons inshaa Allah.
The literal translation would be, "And Azar, for him was an intelligent son, very intelligent." The past meaning, "was", is coming from the كَانَ. If we removed the كَانَ, the translation would be, "And Azar, for him is an intelligent boy, very intelligent".
To make the translation flow and be less awkward in English, we take the, "for him was", and translate it as "had". This is not the same "had" that we get when we combine كَانَ with a ماضي, as that is for distant past. The "had" here takes the sentence, "And Azar, for him is an intelligent boy, very intelligent", and moves it to the past. It also indicates posession, which reflects the meaning of the preposition لِ.
We can also take the literal translation of the sentence without كَانَ, "And Azar, for him is an intelligent boy, very intelligent", and also make that less awkward and instead translate it as, "And Azar has an intelligent boy, very intelligent." The "has" here, makes the meaning in the present, and also indicates on posessions.
This is an example where translating word for word isn't always the best solution. It's common to do this in the beginning when first learning a new language, but as you get more comfortable with the language, and more skilled, thought should be given into making the most eloquent, most flowing translation, without doing disservice to the original meaning intended.
Another كَانَ sentence, so we look for our 3 major portions. The فعل ناقص is كَانَ, and إِبْرَاهِيْمُ is in رفع and is not connected to anything else so we label that as our اسم كان. Only the خبر كان is left which we know will be منصوب. The only thing منصوب here is the word النَّاسَ, so we label that as our خبر كان...
... Or do we? Let's take a closer look at the sentence. Notice the verb يَرَى. This is a different type of verb than you are used to; it does not rhyme with any of the verb patterns you currently know. We will study it later inshaa Allah, but know that it is the مضارع of the ماضي verb رَأَى((to see)). And the act of seeing, requires an object. You see something. Here Ibraheem is seeing the people. Therefore, النَّاسَ here is actually not in نصب because it is خبر كان, but instead because it is the مفعول به of يَرَى
Looking at the rest of the sentence, there is nothing else in the state of نصب, so where is our خبر كان?
There is a lot to unpack here, so we will take things slow. First, recall what we mean by the 22 places. Words, specifically Isms, can be used in many different ways. In, "Zaid hit Amr", Zaid is the فاعل, in "Amr hit Zaid", he is the مفعول به, in "Zaid is tall", he is مبتدأ, and so on. There are a total of 22 different ways an اسم can be used. You have been given 15 of these 22 in previous lessons, as well as the grammatical state each one is associated with.
In this lesson, we add to your understanding and tell you that these 22 places don't need to be occupied by just Isms. They can also be occupied by phrases, and sometimes even sentences. أَكَلَ زَيْدٌ تُفَّاحَةً((Zaid ate an apple)), here تُفَّاحَةً is an example of a single اسم coming as مفعول به. We can add an adjective and say, أَكَلَ زَيْدٌ تُفَّاحَةً لَذِيْذَةً, Zaid ate a delicious apple. In this example, the موصوف صفة phrase, تُفَّاحَةً لَذِيْذَةً is coming as the مفعول به. Or we can use a مضاف مضاف إليه example and say أَكَلَ زَيْدٌ تُفَّاحَةَ مُحَمَّدٍ((Zaid ate Muhammad's apple)) where تُفَّاحَةَ مُحَمَّدٍ is the مفعول به.
In addition to single Isms and phrases, sentences can also occupy some (not all) of the 22 places. We've already seen an example of this in زَيْدٌ ذَهَبَ, where زَيْدٌ was مبتدأ and ذَهَبَ is a جملة فعلية coming as خبر. So, what is the purpose of saying all this? The answer is that the type of structure occupying a slot will determine whether or not the structure will relect the grammatical state of the slot it is occupying. Let's take a look at the four possible scenarios:
The Single اسم
In this case, it is very straightforward. The singular اسم will reflect what slot it occupies. أَكَلَ زَيْدٌ تُفَّاحَةً. Zaid is a single اسم, and it reflects the grammatical state it is in, رفع, due to it being the فاعل. Next we have تُفَّاحَةً, also a single اسم and therefore it reflects it's منصوب state with a Fathah since it is مفعول به.
The Extension Phrase
A phrase is two or more words which come together to convey a beneficial meaning upon which silence is not appropriate. There are two types of phrases: Extension Phrases, and Non-Extension Phrases. All phrases will reflect the grammatical position of the slot they occupy,
Extension phrases are where the second part of the phrase extend the first part such that they match the qualities of the اسم that they are extending, (number, gender, definiteness, state). Your mind will automatically be drawn to the موصوف صفة phrase, and that is an example of an extension phrase. Currently, it is the only extension phrase you know.
Therefore, both parts of the phrase will match in grammatical state and will therefore reflect the grammatical state they are in. زَيْدٌ رَجُلٌ طَوِيْلٌ((Zaid is a tall man)). أَنَا is a single اسم, and is مرفوع because it is مبتدأ. The phrase رَجُلٌ طَوِيْلٌ is a موصوف صفة which is coming as the خبر. Since it is an extension phrase, both parts will reflect the نصب ending; the رَجُلٌ because of مفعول به, and the طَوِيْلٌ because it is extending from رَجُلٌ due to being its صفة.
The Non-Extension Phrase
Non extension phrases are where some or all portions of a phrase have fixed grammatical states, or have no state. And therefore, those portions of the phrase will not reflect at all the grammatical state of the slot they are occupying. The two other phrases we know, the possessive phrase and the prepositional phrase are both example of non-extension phrases.
In the ضاف مضاف إليه, the مضاف إليه is always in the state of جرّ, so whatever slot the possessive phrase is occupying, the مضاف إليه will always be in جرّ. The مضاف on the other hand is free to be in any state, and so it will reflect the slot it is occupying.
For the جارّ مجرور phrase, the حرف جرّ is a حرف, and so the question of grammatical states doesn't even arise, as Harfs don't experience grammatical states. As for the object of the preposition, the clue is in the name, مجرور; the object of the preposition will be fixed in جرّ and never change. As a result, both portions of a جارّ مجرور phrase are fixed on their endings and will never change.
Let's look at the following example: قَرَأَتْ أُمُّ زَيْدٍ كِتَابَ ﷲِ لِوَلَدِ زَيْدٍ((Zaid's mother recited the book of Allah to Zaid's son)). Try to analyse it on your own before reading on.
Here we have a جملة فعلية with 4 phrases, 3 مضاف مضاف إليه and 1 جارّ مجرور. The first مضاف مضاف إليه is أُمُّ زَيْدٍ, which is the فاعل for قَرَأَتْ. Notice the Dammah ending on أُمُّ while زَيْدٍ is جرّ because of مضاف إليه, despite both of them together being the فاعل; only أُمُّ reflects the فاعل ending. Next we have كِتَابَ ﷲِ, another possessive phrase. This time, the phrase is coming as a مفعول به, and so we see the Fathah ending on كِتَابَ. The word Allah is again fixed on جرّ because of مضاف إليه.
We then have a متعلّق which consists of a جارّ مجرور. The لِ is the حرف جرّ and so its ending is fixed (and has no connection with state), and the مجرور portion is the مضاف مضاف إليه phrase وَلَدِ زَيْدٍ. Here the وَلَدِ is reflecting the جرّ state (because it is the object of the لِ preposition), while زَيْدٍ is in جرّ because of مضاف إليه.
Why do you think Huroof (حُرُوْف the plural of حرف) don't experience grammatical states like أَسْمَاء (the plural of اسم) do?
The Sentence
Finally we have the sentence. Unlike the previous 3, a sentence can only occupy some of the 22 places, not all. You will be exposed to which are allowed as we move through the book.
In the case of a sentence, it is quite simple in that the sentence will not care what slot it is. No word inside in the sentence will reflect any grammatical state in consideration of the slot it is occupying. The reason for this is because the sentence is its own fully fledged entity, that needs to take into account its own grammar. Take a look at current sentence we are studying in Qasas:
وَ كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ يَرَى النَّاسَ يَسْجُدُوْنَ لِلْأَصْنَامِIn this line, يَرَى النَّاسَ يَسْجُدُوْنَ لِلْأَصْنَامِ is a full sentence. It literally means, "he sees the people prostrating to the idols". This full sentence is coming as مفعول به which we know is in the state of نصب. Now if we insist on having the sentence reflect that change with a Fathah, where would we put it? There is nowhere we could reflect the change without butchering the grammar of the sentence itself. And its for that reason that the words in a sentence will remain unaffected by the slot the sentence itself occupies, and will instead be focused on their own role within the sentence.
We still have one other concept to cover before we can fully analyse this sentence. And we will pick that up next lesson.
Summary
- كان is a verb whose primary objective is to take whatever it enters upon into the past.
- When translating, we try to translate in a manner that sounds and flows the best, without doing disservice to the original meaning. This can often mean not doing word for word translations. كَانَ لَهُ word for word means, "for him was", which we can simplify to, "he had". Similary "for him is" can be translated to, "he has".
- A singular Ism or a phrase can occupy any of the 22 slots. A sentence can occupy some of the 22 places.
- A singular Ism will reflect the grammatical state of the slot it occupies e.g. فَتَحَ زَيْدٌ الْبَابَ((Zaid opened the door)). The single Ism زَيْدٌ is مرفوع and reflects that with the Dammah ending because it is فاعل, and the single Ism الْبَابَ is منصوب because of مفعول به and it reflects that with the Fathah ending.
- A phrase is either an extension phrase or a non-extension phrase. All portions of the extension phrase will reflect the grammatical state of the slot they are in. For non-extension phrases, only the part which does not have a fixed state and can experience state will reflect the ending of the slot. قَرَأَتْ أُمُّ زَيْدٍ كِتَابَ ﷲِ لِوَلَدِ زَيْدٍ لَيْلًا مُتَأَخِّرًا((Zaid's mother recited the book of Allah to Zaid's son late at night))
- The sentence has to worry about its own grammar, and so no word inside the sentence will reflect the grammar of the slot the sentence occupies.