How To Do TARKEEB: A Few Grammatical Terms Defined

Have a hard time doing tarkeeb of Arabic sentences? This guide aims to, inshAllah, help you with a few grammatical terms used in the tarkeeb process.

Nominal Sentence Parts

جُملَةٌ إِسمِيَّةٌ خَبَرِيَّةٌ [jumlah ismiyyah khabariyyah] “nominal sentence”, which is a sentence starting with a noun. Needs a mubtada’ and khabar.

مُبتَدَأٌ [mubtada’] “subject”. Present in nominal sentences

خَبَرٌ [khabar] “predicate”. Present in nominal sentences

Important Additions

الحَرفُ المُشَبَّهَةُ بِالفِعلِ [harf mushabbahah bil fi’l] “particle that resembles a verb”. They appear before a mubtada’ and khabar, making the mubtada its إِسم [ism] and the khabar its khabar. For example, if the harf mushabbahah bil fi’l is إِنَّ then the mubtada’ would be إِسمُ إِنَّ [ismu inna] “noun of inna” and the khabar would be خَبَرُ إِنَّ [khabaru inna] “predicate of inna”.

مُتَعَلِّقٌ [muta’alliq] meaning “attached” or “connected”. The prepositional phrase is always attached (i.e. muta’alliq) to a fi’l (بِالفِعل), khabar (or mahzoof khabar), ism masdar, ism maf’ool, ism faa’il, or ism tafdheel.

حَرفُ جَرٍّ [harf jarr] “preposition” which is followed by the noun it enters upon called the مَجرُورٌ [majroor]. Together they are a prepositional phrase and always muta’aliq to something.

قَائِم مقَام خَبَر [qaa’im maqaam khabar] “substitute khabar”. In the absence of a khabar, the prepositional phrase becomes qaa’im maqaam khabar.

مَعطُوفٌ عَلَيهِ [ma’toof ‘alayh] is a mabtoo’, essentially meaning the word(s) preceeding the harf ‘ataf that link to it.

حَرفُ عَطفٍ [harf ‘ataf] “particle of conjunction”. Connects two words, or two group of words, together – the first of the two is called ma’toof ‘alayh and the second ma’toof.

مَعطُوفٌ [ma’toof] is a taa’bi, essentially meaning the word(s) following the harf ‘ataf that link to it.

جُملَة مَعطُوفَة [jumlah ma’toofah] “ma’toofah sentence”. Formed with ma’toof ‘alayh, harf ‘ataf, and ma’toof.

ظَرفٌ [zarf] “adverb”. A zarf can be of زَمَان [zamaan] “time” or مَكَان [makaan] “place”. Zarf in a jumlah fi’liyyah (verbal sentence) is maf’ool feehi and in a jumlah ismiyyah is khabr. If a zarf is followed by a noun, then the zarf is mudhaaf and the noun after it is mudhaaf ilayh.

Phrases & Such

مُضَافٌ [mudhaaf] and مُضَافٌ إِلَيهِ [mudhaaf ilayh] together form مُرَكَّبُ إِضَافِيُّ [murakkab idhaafiyy] “possessive phrase”. Always, the mudhaaf comes first and the mudhaaf ilayh comes second.

مَوصُوفٌ [mawsoof] means “the object being described” and صِفَةٌ [sifah] means “adjective” or “describing word”. Together they form مُرَكَّبُ تَوصِيفِيُّ [murakkab tawseefiyy] “descriptive phrase”. The mawsoof comes first and then the sifah.

إِسمٌ مَوصُولٌ [ism mawsool] “relative pronoun”, whose meaning/purpose is understood through the sentence which comes after it, called the صِلَةٌ [silah].

Reference:

Tasheel un-Nahw by Mawlana Mushtaq Ahmad Charthawali.

If you have any questions or spot any mistakes, please do let me know by leaving a comment below or here through my website. I’d really appreciate it. Thank you!