Definitions
Grammatical Cases in Arabic
Arabic has three
grammatical cases:
Names of Arabic/Semitic Grammatical Cases
|
||
Western
Name
|
Arabic
Name
|
|
Nominative
|
'ar-raf"(u)
|
الرَّفْعُ
|
= the
raising
|
||
Accusative
|
'an-nasb(u)
|
النَّصْبُ
|
= the
erecting
|
||
Genitive
|
'al-jarr(u)
|
الْجَرُّ
|
= the
dragging
|
||
The same three cases also existed in Akkadian,
the oldest attested Semitic language, and which was spoken in Mesopotamia/Iraq from the
3rd to the 1st millennium BCE.
Those three cases have more utilizations than what the western names indicate, here are the different uses that I could gather for each of the Arabic cases:
Equivalent Cases
|
Arabic/Semitic Case
|
Nominative
|
الرَّفْعُ
'ar-raf"(u)
|
Accusative
Dative
Essive
Locative
Temporal
Partitive
Cognate
Accusative
Final
Comitative
Perlative
Vocative
|
النَّصْبُ
'an-nasb(u)
|
Genitive
Ablative
|
الْجَرُّ
'al-jarr(u)
|
Now to what each case means:
►Nominative:
the case of a noun or pronoun that is
functioning as the subject of a clause or sentence. Other words such as
adjectives may have a nominative case in agreement with a noun.
e.g. the man went to his work.
►Accusative
(Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ بِهِ ): the case that identifies the direct object of a verb, or certain other
grammatical parts.
e.g. the man bought a car.
►Dative
(Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ
بِهِ الثَّاْنِيْ ): the case that indicates the
indirect object of a verb.
e.g. the man gave his daughter a pen.
►Essive
(Arabic
الْحَاْلُ ):
a case that expresses the temporary state
of the referent specified by a noun. It means
"while," or "in the capacity of."
e.g. the
man walked while laughing.
►Locative (Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ فِيْهِ ، ظَرْفُ الْمَكَاْنِ
): a case that indicates a
location. It corresponds to the English prepositions "in," "on,"
"at," and "by." In Arabic, it is only used with place expressions, such
as "front" or "back."
e.g.
the man stood
in front of the door.
►Temporal (Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ فِيْهِ ، ظَرْفُ الزَّمَاْنِ
):
a case that indicates a
time. It corresponds to the English
prepositions "in," "on," "at," and "by." In Arabic, it is only used with
time expressions, such as "morning" or "evening."
e.g.
the man works
in the morning.
►Partitive
(Arabic
التَّمْيِيْزُ
): a case that indicates "partialness," "without
result," or "without specific identity."
e.g.
thirteen men
came.
►Cognate
Accusative
(Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ
الْمُطْلَقُ): a
case that identifies the object of an
intransitive verb; with the object having the same
root as the verb.
e.g.
the man slept a
troubled sleep.
►Final (Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ لأَِجْلِهِ ): a
case that indicates a final
cause of an action.
e.g.
the man prays
because of hope of salvation.
►Comitative (Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ مَعَهُ ):
a case that indicates
companionship. It corresponds to the English
preposition "with."
e.g.
the man went
with his friend.
►Perlative (Arabic
الْمَفْعُوْلُ مَعَهُ ):
in Arabic, it indicates a
movement along the referent of the noun that
is marked.
e.g.
the man walked
along the beach.
►Vocative
(Arabic
الْمُنَاْدَىْ ):
a case that indicates that somebody or something is being directly
addressed by the speaker. In Julius Caesar’s dying words “et tu, Brute,”
“Brute” is the vocative form of the name “Brutus.”
e.g.
Mary, are you O.K.?
►Ablative:
the case that indicates the
source, agent, or instrument of action of the verb. It indicates the
object of most common prepositions.
e.g.
the man came late
from his work.
►Genitive (Arabic
الْمُضَاْفُ إِلَيْهِ ):
a case that indicates
possession.
e.g.
a man's friend must be there for him.
►Indicative:
the mood used for factual statements
and positive beliefs.
e.g.
the man goes to his work.
►Subjunctive:
a mood used for hypothetical or
unlikely events, expressing opinions, or making suggestions.
e.g.
if I were him, I wouldn't go
there.
►Jussive:
a mood that expresses plea, insistence,
desire, intent, command, purpose or consequence.
►Energetic:
a mood that expresses something which
the speaker wishes to emphasize.
►Imperative:
the mood that expresses a direct command or a
request.
e.g.
come here!
