Case Endings in Arabic

So far this course has left the last vowel off. In careful Standard Arabic, though, most nouns end in a case ending that shows their role in the sentence: ⁨الْكِتَابُ⁩, ⁨الْكِتَابَ⁩ and ⁨الْكِتَابِ⁩ are the same word, "the book", in three different roles.

The Three Cases

Arabic has three cases: the nominative, the accusative and the genitive. With ⁨ال⁩, or as the first noun of an idafa, a noun takes a single short vowel. Without ⁨ال⁩ it takes tanween: a doubled vowel pronounced with an n. The accusative tanween is written with an extra alif, as in ⁨كِتَابًا⁩, except after ⁨ة⁩: ⁨سَيَّارَةً⁩.

When Each Case Is Used

The Dual and the Sound Plurals

The dual and the masculine sound plural show the case in a longer ending, with one form for the nominative and one for both the accusative and the genitive. In an idafa they drop the ⁨ن⁩: ⁨مُعَلِّمُو الْمَدْرَسَةِ⁩ (the school's teachers). The feminine sound plural takes ⁨ـُ⁩ in the nominative and ⁨ـِ⁩ in both the accusative and the genitive, never ⁨ـَ⁩.

Diptotes (⁨مَمْنُوع مِنَ الصَّرْف⁩)

Some nouns, called diptotes, never take tanween, and without ⁨ال⁩ they use fatha for the genitive too. They include many names, like ⁨أَحْمَدُ⁩, ⁨فَاطِمَةُ⁩ and ⁨مَكَّةُ⁩ (but not ⁨مُحَمَّدٌ⁩), words on the pattern ⁨أَفْعَل⁩, like ⁨أَحْمَرُ⁩ (red), many words ending in ⁨ـَاءُ⁩, like ⁨أَصْدِقَاءُ⁩ (friends), and plurals like ⁨مَدَارِسُ⁩ and ⁨مَفَاتِيحُ⁩.

With ⁨ال⁩, or as the first noun of an idafa, a diptote takes kasra in the genitive like any other noun: ⁨فِي الْمَدَارِسِ⁩, ⁨فِي مَدَارِسِ الْمَدِينَةِ⁩.

The Pausal Form (⁨الْوَقْف⁩)

At the end of a sentence, or wherever the speaker pauses, the short ending is dropped: ⁨كِتَابٌ⁩ is read kitāb, ⁨ـًا⁩ is read ā, and ⁨ة⁩ is read as a: ⁨سَيَّارَةٌ⁩ is sayyāra. Inside the sentence careful speakers pronounce the endings.

That is why the rest of this course leaves the endings off. Newspapers and books are printed without short vowels, people often use the pausal form when they read aloud, and the spoken dialects have no cases at all. The course keeps only the endings written with a letter: ⁨ـًا⁩, and the ⁨ـَان⁩ or ⁨ـَيْن⁩ of the dual and the ⁨ـُون⁩ or ⁨ـِين⁩ of the plural. You need the full endings for the Quran, poetry and fully vowelled texts, and for formal speech.

Common Mistakes

• Putting tanween on a word with ⁨ال⁩: say ⁨الْكِتَابُ⁩, not ⁨الْكِتَابٌ⁩.
• Using the nominative after a preposition: say ⁨فِي الْبَيْتِ⁩, not ⁨فِي الْبَيْتُ⁩.
• Giving the first noun of an idafa tanween: say ⁨بَابُ الْبَيْتِ⁩, not ⁨بَابٌ الْبَيْتِ⁩.
• Giving a diptote tanween: say ⁨مَعَ أَحْمَدَ⁩, not ⁨مَعَ أَحْمَدٍ⁩.
• Using fatha on the feminine plural: say ⁨رَأَيْتُ الطَّالِبَاتِ⁩, not ⁨رَأَيْتُ الطَّالِبَاتَ⁩.

Example Sentences