[23] the miracle idaafa construction

The idaafa explained [click here]

The idaafa construction is practical, efficient, and used a lot in the Arabic language to express: 1- Primarily possession - which we will cover in this module! Simply place two nouns in a row – with the first noun being the “thing” possessed and the second noun the “possessor” to convey possession. 2- Any two words that are used as one unit Example: ذاتَ مَرّةٍ - Once upon a time  Idaafa constructions are phrases and not sentences.

Example: cat + Tom…. Which would mean Tom’s cat or the cat of Tom. Let’s try it now in Arabic: utta + Tom or “uttit Tom” Rule recall: utta is a feminine noun and therefore ends in an “a.” This "a" changes to an “it” to express possession. Uttit Tom is definite because “Tom” is definite.  Remember this: It is the second noun, and not the first noun, which determines if “what is possessed” is definite. Let's say this again... If the second term in the idaafa is definite then the entire idaafa construction is definite. In other words the first term is definite as well! Therefore we know because Tom is definite than we are referring to the cat and not a cat. Let’s take a close up look at two more examples: حَديقَةُ الْبَيْتِ جِنينِةِ الْبيتْ 1  giniinit il beet – The garden of the house; The house’s garden   حَديقَة ُ بَيْتٍ جِنينِة بيتْ  2  giniinit beet – A garden of a house; A house’s garden Notice in the first example above the second noun is definite so the entire idaafa construction is definite.   Listen and repeat to the definite and indefinite idaafa constructions…   Definite Idaafa    Indefinite Idaafa بَيْتُ الْمُدير ِ بيتْ اِلـْمُديرْ  3  beet il modiir   the director’s house مُدير بَيْتٍ مُديرْ بيتْ 4  beet modiir    a director’s house شارِعُ الْفُنْدُق ِ شارِعْ اِلـْلوكَنْدَةْ  5  ŝaariç il lokanda   the street of the hotel شارِعُ فُنْدُق ٍ شارِعْ لوكَنْدَةْ   6  ŝaariç lokanda   a street of a hotel See more examples

Take note [click here]

Take note... 1- An idaafa construction is very different from a noun-adjective phrase. In a noun-adjective phrase both nouns need be definite or both nouns need be indefinite. And, Noun-adjective phrases can never show possession. In an idaafa construction only the second term is definite. 2- In the idaafa construction if NOUN 2 is definite (i.e. he who possesses) then it is implied that NOUN 1 is definite as well (i.e. the "thing" possessed. In other words, the second noun determines whether the entire construction is definite or indefinite!

 

Drill with answers [click here]

Make up idaafa constructions by selecting any two nouns and placing them next to one another to convey possession. The declension of the idaafa construction in MSA/Classical is as follows: The first term of the idaafa is in the nominative, accusative, or genitive depending on its position in the sentence.  The second term of the idaafa is always in the genitive. The genitive marker on the second term of the idaafa demonstrates possession.  However, most proper names and certain indefinite forms of broken plurals will appear in the accusative for the genitive case.      Answers below for drill   Answers for drill  مُشْكِلَةُ الْبِلادِ   مُشْكِلِة الْبِلاد  12  moŝkilit il bilaad the problem of the countries See more answers

1  2

<<Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Next>>

Top   |    Feedback   |    Error?   |     Home   |    Colloquial Podcasts   |   Classical Podcasts   |   Grammar Modules