Lesson 25: The Three Cases

Step 1 of 5: Learn

Look at the endings in these pairs: زَارَنِي مُعَلِّمٌ a teacher visited me, زَارَنِي الْمُعَلِّمُ the teacher visited me; كِتَابُ مُعَلِّمٍ a teacher's book, كِتَابُ الْمُعَلِّمِ the teacher's book; رَأَى مُعَلِّمًا he saw a teacher, رَأَى الْمُعَلِّمَ he saw the teacher. The same noun ends in -un, -in, -an when indefinite and in -u, -i, -a when definite. These three endings are the three cases of the Arabic noun.

Rule 1: 1. The nominative: -u / -un

The nominative is the case of the subject of a sentence and of the predicate of a nominal sentence. An indefinite noun takes tanwīn ḍamm ـٌ (-un); a definite noun takes a single ḍamma ـُ (-u).

زَارَنِي مُعَلِّمٌ.
zāranī muʿallimun
A teacher visited me.
زَارَنِي الْمُعَلِّمُ.
zārani-l-muʿallimu
The teacher visited me.
اَلْمُدِيرُ فِي الْمَدْرَسَةِ.
al-mudīru fi-l-madrasati
The headmaster is in the school.
اَلْقَلَمُ جَدِيدٌ.
al-qalamu jadīdun
The pen is new.
Subject and predicate are both nominative.

Rule 2: 2. The genitive after prepositions: -i / -in

The genitive is marked by tanwīn kasr ـٍ (-in) on an indefinite noun and a single kasra ـِ (-i) on a definite one. Every preposition is followed by the genitive: فِي in, مِنْ from, إِلَى to, عَلَى on, تَحْتَ under, لِ to, for. When لِ meets the article, the alif of the article disappears: لِلْمُعَلِّمِ for the teacher, not لِالْمُعَلِّمِ.

فِي مَدْرَسَةٍ
fī madrasatin
in a school
فِي الْمَدْرَسَةِ
fi-l-madrasati
in the school
عَلَى الْمَكْتَبِ
ʿala-l-maktabi
on the desk
تَحْتَ الْمِقْعَدِ
taḥta-l-miqʿadi
under the bench
مِنَ الْمُدِيرِ إِلَى الْمُعَلِّمِ
mina-l-mudīri ila-l-muʿallimi
from the headmaster to the teacher
لِلْمُعَلِّمِ
li-l-muʿallimi
for the teacher
لِ + اَلْمُعَلِّمِ: the alif of the article is dropped.

Rule 3: 3. The genitive of possession: the iḍāfa

To say the teacher's book or the book of the teacher, Arabic places the two nouns side by side: كِتَابُ الْمُعَلِّمِ. The first noun (the thing possessed) takes no tanwīn and no article; the second noun (the possessor) stands in the genitive. This pair is called the iḍāfa. The first noun takes its definiteness from the second: كِتَابُ الْمُعَلِّمِ the teacher's book (second noun definite), كِتَابُ مُعَلِّمٍ a teacher's book (second noun indefinite). To say a book of the teacher's, one of several, use لِ: كِتَابٌ لِلْمُعَلِّمِ.

كِتَابُ مُعَلِّمٍ
kitābu muʿallimin
a teacher's book
كِتَابُ الْمُعَلِّمِ
kitābu-l-muʿallimi
the teacher's book
بَابُ الْمَدْرَسَةِ
bābu-l-madrasati
the door of the school
حَقِيبَةُ الْمُدِيرِ
ḥaqībatu-l-mudīri
the headmaster's bag
كِتَابٌ لِلْمُعَلِّمِ
kitābun li-l-muʿallimi
a book of the teacher's
قَلَمُ الْمُعَلِّمِ عَلَى الْمَكْتَبِ.
qalamu-l-muʿallimi ʿala-l-maktabi
The teacher's pen is on the desk.
The whole iḍāfa is the subject.

Rule 4: 4. The accusative: -a / -an

The accusative is the case of the direct object. An indefinite noun takes tanwīn fatḥ ـً (-an), written on an extra alif, as you learned in lesson 6: قَلَمًا. A noun ending in tāʾ marbūṭa takes the tanwīn on the ة itself, with no alif: وَرَقَةً. A definite noun takes a single fatḥa ـَ (-a): اَلْقَلَمَ.

وَجَدَ الْوَلَدُ قَلَمًا.
wajada-l-waladu qalaman
The boy found a pen.
وَجَدَ الْوَلَدُ الْقَلَمَ.
wajada-l-waladu-l-qalama
The boy found the pen.
قَرَأَ الْمُعَلِّمُ قِصَّةً.
qaraʾa-l-muʿallimu qiṣṣatan
The teacher read a story.
No alif after tāʾ marbūṭa.
فَتَحَتِ الْبِنْتُ الْحَقِيبَةَ.
fataḥati-l-bintu-l-ḥaqībata
The girl opened the bag.
The sukūn of فَتَحَتْ becomes a kasra before the article's hamzat al-waṣl.
زَارَ الْمُدِيرُ مَدْرَسَةً كَبِيرَةً.
zāra-l-mudīru madrasatan kabīratan
The headmaster visited a big school.
The adjective follows its noun into the accusative.

The three cases of a masculine noun

قَلَمٌ 'pen', indefinite and definite.
Case	Indefinite	Definite	Used for
Nominative	قَلَمٌ	اَلْقَلَمُ	subject, predicate
Genitive	قَلَمٍ	اَلْقَلَمِ	after a preposition, second noun of an iḍāfa
Accusative	قَلَمًا	اَلْقَلَمَ	direct object

The three cases of a feminine noun

وَرَقَةٌ 'sheet of paper': the accusative tanwīn sits on the tāʾ marbūṭa without an alif.
Case	Indefinite	Definite	In an iḍāfa
Nominative	وَرَقَةٌ	اَلْوَرَقَةُ	وَرَقَةُ الْوَلَدِ
Genitive	وَرَقَةٍ	اَلْوَرَقَةِ	فِي وَرَقَةِ الْوَلَدِ
Accusative	وَرَقَةً	اَلْوَرَقَةَ	وَجَدَ وَرَقَةَ الْوَلَدِ

Where does the adjective belong?

بَابُ الْمَدْرَسَةِ الْكَبِيرُ

bābu-l-madrasati-l-kabīru

the big door of the school

بَابُ الْمَدْرَسَةِ الْكَبِيرِ

bābu-l-madrasati-l-kabīri

the door of the big school

Nothing may come between the two nouns of an iḍāfa, so the adjective waits until the end. Its case ending then tells you which noun it describes: nominative الْكَبِيرُ agrees with بَابُ, genitive الْكَبِيرِ agrees with الْمَدْرَسَةِ.

Reading practice

دَخَلَ الْمُدِيرُ فَصْلَ الْمُعَلِّمِ الْجَدِيدَ.
dakhala-l-mudīru faṣla-l-muʿallimi-l-jadīda
The headmaster entered the teacher's new classroom.
Accusative الْجَدِيدَ: it describes the classroom, the object.
حَقِيبَةُ الْبِنْتِ تَحْتَ الْمِقْعَدِ وَكِتَابُهَا عَلَى الْمَكْتَبِ.
ḥaqībatu-l-binti taḥta-l-miqʿadi wa-kitābuhā ʿala-l-maktabi
The girl's bag is under the bench and her book is on the desk.
كَتَبَ الْوَلَدُ كَلِمَةً فِي وَرَقَةِ أُخْتِهِ.
kataba-l-waladu kalimatan fī waraqati ukhtihi
The boy wrote a word on his sister's sheet of paper.
هٰذَا الْكِتَابُ لِلْمُعَلِّمِ وَذٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لِي.
hādhā-l-kitābu li-l-muʿallimi wa-dhālika-l-kitābu lī
This book is for the teacher and that book is for me.

Vocabulary

Why do words end with “-un”?

The -un ending is called tanween (nunation). It marks indefinite nouns — similar to “a/an” in English.

كِتَابٌ (kitaabun) = a bookvsكِتَاب (kitaab) = book (base word)

To find the base word, simply remove the final “-un” sound (the double-stacked damma بٌ on the last letter).

مَدْرَسَةٌ

madrasatun

school

مُعَلِّمٌ

muʿallimun

teacher

مُدِيرٌ

mudīrun

headmaster, director

قَلَمٌ

qalamun

pen

وَرَقَةٌ

waraqatun

sheet of paper, leaf

حَقِيبَةٌ

ḥaqībatun

bag

مَكْتَبٌ

maktabun

desk, office

مِقْعَدٌ

miqʿadun

bench, seat

فَصْلٌ

faṣlun

classroom

كَلِمَةٌ

kalimatun

word

قِصَّةٌ

qiṣṣatun

story

عِلْمٌ

ʿilmun

knowledge, science

قَرَأَ

qaraʾa

he read

فَتَحَ

fataḥa

he opened

زَارَ

zāra

he visited

عَلَى

ʿalā

on

تَحْتَ

taḥta

under

لِ

li

to, for, belonging to

Step 2 of 5: Read

In the school

فِي الْمَدْرَسَةِ

Tap any word to look it up.

Notes

Comprehension

1.Where was the teacher's book?
2.What did the teacher read?
3.Whose bag was under the bench?
4.Who does the second pen belong to?

In the Quran

لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
Surah Al-Fatihah · 1:2
لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ: لِ joined to the name of God, whose article loses its alif, then the iḍāfa رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ 'Lord of the worlds' in the genitive.
- لِلَّهِlillahi(be) to Allah
- رَبِّrabbithe Lord
- ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَl-ʿālamīnaof the universe
Read in context
ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Surah Al-Ikhlas · 112:1
اَللّٰهُ أَحَدٌ 'God is One': a definite subject in -u and an indefinite predicate in -un, both nominative.
- ٱللَّهُl-lahu(is) Allah
- أَحَدٌaḥadunthe One
Read in context
بِرَبِّ ٱلْفَلَقِ
Surah Al-Falaq · 113:1
بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ 'in the Lord of the daybreak': the preposition بِ takes the genitive, and the iḍāfa that follows keeps its second noun in the genitive too.
- بِرَبِّbirabbiin (the) Lord
- ٱلْفَلَقِl-falaqi(of) the dawn
Read in context
بِأَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلْفِيلِ
Surah Al-Fil · 105:1
بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ 'with the companions of the elephant': preposition + iḍāfa, both nouns ending in -i.
- بِأَصْحَـٰبِbi-aṣḥābiwith (the) Companions
- ٱلْفِيلِl-fīli(of the) Elephant
Read in context

Step 3 of 5: Practice

Exercises

Strict harakat

Exercise 1 of 60/0 correct

Fill in the blank

Give the object its correct ending ('The boy found a pen'):

Step 4 of 5: Quiz

Translate from Arabic to English

Type your translation, then check it. Spelling and vowel marks are graded leniently.

1.

كِتَابُ الْمُعَلِّمِ عَلَى الْمَكْتَبِ.

2.

وَجَدَتِ الْبِنْتُ قَلَمًا تَحْتَ الْمِقْعَدِ.

3.

زَارَ الْمُدِيرُ فَصْلَ الْمُعَلِّمِ الْجَدِيدِ.

4.

قَرَأْتُ قِصَّةً فِي كِتَابِ أَخِي.

5.

حَقِيبَةُ الْمُدِيرِ وَقَلَمُهُ فِي الْغُرْفَةِ.

6.

هٰذَا الْقَلَمُ لِلْمُعَلِّمِ وَذٰلِكَ الْقَلَمُ لِي.

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