Arabic: An Essential Grammar

26.2 After نَّ ِإ

inna, the nominal predicate can be emphasized by pre-

fixing ...لـ َ /la.../. (This is optional.) This particle has no influence on the

case of the predicate, e.g.

26.3 نَّ ِإ

inna and its sisters can also occur before the (logical) subject

in a verbal sentence, but then the subject must be in the accusative case,

e.g.

26.4 نَّ ِإ

inna, takes the form نَّ َأ

anna ‘that’ (complementizer), when

it introduces indirect speech or a complement clause after the main

clause, e.g.

Note: نَّ ِإ

inna, nevertheless, remains unchanged after the verb َقا َل qa ̄la ‘to

say’, e.g.

26.5 نَّ َأ

anna can be combined with prepositions and then gets various

other meanings:

رٌّط ْق َس َحاَّ ن لَّ شا ِط ِئ َِلأَّ َس َأ ْذ َه ُب ِإَلى ل

sa-

ad

̄

habu

ila ̄ sˇ-sˇa ̄t

̇

i

i li-

anna t

̇

-t

̇

aqsa h

̇

a ̄rrun.

I will go to the beach, because the weather is hot.

ل َه َل َع ِظـي ٌم

ا

ن لَّّ ِإ ن ْل َبا ِخ َر َة َل َكـ ِبي َر ٌةَّ ِإ




inna lla ̄ha la-



ad

̄ ̇

ı

• mun.

inna l-ba ̄h

̆

irata la-kabı

• ratun.

God is indeed great. (The Quran) The ship is indeed big.

س َف َر َأ ْت َعـ َب ُهَّ ن لَّ ِإ ل ل ِّص َيا َح َأ ْز َع َج َهاَّ َل َع




inna s-safara

at



aba-hu. la



alla s

̇

-s

̇

iya ̄h

̇

a

az



ag ̆a-ha ̄.

The travel made him tired. Perhaps the shouting bothered her.

ر ِئي َس َم ِري ٌضَّن لَّ َس ِم َع َأ ن ُه َم ِري ٌضََّس ِم َع َأ

sami



a

anna r- ra

ı

• sa marı
  
  
  • d
    ̇
  
  
  
  

un. sami



a

anna-hu marı

• d
  ̇

un.

He heard that the president is ill. He heard that he is ill.

ظ َف َم ِري ٌضَّ ن ْلـ ُم َوَّ َقا َل ِإ ن ُه َم ِري ٌضََّقال ِإ

qa ̄la

inna l-muwad

̄ ̇

d

̄ ̇

afa marı

• d
  ̇

un. qa ̄la

inna-hu marı

• d
  ̇

un.

He said that the employee is ill. He said that he is ill.

نَّ ِلأَ li-

anna, because نَّ َم َع َأ ma



a

anna, although, in spite of the fact that

194

Inna نَّ ِإ

and its

sisters,

ka ̄na َكـا َن

and its

sisters