Arabic: An Essential Grammar

are indicated by adding a vowel to the last consonant, and they are

called:

(There is more about cases in later chapters.)

5.4 Nunation as indefinite form

Nouns and adjectives are generally indicated as indefinite forms,

ن ِك َر ُةََّأل^

an-nakiratu, by doubling the final vowel sign and pro-

nouncing them with a final /...n/. The final vowel itself does not,

however, become long in spite of the double vowel sign. This process

of making a noun or adjective indefinite is called َت ْن ِوي ٌن tanwı ̄nun

in Arabic and nunation in English. The indefinite forms of the three

different cases are:

Nominative indef.: The word ends with a double d

̇

ammah:

ـُــُــor ــٌـــ /...un/ َمِل ٌك malikun, a king

Accusative indef.: The word ends with a double fath

̇

ah and often an extra

alif (^) ا which is not pronounced as a long vowel a ̄:
ـًـا /...an/ َمِل ًكا malikan, a king (object)
Genitive indef.: The word ends with a double kasrah:
ــٍــــ /...in/ َمِلـ ٍك malikin, a king’s, of a king
Note a: The form of the double d
̇
ammah (^) ــٌـــ is the commonest of the two
alternatives and will be used in this book.
Note b: In spoken Arabic the use of nunation, i.e. /...un/, /...an/ and /...in/ in
nouns, is rare.
Exercises
Read and practise your handwriting:
Nominative: َم ْر ُفو ٌع marfu ̄

un (takes the vowel d
̇
ammah)
Accusative: َم ْن ُصو ٌب mans
̇
u ̄bun (takes the vowel fath
̇
ah)
Genitive: َم ْج ُرو ٌر mag ̆ru ̄run (takes the vowel kasrah)
18
Suku ̄n,
sˇaddah,
noun cases
and
nunation as
indefinite
form