Arabic: An Essential Grammar

38.11 H

̇

a ̄l clause (phrase)

H
̇

a ̄l (^) َحا ٌل means ‘circumstance, condition, or state’. It is added to an
already complete sentence as a kind of supplementive adverbial clause
or phrase, answering the question َك ْي َف kayfa ‘how?’ or ‘in which
manner or condition?’. In English it corresponds mostly to a (co)pre-
dicative or adverbial participle (referring to the subject or object), as
in ‘He came laughing. I saw him standing.’
H
̇
a ̄l (^) َحا ٌل is mostly an adjective or active participle in the indefinite
accusative, agreeing in gender and number with the noun to which it
refers, e.g.
سا ِئ ُح َم ِري ًضاَّ َعا َد ل^

a ̄da s-sa ̄


ih
̇
u marı

• d
  ̇

an. The tourist returned ill.

(In which h
̇

a ̄l ‘condition’ has the tourist returned? He returned marı ̄d

̇

an

‘ill’. Thus, marı ̄d
̇

an is h

̇

a ̄l, because it describes the circumstance or con-

dition of the tourist.)

!َت ْش َر ِب ْل َق ْه َو َة َسا ِخ َن ًةَلا

la ̄ tasˇrabi l-qahwata sa ̄h

̆

inatan! Don’t drink the coffee (while it is) hot!

َذ َه َب َص ِدي ِ قي َبا ِك ًيا

d

̄

ahaba s

̇

adı

• qı
  
  
  • ba ̄kiyan. My friend left weeping. (My friend wept as he left.)
  
  
  
  

َذ َه َب ْ َلأ ْو َلا ُد َبا ِكيـ َن

d

̄

ahaba l-

awla ̄du ba ̄kı

• na. The boys left weeping. (The boys wept as they

left.)

َذ َه َب ِت ْل َب َنا ُت َبا ِك َيا ٍت

d

̄

ahabati l-bana ̄tu ba ̄kiya ̄tin. The girls left weeping. (The girls wept as

they left.)

Remember that the above َبا ِك َيا ٍت is in the accusative indefinite form,

although it has two kasrahs. See chapter 13 on the sound feminine

plural!

38.12 H

̇

a ̄l َحا ٌل can be in the definite form only when followed by

a suffixed possessive pronoun. H
̇

a ̄l is never defined by the definite

article َألـ, e.g.

303

Adverbs

and

adverbials,

absolute

object, h

̇

a ̄l,

tamyı

• z