Arabic: An Essential Grammar

ن ْلـ َمـا َء َو ِس ٌخَّ َسـ َبـ َح َمـ َع َأ

sabah

̇

a ma



a

anna l-ma ̄

a wasih

̆

un.

He swam, although the water was dirty.

26.6 When نَّ ِإ

inna or نَّ َأ

anna takes a suffixed pronoun in the first

person singular or plural, there are two alternative forms:

26.7 When نَّ ِإ

inna or نَّ َأ

anna is not immediately followed by the

subject in a verbal sentence, it takes the suffixed pronoun of the third

person masculine singular: ـ ُه... /...hu/, i.e. نـ ُهَِّإ

inna-hu, نـ ُهََّأ

anna-hu,

for all genders and numbers, e.g.

ن ْل ِب ْن َت ُت َسا ِفـ ُر َغ ًداَّ َس ِم ْعـ ُت َأ OR ُت َسا ِفـ ُر ْل ِب ْن ُت َغ ًدان ُه ََّسـ ِم ْعـ ُت َأ

sami



tu

anna l-binta tusa ̄firu g ̇adan. sami



tu

anna-hu tusa ̄firu

l-bintu g ̇adan.

I heard that the girl will travel tomorrow.

26.8 Ka ̄na (^) َكان and its sisters
There are dozens of verbs which behave like the verb َكا َن ka ̄na ‘to be’
(lit. ‘he was’), referred to as َكا َن َو َأ َخ َوا ُت َها ‘ka ̄na and its sisters’. All these
verbs take the predicative complement in the accusative case. Hence
they are construed in the opposite way to نَّ ِإ ‘


inna and its sisters’.
26.9 The following are the most common verbs known as sisters of
َكا َن ka ̄na:
َأ ْصـ َب َح^


as
̇
bah
̇
a, to become (to be/become in the morning) (form IV)
َأ ْضـ َحى^


ad
̇
h
̇
a ̄, to become
لَّ َظ d
̇ ̄
alla, to continue, to keep on, to remain
َبا َت ba ̄ta, to become, to spend the night
Singular Plural
نيَّإ^


inn-ı

• OR ن ِنيَِّإ

inna-nı

• ناَّإ^

inn-a ̄ OR ن َناَِّإ

inna-na ̄

195

Inna نَّ ِإ

and its

sisters,

ka ̄na َكـا َن

and its

sisters