Arabic: An Essential Grammar

(a) ِإ َذ ْن

id

̄

an is always followed by the subjunctive mood:

َأ َ نا َأ ْد ُر ُس َك ِثي ً را ـ ِإ َذ ْن َس َت ْن َج َح َغ ًدا




ana ̄

adrusu kat

̄

ı

• ran –

id

̄

an sa-tang ̆ah

̇

a g ̇adan.

‘I study a lot.’ – ‘Then (I suppose) you will succeed tomorrow!’

(b) ِإ ًذا

id

̄

an, is used in nominal sentences:

يٌّ ّوََس ُت ْم ِط ُر َغ ً دا- ِإ ًذا َأ ْن َت َرا ِص ٌد َج

satumt

̇

iru g ̇adan. –

id

̄

an

anta ra ̄s

̇

idun g ̆awwiyyun.

‘It will rain tomorrow.’ – ‘Then (I gather) you are a meteorologist.’

28.5 The subjunctive particle َأ ْن

an may sometimes be used after the

prepositions َق ْب َل qabla ‘before’ and َب ْع َد ba



da ‘after’, i.e. َق ْب َل َأ ْن qabla

an, َب ْع َد َأ ْن ba



da

an. It is then followed by a verb in the subjunctive

mood, e.g.

َم ِر َض َق ْب َل َأ ْن ُي َسا ِف َر

marid

̇

a qabla

an yusa ̄fira. He became sick before he travelled.

ا ُك َلƒَس َأ ْد ُر ُس َب ْع َد َأ ْن

sa-

adrusu ba



da

an

a ̄kula. I will read (study) after I have eaten.

28.6 The verbal noun (mas

̇

dar) can be used as a verb to replace

the subjunctive mood in a subordinate clause, in the same way as the

English infinitive, e.g.

28.7 تىََّحـ h

̇

atta ̄ has already been described as a preposition and

focus particle. Here it is introduced as a subjunctive particle, taking the

Imperfect subjunctive Verbal noun

َطَل ْب ُت ِم ْن َها َأ ْن َت ْذ َه َب OR َطَل ْب ُت َذ َها َب َها

t

̇

alabtu min-ha ̄

an tad

̄

haba.t

̇

alabtu d

̄

aha ̄ba-ha ̄.

I asked that she leave. I asked her to leave.

َأ َم ْر ُت ُه ِب َأ ْن َي ْك ُت َب َلـ َها OR َأ َم ْر ُت ُه ِبˆْل ِك َتا َب ِة َلـ َها




amartu-hu bi-

an yaktuba la-ha ̄.

amartu-hu bi-l-kita ̄bati la-ha ̄.

I ordered him that he should

write to her.

I ordered him to write to her.

211

Moods:

subjunctive,

jussive

(apocopa-

tus),

imperative