Table of Contents
Declinations
With the help of the three short vowels, Arabic marks the three cases:
-u = nominative (حالة الرفع)
-i = genitive (حالة الجر)
-a = accusative (حالة النصب)
In vocalized texts, the vowel signs ḍamma, kasra, and fatḥa are used for this purpose. For masculine words, the following scheme is applied:
| Case | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Nominative | المُعَلِّمُ al-muʿallimu |
| Genetive | المُعَلِّمِ al-muʿallimi |
| Accusative | المُعَلِّمَ al-muʿallima |
For feminine words, that end with ta marbutah, the same suffixes are applied.
| | Arabic |
| ---------- | ------------- |
| Nominative | المُعَلِّمَةُ al-muʿallimatu
| Genetive | المُعَلِّمَةِ al-muʿallimati
| Accusative | المُعَلِّمَةَ al-muʿallimata
Endings
After the case endings -u, -i, -a, an -n (nūn) is pronounced as a marker of indefiniteness. This process is called nunation (التنوين). The endings -un, -in, -an are thus formed.
In vocalized texts, nunation is expressed by doubling the respective vowel sign.
In the accusative of indefinite nouns that do not end in tāʾ marbūṭa, an alif is added at the end of the word; this alif does not express vowel quality.
| Arabic | Transliteration | |
|---|---|---|
| N. | مُعَلِّمٌ جَديدٌ | muʿallimun ǧadīdun |
| G. | مُعَلِّمٍ جَديدٍ | muʿallimin ǧadīdin |
| A. | مُعَلِّمًا جَديدًا | muʿalliman ǧadīdan |
| N. | مُعَلِّمَةٌ جَديدَةٌ | muʿallimatun ǧadīdatun |
| G. | مُعَلِّمَةٍ جَديدَةٍ | muʿallimatin ǧadīdatin |
| A. | مُعَلِّمَةً جَديدَةً | muʿallimatan ǧadīdatan |
Some Arabic words, due to their word structure, form only two case endings, some even only one.
Plural Declinations
The declensional endings of the sound plural are:
-ūna = nominative and -īna = genitive and accusative for masculine words,
-ātu(n) = nominative and -āti(n) = genitive and accusative for feminine words.
| determined | Transliteration | |
|---|---|---|
| N. | المُعَلِّمُونَ | (al-)muʿallimūna |
| G. | المُعَلِّمِينَ | (al-)muʿallimīna |
| A. | المُعَلِّمِينَ | (al-)muʿallimīna |
| N. | المُعَلِّمَاتُ | muʿallimātun |
| G. | المُعَلِّمَاتِ | muʿallimātin |
| A. | المُعَلِّمَاتِ | muʿallimātin |
| N. | المُعَلِّمَاتُ | (al-)muʿallimātu |
| G. | المُعَلِّمَاتِ | (al-)muʿallimāti |
| A. | المُعَلِّمَاتِ | (al-)muʿallimāti |
Broken Plurals
The broken plural has the same declensional endings as the singular.
| Pl. indeterminate | Sg. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. | أَقْلَامٌ | aqlāmun | قَلَمٌ | qalamun |
| G. | أَقْلَامٍ | aqlāmin | قَلَمٍ | qalamin |
| A. | أَقْلَامًا | aqlāman | قَلَمًا | qalamān |
| N. | الأَقْلَامُ | al-aqlāmu | القَلَمُ | al-qalamu |
| G. | الأَقْلَامِ | al-aqlāmi | القَلَمِ | al-qalami |
| A. | الأَقْلَامَ | al-aqlāma | القَلَمَ | al-qalama |
Grammatical Cases
The grammatical cases in Arabic occur under the following conditions:
Nominative = subject case
Genitive = prepositional case and attributive case
Accusative = case of the direct object and adverbial case
Spoken Arabic
Arabic texts are generally unvocalized. Therefore, no vowel signs are written for the case endings either. For the pronunciation of these endings, i.e., whether they are pronounced or not, there is no universally valid rule. While they are fully audible in recitation, they are omitted mainly in everyday spoken language.