LessonsInshāʾ (Non-Declarative Speech): Wishing, Questions, Commands and ProhibitionsQuiz

Interrogation (الاستفهام) seeks information about a proposition, person, description, quantity, time or manner. The particles are not equivalent: one may ask for confirmation, another for a specific missing item.

ExpressionUsual target
أ، هلConfirmation or identification, depending on construction
ما، من، أيIdentity, person, or selection among alternatives
كم، كيفNumber or manner/state
أين، متى، أيان، أنىPlace, time, or another contextual relation

These are baseline functions. A question form may instead convey wonder, confirmation, rebuke or denial; those are rhetorical uses rather than fresh dictionary meanings for every particle.

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The principal interrogative expressions

Inshāʾ (Non-Declarative Speech): Wishing, Questions, Commands and Prohibitions

Interrogation (الاستفهام) seeks information about a proposition, person, description, quantity, time or manner. The particles are not equivalent: one may ask for confirmation, another for a specific missing item.

ExpressionUsual target
أ، هلConfirmation or identification, depending on construction
ما، من، أيIdentity, person, or selection among alternatives
كم، كيفNumber or manner/state
أين، متى، أيان، أنىPlace, time, or another contextual relation

These are baseline functions. A question form may instead convey wonder, confirmation, rebuke or denial; those are rhetorical uses rather than fresh dictionary meanings for every particle.