Estimated case endings, causes, and full parsing of all three original book examples. Read the bilingual lesson for Noun Case Class 7 — Maqṣūr and Nouns with Possessive Yāʾ and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. Seventh Class of Noun Inflection
السَّابِعُ: أَنْ يَكُونَ الرَّفْعُ بِتَقْدِيرِ الضَّمَّةِ، وَالنَّصْبُ بِتَقْدِيرِ الْفَتْحَةِ، وَالْجَرُّ بِتَقْدِيرِ الْكَسْرَةِ.
Translation: In the seventh class, nominative, accusative and genitive are indicated by estimated ḍamma, fatḥa and kasra respectively.
The grammatical case changes, even though its final vowel is not pronounced.
2. The Book Defines the Maqṣūr Noun
وَيَخْتَصُّ بِالْمَقْصُورِ، وَهُوَ مَا فِي آخِرِهِ أَلِفٌ مَقْصُورَةٌ، كَـ«عَصَا».
Translation: This applies to the maqṣūr noun, a noun ending in a final alif, such as عَصَا.
Explanation: The three case vowels cannot be pronounced on that final alif, so they are estimated.
3. The Book Defines the Second Group
وَبِالْمُضَافِ إِلَى يَاءِ الْمُتَكَلِّمِ غَيْرِ جَمْعِ الْمُذَكَّرِ السَّالِمِ، كَـ«غُلَامِي».
Translation: This also applies to a noun annexed to the first-person singular yāʾ, excluding the sound masculine plural; for example, غُلَامِي (“my servant”).
The kasra before the possessive yāʾ fits that pronoun; it does not necessarily mean the noun is genitive.
4. The Three Original Book Examples
تَقُولُ: «جَاءَنِي الْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي، وَرَأَيْتُ الْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي، وَمَرَرْتُ بِالْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي».
Translation: You say: “The stick and my servant came to me; I saw the stick and my servant; and I passed by the stick and my servant.”
Each word of these three original examples is parsed in the following slides.
5. What Does Estimated Case Mean?
Visible case appears in the noun’s ending, as in زَيْدٌ، زَيْدًا، زَيْدٍ.
With estimated case, the noun remains inflected, but its case vowel is not externally expressed, as with الْعَصَا.
Key distinction: An unchanged spelling does not make a noun indeclinable. Its case is identified from its syntactic function.
6. Recognising the Final Alif
In عَصَا, the final alif is written «ا»; in فَتَى and الْهُدَى, it is written «ى». Both spellings can occur in maqṣūr nouns.
Important: A final alif is not restricted to the written shape «ى».
These two extra words are teaching examples; the book’s principal example is عَصَا.
7. Why All Three Vowels Are Estimated
The last letter of الْعَصَا is an alif that cannot carry a pronounced ḍamma, fatḥa or kasra. Grammarians call this obstruction taʿadhdhur (“impossibility of vowel expression”).
Nominative: estimated ḍamma.
Accusative: estimated fatḥa.
Genitive: estimated kasra.
The cases are different, even though the noun sounds identical.
8. Original Example 1: Verb and Subject
جَاءَنِي الْعَصَا
Translation: The stick came to me.
جَاءَ: past-tense verb, built on fatḥa.
نِ: protective nūn, without a syntactic case.
ي: attached first-person object pronoun, in the accusative position.
الْعَصَا: nominative subject with an estimated ḍamma on the final alif (impossible to pronounce).
9. Original Example 1: Coordinated Noun
جَاءَنِي الْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي: The stick and my servant came to me.
وَ: coordinating conjunction.
غُلَامِي: coordinated with الْعَصَا; hence nominative with estimated ḍamma on mīm, hidden because that position bears the kasra required before possessive yāʾ.
غُلَامِ: noun in an iḍāfa; ي: possessive pronoun, in the genitive position.
Remember: The kasra on mīm does not turn the subject into a genitive noun.
10. Why Is Jāʾa Masculine Here?
جَاءَنِي الْعَصَا is the book’s wording. الْعَصَا is grammatically non-natural feminine (an inanimate noun).
Classical Arabic permits a masculine verb with such a feminine subject in relevant contexts; here the object element نِي also separates the verb from its subject.
Important: This agreement choice does not change the noun’s function as nominative subject with estimated ḍamma. This note is supplementary explanation, not extra book text.
11. Original Example 2: Accusative Maqṣūr
رَأَيْتُ الْعَصَا: I saw the stick.
رَأَيْتُ: past-tense verb, built on sukūn because it is attached to subject tāʾ.
تُ: attached subject pronoun in the nominative position.
الْعَصَا: accusative direct object with estimated fatḥa on final alif, hidden due to impossibility.
The same noun was a subject in sentence 1; here it is an object, with no visible change.
12. Original Example 2: Accusative Conjunct
رَأَيْتُ الْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي: I saw the stick and my servant.
وَ: conjunction.
غُلَامِي: coordinated with the accusative object الْعَصَا; therefore also accusative, with estimated fatḥa on mīm.
غُلَامِ: muḍāf; ي: possessive pronoun (muḍāf ilayh).
Why estimated? The visible kasra serves the attached first-person yāʾ, not the accusative case.
13. Original Example 3: Genitive Maqṣūr
مَرَرْتُ بِالْعَصَا: I passed by the stick.
مَرَرْتُ: past verb, built on sukūn, with subject tāʾ.
بِـ: preposition.
الْعَصَا: genitive noun governed by bāʾ, with estimated kasra on final alif due to impossibility.
Unlike the earlier sentences, this noun follows a preposition.
14. Original Example 3: Genitive Conjunct
مَرَرْتُ بِالْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي: I passed by the stick and my servant.
وَ: conjunction.
غُلَامِي: conjunct of the genitive noun الْعَصَا; therefore genitive too, with an estimated kasra on mīm, whose position already carries the kasra required before possessive yāʾ.
غُلَامِ: muḍāf; ي: muḍāf ilayh.
The preposition appears only once, but the second noun inherits the genitive case through coordination.
15. Comparing the Three Book Sentences
First: جَاءَنِي الْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي — both nouns nominative, estimated ḍamma.
Second: رَأَيْتُ الْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي — both nouns accusative, estimated fatḥa.
Third: مَرَرْتُ بِالْعَصَا وَغُلَامِي — both nouns genitive, estimated kasra.
Takeaway: Their roles and cases change, but the two source nouns look the same in all three sentences.
16. Why Is There a Kasra on Ghulāmī?
In غُلَامِي, غُلَام: noun and first term of iḍāfa; ي: first-person possessive pronoun, in the genitive position.
The kasra on mīm is the vowel of phonetic compatibility required before the possessive yāʾ. It appears in all three cases, not just the genitive.
The noun’s actual case vowel is therefore estimated: ḍamma, fatḥa or kasra according to function.
17. Contrast: Ghulāmun versus Ghulāmī
Without possessive yāʾ: غُلَامٌ، غُلَامًا، غُلَامٍ — the case endings are visible.
With possessive yāʾ: غُلَامِي — the surface form stays the same in all three cases.
غُلَامِي is still inflected, not indeclinable; its case is estimated.
Identify its case from the sentence, not the visible kasra alone.
18. Additional Practice: Al-Fatā in Three Cases
حَضَرَ الْفَتَى: The young man arrived. حَضَرَ: past verb; الْفَتَى: nominative subject with estimated ḍamma.
رَأَيْتُ الْفَتَى: I saw the young man. رَأَيْتُ: verb with subject pronoun; الْفَتَى: accusative object with estimated fatḥa.
سَلَّمْتُ عَلَى الْفَتَى: I greeted the young man. عَلَى: preposition; الْفَتَى: genitive with estimated kasra.
All three case vowels are hidden on the final alif. These are teaching examples, not quotations.
19. Additional Practice: Kitābī in Three Cases
ضَاعَ كِتَابِي: My book was lost. كِتَابِي: nominative subject, estimated ḍamma on bāʾ; kitāb is muḍāf, yāʾ is muḍāf ilayh.
وَجَدْتُ كِتَابِي: I found my book. كِتَابِي: accusative object, estimated fatḥa on bāʾ; same iḍāfa.
نَظَرْتُ فِي كِتَابِي: I looked in my book. كِتَابِي: genitive after fī, estimated kasra on bāʾ; same iḍāfa.
The visible kasra is required by the yāʾ. These are supplementary teaching examples.
20. Two Different Reasons for Estimation
Maqṣūr: الْعَصَا — the final alif cannot bear a case vowel; the cause is impossibility.
Noun with possessive yāʾ: غُلَامِي — the preceding mīm must keep the kasra needed before yāʾ; the position is already occupied by that vowel.
Both take estimated endings in all three cases, but the underlying reason differs.
21. Do Not Confuse Estimated with Fixed Case
هَذَا is commonly an indeclinable demonstrative; its syntax is described by case position.
الْعَصَا is an inflected maqṣūr noun; its case is described by an estimated vowel.
الْقَاضِي is not maqṣūr; it is a manqūṣ noun, discussed in the following class.
Principle: Identify both the morphological noun type and its role in the sentence.
22. Why the Book Excludes the Sound Masculine Plural
The book says: بِالْمُضَافِ إِلَى يَاءِ الْمُتَكَلِّمِ غَيْرِ جَمْعِ الْمُذَكَّرِ السَّالِمِ.
Translation: A noun annexed to the speaker’s yāʾ, excluding the sound masculine plural.
The sound masculine plural uses wāw/yāʾ letter markers, as learned in the prior lesson. Do not automatically treat its special possessive forms like the singular غُلَامِي.
For this lesson, retain the explicit exception in the source rule.
23. Three Questions for Case Identification
1. What is the noun’s function: subject, direct object, or prepositional object?
2. Is the vowel hidden because the final alif cannot bear it, or because a possessive yāʾ requires a fixed preceding vowel?
3. State the appropriate estimated ḍamma, fatḥa or kasra.
Practice: In «رَأَيْتُ غُلَامِي», the noun is the direct object: accusative with estimated fatḥa, not genitive just because a kasra is visible.
24. Correcting Common Errors
Mistake 1: “غُلَامِي has a kasra, so it is always genitive.”
Correction: That kasra accommodates possessive yāʾ; the noun can be nominative, accusative or genitive.
Mistake 2: “الْعَصَا never changes form, so it is indeclinable.”
Correction: It remains inflected; its case vowels are estimated.
Mistake 3: “Every noun ending with yāʾ follows the same rule.”
Correction: The source specifically means annexation to the first-person possessive yāʾ, not every final yāʾ.
25. Summary of the Seventh Class
1. In the seventh class, the three cases use estimated ḍamma, fatḥa and kasra.
2. A maqṣūr noun such as عَصَا cannot display case vowels on its final alif.
3. In غُلَامِي, the kasra before possessive yāʾ is required for compatibility; the noun’s true case is estimated.
4. In the three original book examples both nouns are respectively nominative, accusative and genitive, as demonstrated by full parsing.
The next class treats the manqūṣ noun separately.