Noun Case Classes: Type 1 (Ḍamma, Fatḥa, Kasra)

1. What Iʿrāb Means

وَالْإِعْرَابُ مَا بِهِ يَخْتَلِفُ آخِرُ الْمُعْرَبِ، كَالضَّمَّةِ، وَالْفَتْحَةِ، وَالْكَسْرَةِ، وَالْوَاوِ، وَالْأَلِفِ، وَالْيَاءِ.
Translation: Iʿrāb is what indicates changes at the end of a declinable word, such as ḍamma, fatḥa, kasra, wāw, alif, and yāʾ.

Here the author lists several signs of case. In the first class below, we examine ḍamma, fatḥa and kasra. Other signs belong to later classes and are not explained prematurely.

2. Governor and Position of Case-Marking

وَإِعْرَابُ الِاسْمِ عَلَى ثَلَاثَةِ أَنْوَاعٍ: رَفْعٌ وَنَصْبٌ وَجَرٌّ. وَالْعَامِلُ مَا يَحْصُلُ بِهِ رَفْعٌ وَنَصْبٌ وَجَرٌّ، وَمَحَلُّ الْإِعْرَابِ مِنَ الِاسْمِ هُوَ الْحَرْفُ الْآخِرُ.
Translation: Noun case has three states: nominative, accusative and genitive. The governor brings about the case, and the last letter of the noun is where its sign appears.

مِثَالُ الْكُلِّ: نَحْوُ: «قَامَ زَيْدٌ»، فَـ«قَامَ» عَامِلٌ، وَ«زَيْدٌ» مُعْرَبٌ، وَالضَّمَّةُ إِعْرَابٌ، وَالدَّالُ مَحَلُّ الْإِعْرَابِ.
Translation: In قَامَ زَيْدٌ, قَامَ is the governor, زَيْدٌ the declinable noun, ḍamma the case sign, and the letter د its location.

3. Which Words Can Be Inflected?

وَاعْلَمْ: أَنَّهُ لَا يُعْرَبُ فِي كَلَامِ الْعَرَبِ إِلَّا الِاسْمُ الْمُتَمَكِّنُ وَالْفِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعُ، وَسَيَجِيءُ حُكْمُهُ فِي الْقِسْمِ الثَّانِي إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى.
Translation: Know that, in Arabic speech, only the fully established/declinable noun and the imperfect verb have iʿrāb. The rule for the latter will come in the book's second major division, God willing.

We are studying noun case first. For now, simply recognize that the imperfect verb may also be inflected; its detailed rules are reserved for the later section.

4. The First of Nine Noun-Case Classes

فَصْلٌ فِي أَصْنَافِ إِعْرَابِ الِاسْمِ: وَهِيَ تِسْعَةُ أَصْنَافٍ: الْأَوَّلُ: أَنْ يَكُونَ الرَّفْعُ بِالضَّمَّةِ، وَالنَّصْبُ بِالْفَتْحَةِ، وَالْجَرُّ بِالْكَسْرَةِ.
Translation: A section on the classes of noun case-marking. There are nine classes. In the first, the nominative takes ḍamma, the accusative takes fatḥa, and the genitive takes kasra.

This lesson covers only the first of the nine classes. We will study the other classes in the book's order in later levels.

5. Three Case States and Their Signs

Nominative (rafʿ), accusative (naṣb), and genitive (jarr) are three case states of a noun. In this first class their usual signs are:
Nominative ← ḍamma: زَيْدٌ
Accusative ← fatḥa: زَيْدًا
Genitive ← kasra: زَيْدٍ

Distinguish the two: case states are grammatical functions; the vowels shown here are the case signs.

6. Which Nouns Follow This Pattern?

وَيَخْتَصُّ بِالِاسْمِ الْمُفْرَدِ الْمُنْصَرِفِ الصَّحِيحِ.
Translation: This rule particularly applies to the singular, fully declinable, sound-final noun.

The author then brings two further groups under the same pattern: nouns treated like sound-final nouns and fully declinable broken plurals.

“Particularly” identifies the groups in the book's first class; it does not mean that these case signs can never occur elsewhere.

7. What Is a Sound-Final Singular Noun?

وَهُوَ عِنْدَ النُّحَاةِ: مَا لَا يَكُونُ فِي آخِرِهِ حَرْفُ عِلَّةٍ، كَـ«زَيْدٍ».
Translation: According to grammarians, a sound-final noun is one whose final letter is not a weak letter, such as “زَيْدٍ.”

زَيْد is a singular noun ending in the consonant د rather than a weak letter. It therefore illustrates this class.

Here “sound” is a technical description of the final letter, not a judgment that other Arabic words are incorrect.

8. Singular, Fully Declinable, Sound-Final

The book combines three different descriptions of the same noun:
Singular: referring to one person or thing, such as زَيْدٌ.
Fully declinable (munṣarif): normally taking tanwīn and kasra in the genitive, as زَيْدٌ، زَيْدًا، زَيْدٍ do.
Sound-final: not ending in a weak letter, as in زَيْدٌ.

Important: being singular alone is not enough. The book also specifies fully declinable and sound-final.

9. Zayd as a Nominative Subject

قَامَ زَيْدٌ.
Translation: Zayd stood up.

Grammatical analysis
قَامَ: past-tense verb, built on fatḥa.
زَيْدٌ: subject (fāʿil), nominative with a visible ḍamma.

The verb requires a subject, so Zayd is nominative. Notice the ending of the word: زَيْدُ.

10. Zayd as an Accusative Object

رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا.
Translation: I saw Zayd.

Grammatical analysis
رَأَيْتُ: past-tense verb; the final تُ is the subject pronoun, “I.”
زَيْدًا: direct object, accusative with a visible fatḥa.

Zayd is the person seen. The word therefore appears as زَيْدًا. The written alif accompanying accusative tanwīn is not itself the primary case sign; that sign is fatḥa.

11. Zayd after a Preposition

مَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ.
Translation: I passed by Zayd.

Grammatical analysis
مَرَرْتُ: past-tense verb; تُ is the subject pronoun.
بِـ: preposition (ḥarf jarr).
زَيْدٍ: genitive noun with a visible kasra.

The preposition بِـ governs the genitive here. Compare the same noun in its three forms: زَيْدٌ ← زَيْدًا ← زَيْدٍ.

12. Nouns Treated Like Sound-Final Nouns

وَبِالْجَارِي مَجْرَى الصَّحِيحِ، وَهُوَ مَا يَكُونُ فِي آخِرِهِ وَاوٌ أَوْ يَاءٌ مَا قَبْلَهُمَا سَاكِنٌ، كَـ«دَلْوٍ وَظَبْيٍ».
Translation: The same rule applies to what is treated like a sound-final noun: a word ending in wāw or yāʾ with a sukūn on the preceding letter, such as “دَلْوٍ” and “ظَبْيٍ.”

دَلْو means “bucket” and ظَبْي means “gazelle.” Their final wāw or yāʾ can carry the visible case endings, so the author places them in the same class as sound-final nouns.

13. Dalw in Three Cases

دَلْوٌ — nominative, ḍamma on the final wāw: a bucket.
دَلْوًا — accusative, fatḥa on the final wāw: a bucket as an object.
دَلْوٍ — genitive, kasra on the final wāw: a bucket after a genitive governor.

Why? In دَلْو, the lām before the final wāw bears sukūn. The wāw carries visible case vowels. Unlike the earlier example مُوسَىٰ, its three cases are not all estimated.

14. Ẓaby in Three Cases

ظَبْيٌ — nominative, ḍamma on the yāʾ.
ظَبْيًا — accusative, fatḥa on the yāʾ.
ظَبْيٍ — genitive, kasra on the yāʾ.

ظَبْي means “gazelle.” The bāʾ before its final yāʾ bears sukūn, so it is treated like a sound-final noun.

Be precise: not every word ending in wāw or yāʾ belongs here. The book specifically requires the preceding letter to be sākin.

15. A Fully Declinable Broken Plural

وَبِالْجَمْعِ الْمُكَسَّرِ الْمُنْصَرِفِ، كَـ«رِجَالٍ».
Translation: The same rule applies to the fully declinable broken plural, such as “رِجَالٍ.”

رَجُلٌ means “a man,” while رِجَالٌ means “men.” The internal pattern changes in forming the plural; it is thus a broken plural.

رِجَالٌ is nominative, رِجَالًا accusative, and رِجَالٍ genitive. Do not overlook the condition that this broken plural is fully declinable.

16. The Book’s Nominative Example

تَقُولُ: «جَاءَنِي زَيْدٌ وَدَلْوٌ وَظَبْيٌ وَرِجَالٌ».
Translation: You say: “Zayd, a bucket, a gazelle, and some men came to me.”

Grammatical analysis
جَاءَنِي: past-tense verb with the first-person object pronoun ي.
زَيْدٌ: subject, nominative with ḍamma.
وَدَلْوٌ، وَظَبْيٌ، وَرِجَالٌ: coordinated nouns following Zayd's nominative case.

The sentence groups unrelated things deliberately to demonstrate ḍamma on four noun types, not to provide a realistic narrative.

17. The Book’s Accusative Example

وَرَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا وَدَلْوًا وَظَبْيًا وَرِجَالًا.
Translation: “And I saw Zayd, a bucket, a gazelle, and some men.”

Grammatical analysis
رَأَيْتُ: past-tense verb; تُ is the subject pronoun “I.”
زَيْدًا: direct object, accusative with fatḥa.
وَدَلْوًا، وَظَبْيًا، وَرِجَالًا: coordinated nouns following Zayd's accusative case.

All four nouns belong to the groups described by the author and show a visible fatḥa here.

18. The Book’s Genitive Example

وَمَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ وَدَلْوٍ وَظَبْيٍ وَرِجَالٍ.
Translation: “And I passed by Zayd, a bucket, a gazelle, and some men.”

Grammatical analysis
مَرَرْتُ: past-tense verb with subject pronoun تُ.
بِـ: preposition.
زَيْدٍ: genitive noun with kasra.
وَدَلْوٍ، وَظَبْيٍ، وَرِجَالٍ: coordinated nouns following the genitive case of Zayd.

The genitive governor بِـ applies to the whole coordinated phrase; the following nouns share that grammatical case.

19. Contrast with Estimated Case

The previous lesson used مُوسَىٰ. Its final alif maqṣūra does not visibly carry ḍamma, fatḥa, or kasra, so its case ending is estimated.

This lesson's زَيْدٌ، دَلْوٌ، ظَبْيٌ، رِجَالٌ show their case signs on the final letter. Their case marking is visible.

Principle
A final wāw or yāʾ does not automatically make every case ending estimated. The book explicitly classifies دَلْو and ظَبْي as treated like sound-final nouns.

20. Practice with a Fresh Noun

Now apply the book's rule to a fresh example. These sentences are instructional additions, not quotations from the book.

حَضَرَ طَالِبٌ. — A student arrived. طَالِبٌ is a nominative subject.
رَأَيْتُ طَالِبًا. — I saw a student. طَالِبًا is an accusative direct object.
سَلَّمْتُ عَلَى طَالِبٍ. — I greeted a student. طَالِبٍ is genitive after the preposition عَلَى.

The noun stays the same in identity; the changing governor and syntactic role change its final case sign.

21. Reading the Endings Correctly

Read these examples and identify the case before reading the explanation.

خَرَجَ رِجَالٌ. — Men went out. رِجَالٌ is a nominative subject with ḍamma.
رَأَيْتُ رِجَالًا. — I saw men. رِجَالًا is an accusative direct object with fatḥa.
مَرَرْتُ بِرِجَالٍ. — I passed by men. رِجَالٍ is a genitive noun with kasra.

Check yourself
Does being plural change these particular signs? No. It is a fully declinable broken plural in the book's first class.

22. Common Errors to Avoid

Mistake 1: treating nominative and ḍamma as synonyms. One is a grammatical case; the other is its sign here.

Mistake 2: classifying دَلْو and ظَبْي as having only estimated case just because they end in wāw or yāʾ. The book treats them as sound-final equivalents.

Mistake 3: excluding رِجَالٌ merely because it is plural. It is a fully declinable broken plural and takes these same signs.

Mistake 4: calling وَدَلْوٌ an independent subject in the author's list. It is a coordinated noun sharing the first noun's case.

23. Lesson Summary and Next Step

1. The book recognizes nine classes of noun case-marking; we studied only the first.
2. This first class takes ḍamma for nominative, fatḥa for accusative, kasra for genitive.
3. It covers the singular sound-final fully declinable noun, certain wāw/yāʾ-final equivalents, and the fully declinable broken plural.
4. The book's examples are زَيْدٌ، دَلْوٌ، ظَبْيٌ، رِجَالٌ.
5. Subjects are nominative, direct objects accusative, and nouns after a preposition genitive in these examples.

The next lesson takes up the second class in the source; first complete this level's quiz.