The Tawābiʿ and Naʿt: Direct and Relational Attributes

1. The Book: The Tawābiʿ

الْخَاتِمَةُ: فِي التَّوَابِعِ
Translation: Closing section: on grammatical followers (tawābiʿ).

Earlier chapters treated case endings assigned by governing elements. This chapter turns to a follower: a word whose case follows that of an earlier word rather than being assigned independently.

2. The Book: Defining a Follower

وَقَدْ يَكُونُ إِعْرَابُ الِاسْمِ بِتَبَعِيَّةِ مَا قَبْلَهُ، وَيُسَمَّى التَّابِعَ؛ لِأَنَّهُ يَتْبَعُ مَا قَبْلَهُ فِي الْإِعْرَابِ.
Translation: A noun may acquire its case by following a preceding word. It is called a follower because it follows that preceding word in grammatical case.

The matbūʿ is the word followed, and the tābiʿ follows it. A matching ending alone does not tell you which type of follower is present.

3. The Book: The Technical Criterion

وَهُوَ كُلُّ ثَانٍ مُعْرَبٍ بِإِعْرَابِ سَابِقِهِ مِنْ جِهَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ.
Translation: A follower is a subsequent declinable word sharing the case of an earlier word in a single grammatical respect.

The qualification in one grammatical respect requires a syntactic relationship. Two adjacent words having the same case ending does not by itself establish a follower.

4. See the Change across Three Cases

جَاءَ زَيْدٌ الْكَرِيمُ: Zayd is the nominative subject; al-karīmu is its nominative adjective.
رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا الْكَرِيمَ: Zayd is the accusative object; al-karīma is accusative too.
مَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ الْكَرِيمِ: Zayd is genitive after bi-; al-karīmi follows in the genitive.

These are additional teaching examples: the governing role changes the first noun’s case; its adjective follows.

5. Five Classes of Followers

وَالتَّوَابِعُ خَمْسَةُ أَقْسَامٍ: النَّعْتُ، وَالْعَطْفُ بِالْحُرُوفِ، وَالتَّأْكِيدُ، وَالْبَدَلُ، وَعَطْفُ الْبَيَانِ.
Translation: There are five classes of followers: adjective (naʿt), conjunction-based coordination, emphasis (tawkīd), replacement/apposition (badal), and explicative apposition (ʿaṭf al-bayān).

This is the book’s complete list of five. Level 45 develops the first class, naʿt; the others follow in their own sections.

6. Do Not Confuse Every Follower with an Adjective

جَاءَ زَيْدٌ الْعَالِمُ: al-ʿālimu expresses Zayd’s quality: adjective.
جَاءَ زَيْدٌ وَعَمْرٌو: ʿAmrun is coordinated by wāw, not an adjective.
جَاءَ زَيْدٌ نَفْسُهُ: nafsuhu adds emphasis.

These are teaching examples: equal case does not mean equal function.

7. The Book: What is Naʿt?

النَّعْتُ تَابِعٌ يَدُلُّ عَلَى مَعْنًى فِي مَتْبُوعِهِ، نَحْوُ: «جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ»، أَوْ فِي مُتَعَلَّقِ مَتْبُوعِهِ، نَحْوُ: «جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ أَبُوهُ»، وَيُسَمَّى صِفَةً أَيْضًا.
Translation: Naʿt is a follower indicating a quality either in the noun it describes, as in “a learned man came to me,” or in something related to that noun, as in “a man whose father is learned came to me.” Naʿt is also called ṣifah.

In the first example the man himself is learned. In the second it is his father. This contrast generates the two main naʿt types.

8. Direct versus Relational Naʿt

Direct (ḥaqīqī) naʿt: the quality belongs to the described noun itself: جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ.
Relational (sababī) naʿt: the quality belongs to something related to that noun: جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ أَبُوهُ.

The man is the matbūʿ/manʿūt; in the second case the father is the related noun.

9. Full Parsing: A Learned Man Came

جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ — A learned man came to me.
جَاءَ: past verb.
نِي: protective nūn and attached first-person object pronoun, in accusative position.
رَجُلٌ: nominative subject, ḍammah.
عَالِمٌ: nominative direct adjective following rajulun.

The man himself possesses the quality.

10. Full Parsing: A Man Whose Father Is Learned

جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ أَبُوهُ — A man whose father is learned came to me.
جَاءَ: past verb, -nī its object.
رَجُلٌ: nominative subject.
عَالِمٌ: nominative relational adjective of rajulun.
أَبُوهُ: agent of the active participle, nominative with wāw (one of the six nouns); -hu is mudāf ilayh referring back to the man.

It is the father, not necessarily the man, who is learned.

11. The Book: Ten Agreement Features

وَالْقِسْمُ الْأَوَّلُ إِنَّمَا يَتْبَعُ مَتْبُوعَهُ فِي عَشَرَةِ أَشْيَاءَ: فِي الْإِعْرَابِ وَالتَّعْرِيفِ وَالتَّنْكِيرِ وَالْإِفْرَادِ وَالتَّثْنِيَةِ وَالْجَمْعِ وَالتَّذْكِيرِ وَالتَّأْنِيثِ.
Translation: The first type, direct naʿt, follows its noun in ten features: nominative, accusative, genitive; definite, indefinite; singular, dual, plural; masculine, feminine.

The count is 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10. “Case” is a single category but covers three cases; number covers three possibilities. The ten-count is complete.

12. Agreement in Case: Three Examples

جَاءَ رَجُلٌ صَالِحٌ: rajulun is subject and ṣāliḥun is its nominative adjective.
رَأَيْتُ رَجُلًا صَالِحًا: rajulan is object and ṣāliḥan is its accusative adjective.
سَلَّمْتُ عَلَى رَجُلٍ صَالِحٍ: both noun and adjective are genitive after ʿalā.

These teaching examples demonstrate that the adjective shares the noun’s case.

13. Agreement in Definiteness

جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ: the noun and adjective are both indefinite.
جَاءَنِي زَيْدٌ الْفَاضِلُ: Zayd is definite as a proper name, and al-fāḍilu is definite too.

In زَيْدٌ فَاضِلٌ, fāḍilun is normally a predicate, not a direct adjective, since the noun is definite and the predicate is indefinite.

14. The Book: Singular, Dual, Plural

نَحْوُ: «جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ، وَرَجُلَانِ عَالِمَانِ، وَرِجَالٌ عَالِمُونَ، وَزَيْدٌ الْعَالِمُ، وَامْرَأَةٌ عَالِمَةٌ».
Translation: For example: a learned man came; two learned men came; learned men came; learned Zayd came; a learned woman came.

These are the five book examples: singular, dual, plural, definiteness, and feminine gender. We parse them next.

15. Parsing Two Learned Men

جَاءَنِي رَجُلَانِ عَالِمَانِ — Two learned men came to me.
جَاءَ: singular past verb preceding an overt subject.
نِي: first-person object pronoun.
رَجُلَانِ: nominative dual subject, marked by alif.
عَالِمَانِ: nominative dual masculine adjective, also marked by alif.

The verb remains singular in the standard verb-first construction, while the subject and its adjective are dual.

16. Parsing Learned Men

جَاءَنِي رِجَالٌ عَالِمُونَ — Learned men came to me.
رِجَالٌ: nominative subject, a broken plural (ḍammah).
عَالِمُونَ: nominative adjective, a sound masculine plural (wāw).

The noun and adjective need appropriate agreement in case, gender, number and definiteness; they need not belong to the same morphological plural class.

17. Parsing Learned Zayd

جَاءَنِي زَيْدٌ الْعَالِمُ — Learned Zayd came to me.
زَيْدٌ: nominative proper-name subject, definite.
الْعَالِمُ: nominative, definite, masculine singular direct adjective.

The definite article on the adjective makes it match the proper noun in definiteness.

18. Parsing a Learned Woman

جَاءَنِي امْرَأَةٌ عَالِمَةٌ — A learned woman came to me.
امْرَأَةٌ: nominative singular feminine indefinite subject.
عَالِمَةٌ: nominative singular feminine indefinite adjective.

The adjective agrees not only in case, but also in gender and number.

19. Count the Ten Direct-Naʿt Features

Case: 1 nominative, 2 accusative, 3 genitive.
Definiteness: 4 definite, 5 indefinite.
Number: 6 singular, 7 dual, 8 plural.
Gender: 9 masculine, 10 feminine.

In the teaching example رَأَيْتُ طَالِبَتَيْنِ مُجْتَهِدَتَيْنِ, both forms are accusative dual feminine indefinite, marked by yāʾ.

20. The Book: Five Relational Agreements

وَالْقِسْمُ الثَّانِي إِنَّمَا يَتْبَعُ مَتْبُوعَهُ فِي الْخَمْسَةِ الْأُوَلِ فَقَطْ، أَعْنِي الْإِعْرَابَ وَالتَّعْرِيفَ وَالتَّنْكِيرَ.
Translation: The second kind—relational naʿt—follows its noun only in the first five features: nominative, accusative, genitive, definite and indefinite.

The total is 3 + 2 = 5. The relational adjective normally remains singular even when the matbūʿ is dual or plural. Its gender follows the related noun, while its case and definiteness follow the matbūʿ.

21. Gender Can Follow the Related Noun

جَاءَتْ امْرَأَةٌ صَالِحٌ أَبُوهَا — A woman whose father is righteous came.
امْرَأَةٌ: nominative feminine subject.
صَالِحٌ: nominative masculine relational adjective; its quality belongs to the father.
أَبُوهَا: subject of the active-participle adjective (nominative by wāw), with -hā referring to the woman.

This teaching example illustrates why the relational adjective need not match the woman in gender.

22. The Book’s Qurʾānic Example

نَحْوَ قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: «مِنْ هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا».
Translation: As in the Qurʾānic expression: “From this town whose people are wrongdoers.”

The expression is from Sūrat al-Nisāʾ 4:75. Al-qaryah is feminine, yet al-ẓālim is masculine because its quality belongs to ahluhā, the town’s people: a key case of relational naʿt.

23. Parsing the Qurʾānic Adjective

مِنْ هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا
مِنْ: preposition.
هَذِهِ: indeclinable demonstrative, genitive in position after min.
الْقَرْيَةِ: apposition/explicative apposition to hādhihi, genitive by kasrah.
الظَّالِمِ: genitive relational adjective following al-qaryati in case and definiteness.
أَهْلُهَا: nominative agent of the active participle (ḍammah); -hā refers to the village.

Al-ẓālim is masculine to suit ahl, not qaryah.

24. Two Diagnostic Questions for Sababī Naʿt

1. Does the adjective follow the first noun in case and definiteness? Al-qaryati and al-ẓālimi are both definite and genitive.
2. Whose quality is asserted? The village’s people, ahluhā, not the village itself.

When the quality belongs to a related noun, use the relational-naʿt analysis.

25. The Book: Specification and Clarification

تَخْصِيصُ الْمَنْعُوتِ إِنْ كَانَا نَكِرَتَيْنِ، نَحْوُ: «جَاءَنِي رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ»، وَتَوْضِيحُهُ إِنْ كَانَا مَعْرِفَتَيْنِ، نَحْوُ: «جَاءَنِي زَيْدٌ الْفَاضِلُ».
Translation: If both the noun and adjective are indefinite, the adjective specifies the noun; if both are definite, it clarifies the identification.

Takhsīṣ narrows an indefinite class (which sort of man?). Tawḍīḥ clarifies a definite referent (which Zayd?). Agreement can be parallel while the discourse function differs.

26. An Indefinite Adjective versus a Predicate

جَاءَ رَجُلٌ صَالِحٌ: ṣāliḥun is an adjective specifying which kind of man came.
الرَّجُلُ صَالِحٌ: ṣāliḥun is the predicate, making an assertion about the definite subject.

Use syntactic structure and agreement, not the adjective’s meaning alone.

27. The Book: Praise, Blame, and Emphasis

وَقَدْ يَكُونُ لِمُجَرَّدِ الثَّنَاءِ وَالْمَدْحِ، نَحْوُ: «بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ»، وَقَدْ يَكُونُ لِلذَّمِّ، نَحْوُ: «أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ»، وَقَدْ يَكُونُ لِلتَّأْكِيدِ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: «نَفْخَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ».
Translation: Naʿt may convey praise, as in al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm; blame, as in al-shayṭān al-rajīm; or emphasis, as in nafkhatun wāḥidah (“a single blast”).

These are additional functions of naʿt beyond specification and clarification. They are examples explicitly supplied by the book.

28. Parsing the Adjectives of Praise

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ — In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
بِـ: preposition.
اسْمِ: genitive after bi-; mudāf.
اللَّهِ: genitive mudāf ilayh.
الرَّحْمَنِ، الرَّحِيمِ: definite genitive adjectives of Allah, both agreeing in case and definiteness.

Their function here is praise.

29. Parsing an Adjective of Blame

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ — I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the rejected.
أَعُوذُ: indicative present verb; implicit “I” as subject.
بِاللَّهِ: prepositional phrase linked to the verb.
الشَّيْطَانِ: genitive under min.
الرَّجِيمِ: genitive adjective agreeing with al-shayṭān, here conveying blame.

30. A Single Blast: Naʿt for Emphasis

نَفْخَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ — One single blast.
نَفْخَةٌ: feminine singular indefinite nominative noun.
وَاحِدَةٌ: feminine singular indefinite nominative adjective.

In the Qurʾānic clause from which the book quotes this phrase, nafkhatun is nāʾib fāʿil, and wāḥidatun is its adjective of emphasis.

31. The Book: A Sentence as an Adjective

وَاعْلَمْ: أَنَّ النَّكِرَةَ تُوصَفُ بِالْجُمْلَةِ الْخَبَرِيَّةِ، نَحْوُ: «مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ أَبُوهُ عَالِمٌ» أَوْ «قَامَ أَبُوهُ».
Translation: Know that an indefinite noun may be described by a declarative sentence, such as “I passed by a man whose father is learned” or “whose father stood up.”

A declarative clause can be nominal or verbal. As an adjective of an indefinite noun, the entire clause occupies the syntactic position of a naʿt.

32. Parsing the Nominal-Sentence Attribute

مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ أَبُوهُ عَالِمٌ — I passed by a man whose father is learned.
مَرَرْتُ: past verb with subject tāʾ.
بِرَجُلٍ: preposition plus genitive indefinite noun.
أَبُوهُ: nominative mubtadaʾ by wāw; -hu links to the man.
عَالِمٌ: nominative predicate.
أَبُوهُ عَالِمٌ: the whole nominal sentence is an adjective in the genitive position of rajulin.

The words inside the clause keep their own cases; it is the clause’s position that is genitive.

33. Parsing the Verbal-Sentence Attribute

مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ قَامَ أَبُوهُ — I passed by a man whose father stood up.
مَرَرْتُ: past verb with its subject pronoun.
بِرَجُلٍ: genitive indefinite noun after bi-.
قَامَ: past verb.
أَبُوهُ: nominative subject by wāw, with -hu referring back to the man.
قَامَ أَبُوهُ: the whole verbal clause is a naʿt in genitive position.

34. Find the Link in a Sentence Attribute

مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ أَبُوهُ عَالِمٌ: -hu points back to rajulin.
مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ قَامَ أَبُوهُ: the same attached pronoun links the verbal clause to the man.

A sentence after a noun is not automatically an adjectival clause; an appropriate meaningful and grammatical link must exist.

35. The Book: Pronouns and Adjectives

وَالْمُضْمَرُ لَا يُوصَفُ وَلَا يُوصَفُ بِهِ.
Translation: A pronoun is neither described by a regular adjective nor itself made a regular adjective, according to this rule.

Within the book’s ordinary naʿt construction, do not treat a bare pronoun as if it were an ordinary noun taking an adjective. Other constructions such as badal or emphasis must be analyzed separately.

36. One Idea, Three Distinct Structures

رَجُلٌ عَالِمٌ: the second indefinite word can be a direct adjective.
الرَّجُلُ عَالِمٌ: the indefinite ʿālimun is a predicate of a definite noun.
مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ أَبُوهُ عَالِمٌ: the entire nominal clause is a sentence adjective in genitive position.

Same lexical meaning does not entail the same syntactic analysis.

37. Recap: Four Source Rules

1. The five tawābiʿ are naʿt, coordination, emphasis, badal and explicative apposition.
2. Direct naʿt follows ten case/definiteness/number/gender possibilities.
3. Relational naʿt follows the first five and describes a related noun.
4. An indefinite noun may take a whole declarative clause as its attribute, with a linking pronoun.

The functions of naʿt also include specification, clarification, praise, blame and emphasis.

38. Applied Review: Identify the Type

جَاءَ رَجُلٌ صَالِحٌ: direct adjective of the man.
جَاءَ رَجُلٌ صَالِحٌ أَبُوهُ: relational adjective describing the father.
مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ أَبُوهُ صَالِحٌ: whole nominal clause is a sentence adjective.

Use three tests: (1) identify the matbūʿ, (2) determine whose quality is described, and (3) decide whether the adjective is a single word or a whole sentence.