Types of Khabar and the Linking Pronoun

1. Source: A Khabar May Be a Clause

وقد يكون الخبر جملة اسمية، نحو: «زيد أبوه قائم» أو فعلية، نحو: «زيد قام أبوه» أو شرطية، نحو: «زيد إن جاءني فأكرمته» أو ظرفية، نحو: «زيد خلفك» و«عمرو في الدار».
Translation: The predicate can be a nominal clause, a verbal clause, a conditional construction, or a locative/prepositional expression, as illustrated by the author.

Khabar is not always one word. An entire clause, or a quasi-clausal expression, can function as the predicate. We will parse the four source patterns separately.

2. Single-word vs Clause Predicates

In زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ, «قَائِمٌ» is a single-word predicate. In زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ, the entire clause «أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ» is the predicate.

The term mufrad khabar means “not a clause or quasi-clause,” not “singular in number.”

3. Nominal Clause as Khabar: Source Example

زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ
Translation: Zayd’s father is standing.

The inner nominal sentence «أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ» says something about Zayd’s father. That entire inner sentence serves as the predicate of the outer subject «زَيْدٌ».

4. Full Parsing of the Nominal-Clause Predicate

زَيْدٌ: first mubtadaʾ, nominative by ḍamma.
أَبُوهُ: second mubtadaʾ, nominative by wāw under the six-nouns rule; the attached «ـهُ» is a genitive possessor pronoun.
قَائِمٌ: predicate of the second mubtadaʾ, nominative.
أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ: nominal clause, in the nominative syntactic position of the first mubtadaʾ’s predicate.

Link: «ـهُ» refers back to Zayd.

5. Why Are There Two Subjects?

«أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ» contains its own mubtadaʾ and khabar. As a unit it tells us about «زَيْدٌ», so it functions as a clausal predicate.

Do not flatten the structure by treating «قَائِمٌ» directly as Zayd’s predicate; it predicates standing of his father.

6. Verbal Clause as Khabar: Source Example

زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ
Translation: Zayd’s father stood up.

«قَامَ أَبُوهُ» is a verbal clause made up of a verb and its subject. The entire verbal clause is the predicate of the initial mubtadaʾ «زَيْدٌ».

7. Full Parsing of the Verbal-Clause Predicate

زَيْدٌ: nominative mubtadaʾ.
قَامَ: past-tense verb built on fatḥ.
أَبُوهُ: verb’s subject, nominative by wāw; «ـهُ» is the genitive possessor and referential link to Zayd.
قَامَ أَبُوهُ: whole verbal clause, in the nominative syntactic position of Zayd’s predicate.

Zayd is not the grammatical subject of «قَامَ» here; «أَبُوهُ» is.

8. Compare the Two Source Clauses

زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ: the inner predicate is a nominal clause.
زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ: the inner predicate is a verbal clause.

In both cases «ـهُ» links the clause to Zayd, but the inner clause has a different structure.

9. A Hidden Pronoun as the Link

زَيْدٌ قَامَ
Translation: Zayd stood.

«زَيْدٌ» is mubtadaʾ; «قَامَ» has a concealed subject pronoun «هُوَ» referring to Zayd. Verb plus hidden subject form the predicate.

This is an added teaching example; the book’s main source example is «زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ».

10. Conditional Construction as Khabar

زَيْدٌ إِنْ جَاءَنِي فَأَكْرَمْتُهُ
Translation: As for Zayd, if he came to me, I honoured him.

«إِنْ» introduces a condition. The hidden subject of «جَاءَنِي» is Zayd; the object pronoun «ـهُ» in «أَكْرَمْتُهُ» also refers to him. Together they link the conditional statement to the mubtadaʾ.

11. Parsing the Conditional Example

زَيْدٌ: nominative mubtadaʾ.
إِنْ: jussive conditional particle.
جَاءَنِي: past verb in the syntactic position of the jussive conditional verb; implicit subject “he” refers to Zayd, and «نِي» is its object.
فَأَكْرَمْتُهُ: «فَ» connects the response; «تُ» is the doer of “I honoured,” and «هُ» the object, Zayd.

The author gives the conditional construction as a whole as khabar. At this stage, recognise the condition, response and referential link.

12. Locative Predicate: A Spatial Adverb

زَيْدٌ خَلْفَكَ
Translation: Zayd is behind you.

«خَلْفَ» is an accusative adverb of place and a muḍāf; «كَ» is its genitive attached pronoun. The predicate states Zayd’s location through this adverbial expression.

13. Prepositional Phrase as Khabar

عَمْرٌو فِي الدَّارِ
Translation: ʿAmr is in the house.

عَمْرٌو: nominative mubtadaʾ.
فِي: preposition.
الدَّارِ: noun made genitive by «فِي».
فِي الدَّارِ: prepositional phrase attached to an understood predicate-related element.

The preposition alone is not the predicate; analyse the phrase as a unit.

14. Source: The Understood Related Clause

والظرف متعلق بجملة عند الأكثر، وهي استقرّ مثلاً: تقول: زيد في الدار، تقديره: زيد استقرّ في الدار.
Translation: According to the view described by the author, the locative expression is attached to an understood clause such as «اسْتَقَرَّ» (“settled/remained”).

The verb is not overt in «زَيْدٌ فِي الدَّارِ». The reconstruction «زَيْدٌ اسْتَقَرَّ فِي الدَّارِ» explains the understood relation; it is not a claim that an extra verb appears in the actual sentence.

15. Two Explanatory Reconstructions

For «زَيْدٌ فِي الدَّارِ», grammatical explanation may reconstruct an understood verb «اسْتَقَرَّ» or an understood participle «مُسْتَقِرٌّ».

The source specifically mentions the verbal reconstruction. Neither reconstruction is an extra overt word in the sentence. They explain how the locative phrase is predicated of Zayd.

16. Source Rule: A Clause Needs a Link

ولا بدّ في الجملة من ضمير يعود إلى المبتدأ، كالهاء فيما مرّ، ويجوز حذفه عند وجود قرينة.
Translation: The predicate clause needs a pronoun referring back to the mubtadaʾ, as with «ه» in the preceding examples. It may sometimes be omitted when context makes the link clear.

The linking pronoun shows that the inner clause concerns the original topic. In «زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ», «ـهُ» establishes that the father belongs to Zayd.

17. What the Link Actually Does

زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ: «ـهُ» connects the father to Zayd.
زَيْدٌ أَبُو عَمْرٍو قَائِمٌ: without further context, the inner clause is about ʿAmr’s father and lacks an evident connection to Zayd.

The link need not always be an overt «ـهُ»: a concealed pronoun can serve, and some contextual constructions allow omission.

18. Compare Three Linking Pronouns

زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ قَائِمٌ: overt link in the second mubtadaʾ.
زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ: overt link in the verbal subject.
زَيْدٌ قَامَ: hidden subject «هُوَ» links back to Zayd.

The original mubtadaʾ is the same in all three examples; the predicate structure and link location differ.

19. Source: An Omitted Referential Link

نحو: «السمن منوان بدرهم».
Translation: Example: Ghee—two measures for a dirham. The context tells us that the measures are of that same ghee.

السَّمْنُ is the first mubtadaʾ. The following measure-and-price clause acts as its predicate, while «مِنْهُ» (“of it”) is understood as a linking expression, not actually spoken.

20. Full Parsing: Measures of Ghee

السَّمْنُ: first mubtadaʾ, nominative.
مَنَوَانِ: second mubtadaʾ, dual nominative by alif; two measures, not two people.
بِدِرْهَمٍ: preposition plus genitive noun, expressing the price.
مَنَوَانِ بِدِرْهَمٍ: nominal clause functioning as the first subject’s predicate.
مِنْهُ is a contextually understood link: «مَنَوَانِ مِنْهُ بِدِرْهَمٍ».

21. Why Is an Omitted Link Recoverable?

The topic “ghee” is followed immediately by the quantity and price of that very commodity. This context is the qarīna that licenses understanding “of it.”

Do not invent an omitted link in every disconnected clause. Omission requires a meaningful contextual indication.

22. Source: A Further Price Illustration

«والبُرّ الكُرّ بستين درهماً».
Translation: And wheat—one kurr (a classical measure) for sixty dirhams.

الْبُرُّ means wheat; الْكُرُّ is an old unit of dry measure, not «كُلّ» meaning “every.” The expression «بِسِتِّينَ دِرْهَمًا» names the price.

23. Parsing the Wheat-and-Price Example

الْبُرُّ: first nominative mubtadaʾ.
الْكُرُّ: second nominative mubtadaʾ, a measure.
بِسِتِّينَ: bāʾ plus «سِتِّينَ», genitive by yāʾ under the sound-masculine-plural-like inflection of tens.
دِرْهَمًا: accusative tamyīz, specifying the currency.
الْكُرُّ بِسِتِّينَ دِرْهَمًا: nominal clause serving as the first mubtadaʾ’s predicate; «مِنْهُ» is understood from context.

24. Source: The Predicate Can Come First

وقد يتقدم الخبر على المبتدأ، نحو: «في الدار زيد».
Translation: Sometimes the predicate precedes the mubtadaʾ, as in “In the house is Zayd.”

In فِي الدَّارِ زَيْدٌ, «فِي الدَّارِ» functions as a fronted predicate, and «زَيْدٌ» is the delayed mubtadaʾ. First position does not automatically mean mubtadaʾ.

25. Compare Ordinary and Fronted Word Order

زَيْدٌ فِي الدَّارِ: Zayd is the first-position mubtadaʾ.
فِي الدَّارِ زَيْدٌ: the prepositional predicate is fronted and Zayd is the delayed mubtadaʾ.

The core location remains the same, but the discourse emphasis may change. Zayd remains nominative in both.

26. Source: Several Predicates for One Subject

ويجوز للمبتدأ الواحد أخبار كثيرة، نحو: «زيد عالم فاضل عاقل».
Translation: One mubtadaʾ may have several predicates, such as “Zayd is knowledgeable, virtuous and intelligent.”

زَيْدٌ is the nominative mubtadaʾ; «عَالِمٌ», «فَاضِلٌ», and «عَاقِلٌ» are three independent predicates about Zayd in the author’s example.

27. Several Predicates or a Noun with Adjectives?

The author explicitly illustrates multiple predicates with this sentence. Yet in other contexts an adjective may modify a preceding noun rather than form an additional predicate.

Read the intended meaning: does each descriptor make a new assertion, or merely qualify the preceding noun? The source uses the former analysis.

28. Compare Four Khabar Patterns

زَيْدٌ عَالِمٌ: single-word predicate.
زَيْدٌ أَبُوهُ عَالِمٌ: nominal-clause predicate with overt link.
زَيْدٌ جَلَسَ: verbal-clause predicate with hidden-link subject.
زَيْدٌ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ: quasi-clausal locative predicate.

The latter examples illustrate the contrasts; they are not all verbatim quotations from the book.

29. A Clause’s Syntactic Position vs Word Endings

When a whole clause is khabar, the entire clause occupies the nominative syntactic position. That does not make each word nominative.

In «زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ», the past verb is indeclinable, the subject is nominative, and the entire verbal clause serves as the khabar in the nominative syntactic slot.

30. Six Common Errors

1. Making only «قَائِمٌ» the direct khabar of outer Zayd.
2. Ignoring the wāw nominative in «أَبُوهُ».
3. Treating Zayd as the verb’s subject in «زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ».
4. Calling any pronoun a link without checking its antecedent.
5. Calling «فِي» alone the whole predicate.
6. Treating an understood, omitted link as an overt word in the source text.

31. A Five-Step Method for Parsing

Ask five questions in order: (1) What is the main mubtadaʾ? (2) Is the predicate a word, clause or quasi-clause? (3) What is the clause’s internal grammar? (4) Where is the link to the main topic? (5) What is each word’s inflection or syntactic position?

The same method works for both overt and understood links.

32. Lesson Summary

Khabar can be a single word, a complete clause, or a quasi-clausal phrase. Nominal clauses have an internal subject and predicate; verbal clauses a verb and its subject. A linking pronoun connects the clausal predicate to the main mubtadaʾ; it can be overt, concealed, or contextually omitted. Locative expressions have an understood relation, and predicates may be fronted or multiple.