Seven cognitive verbs, complete source coverage, predicative objects, ilghāʾ, taʿlīq, co-referential pronouns and alternate senses Read the bilingual lesson for Verbs of the Heart: Two Objects, Cancellation and Suspension and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. New Chapter: Verbs of the Heart
فَصْلٌ: أَفْعَالُ الْقُلُوبِ
Translation: Chapter: verbs of the heart, denoting knowing, thinking or judging.
This chapter studies seven cognition/judgment verbs; their two accusative objects; cancellation and suspension of case government; and one-object senses.
2. The Seven Verbs: Original Text
عَلِمْتُ، وَظَنَنْتُ، وَحَسِبْتُ، وَخِلْتُ، وَرَأَيْتُ، وَوَجَدْتُ، وَزَعَمْتُ
Translation: I knew; supposed; reckoned; imagined; considered; found/realized; and claimed.
These are all seven verbs listed by the author; the common feature is cognitive or judgmental meaning.
3. Meanings of All Seven Verbs
The seven are ʿalima (know), ẓanna (suppose), ḥasiba (reckon), khāla (imagine), raʾā (consider), wajada (find/realize), zaʿama (claim or suppose). Meaning depends on usage.
4. Certainty, Supposition, and Claim
The commentary groups ʿalima, cognitive raʾā and wajada with certainty; ẓanna, ḥasiba and khāla with supposition; zaʿama can serve either contextual group. These are contextual classifications.
5. Why Called Verbs of the Heart?
The label describes cognition rather than physical action. Some of these verbs also have concrete non-cognitive senses.
6. Source Rule: Mubtada and Khabar
وَهِيَ أَفْعَالٌ تَدْخُلُ عَلَى الْمُبْتَدَأِ وَالْخَبَرِ فَتَنْصِبُهُمَا عَلَى الْمَفْعُولِيَّةِ، نَحْوَ: عَلِمْتُ زَيْدًا عَالِمًا
Translation: They enter upon a subject and predicate, putting both in the accusative as objects: I knew Zayd to be learned.
These verbs enter upon a predication and make its former subject and predicate two accusative objects.
7. Begin with an Ordinary Nominal Sentence
Zaydun is nominative subject; ʿālimun nominative predicate. The basic predication exists before a governing cognition verb is added.
8. After the Cognitive Verb Is Added
عَلِمْتُ زَيْدًا عَالِمًا
Translation: I knew Zayd to be learned.
ʿAlimtu is the past verb with subject pronoun; Zaydan is object 1 and ʿāliman object 2. They were formerly a subject–predicate pair.
9. Two Objects Convey One Proposition
The information known is one proposition: Zayd is learned. These objects correspond to a topic and its predication.
10. Same Pattern with Ẓanna
Al-ṭālibu mujtahidun turns into ẓanantu al-ṭāliba mujtahidan. Both predicative constituents become accusative objects.
11. Using Ḥasiba
حَسِبْتُ الطَّرِيقَ قَصِيرًا
Translation: I thought the road was short.
Ḥasib-tu governs al-ṭarīqa as first object and qaṣīran as second object.
12. Using Khāla
خِلْتُ صَدِيقِي مُسَافِرًا
Translation: I supposed my friend was travelling.
Khiltu is the first-person past form of khāla; ṣadīqī is first object with estimated accusative on the noun before yāʾ; musāfiran is second.
13. Raʾā in a Judgment Sense
رَأَيْتُ الْعَدْلَ نَافِعًا
Translation: I considered justice beneficial.
When raʾā means to judge or consider, it can govern two predicative objects; this differs from physical sight.
14. Wajada as Realizing a Quality
Wajadtu al-ṣabra nāfiʿan expresses a judgment about patience, with two objects.
15. Zaʿama: Reporting a Claim
Zaʿama can report a claim without endorsing its truth. Al-khabara and ṣaḥīḥan form the two-object predication.
16. Contrast with the Previous Level
Aʿṭaytu takes recipient and gift. ʿAlimtu takes a former subject and predicate, which express a single proposition.
17. Reconstruct the Underlying Predication
The two objects in a cognitive construction usually reconstruct a meaningful predication; recipient-and-gift objects do not.
18. Do Not Stop at Just One Object
أَنْ لَا تَقْتَصِرَ عَلَى أَحَدِ مَفْعُولَيْهَا بِخِلَافِ بَابِ «أَعْطَيْتُ»
Translation: One of their properties is not to restrict the expression to just one of their two objects, unlike the giving-verb class.
The chapter prohibits bare restriction to one of the linked objects in the two-object cognition sense.
19. Distinguish Restriction from Ellipsis
A bare first object without the predication is not the regular complete construction. Context-driven ellipsis is a separate issue, as noted in commentary.
20. When Can ʿAlimtu Zaydan Be Complete?
With ʿalima meaning “recognize/know a person”, one object is possible; the cognition-verb predication rule is no longer the relevant sense.
21. Property: Cancellation (Ilghāʾ)
If the cognition verb intervenes between the two predicative parts or follows both, it may have its case government canceled.
22. Author’s Example: Verb in the Middle
زَيْدٌ ظَنَنْتُ قَائِمٌ
Translation: Zayd, I think, is standing.
Zaydun remains nominative subject and qāʾimun nominative predicate, while parenthetical ẓanantu is syntactically canceled.
23. Author’s Example: Verb Comes Last
زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ ظَنَنْتُ
Translation: Zayd is standing, I think.
Both nouns remain nominative when ẓanantu follows the predication and is canceled.
24. The Verb May Still Govern in Medial Position
In medial position, both cancellation (nominative pair) and continuing government (accusative pair) are permitted in this grammatical treatment.
25. When the Verb Comes First
When ẓanantu precedes both complements, the normal construction requires two accusative objects. This is the standard rule taught by the author.
26. When Cancellation Is Possible
Verb first: government as the regular rule. Verb medial: government or cancellation. Verb final: cancellation is allowed and the commentary gives it preference.
27. Second Property: Suspension (Taʿlīq)
With interrogative, negative, or initial-lām expressions, visible government is suspended while the embedded clause retains its syntactic dependence.
28. Ilghāʾ vs. Taʿlīq
Cancellation removes government both overtly and positionally. Suspension blocks overt accusative while leaving the embedded clause occupying the objects’ position; the condition forces suspension.
29. Suspension before an Interrogative
عَلِمْتُ أَزَيْدٌ عِنْدَكَ أَمْ عَمْرٌ؟
Translation: I learned whether it was Zayd or ʿAmr who was with you.
The interrogative hamza prevents overt accusative on the clause’s predicative elements. The embedded interrogative clause fills the two-object position.
30. A Simpler Interrogative Example
عَلِمْتُ أَزَيْدٌ حَاضِرٌ؟
Translation: I learned whether Zayd was present.
The interrogative clause about Zayd remains internally nominative and is embedded as the content of the cognition verb.
31. Suspension with Negative Mā
عَلِمْتُ مَا زَيْدٌ فِي الدَّارِ
Translation: I knew that Zayd was not in the house.
The negative mā takes initial scope over the embedded clause. Zaydun remains nominative, and the full negative clause stands in for the two objects.
32. Suspension with Initial Lām
عَلِمْتُ لَزَيْدٌ مُنْطَلِقٌ
Translation: I knew that Zayd was indeed setting off.
The initial lām belongs to the embedded predication. It suspends the cognition verb’s overt accusative government.
33. Three Triggers in the Source
The author names three environments for obligatory suspension: interrogation, negation, and initial lām.
34. Parsing the Suspended Clause
The negative mā precedes an embedded nominal sentence. Its complete clause, not each separate noun, occupies the accusative syntactic slot of the two objects.
35. Three Ways of Treating the Predication
Government: two accusatives. Cancellation: two nominatives outside object government. Suspension: clause internally nominative, externally occupying the objects’ slot.
36. Subject and Object Referring to One Person
In this special construction the subject and first-object pronouns may refer to the same person, unlike the regular direct reflexive behavior of physical-action verbs.
37. Parsing ʿAlimtunī Munṭaliqan
عَلِمْتُنِي مُنْطَلِقًا
Translation: I knew myself to be setting off.
ʿAlimtu contains first-person subject; nī includes protective nūn and first-person object yāʾ; munṭaliqan is the second object.
38. Parsing Ẓanantaka Fāḍilan
ظَنَنْتَكَ فَاضِلًا
Translation: You considered yourself virtuous.
The subject ta and object ka refer to the same addressee; fāḍilan is second object.
39. Why Not the Same with Ḍaraba?
For an ordinary physical action, Arabic uses a reflexive expression such as ḍarabtu nafsī; the special first-person subject/object pronoun construction belongs to cognition verbs.
40. Change of Meaning Changes Object Count
The same lexical verb may take two predicative objects in a judgment sense but one object in a concrete/recognition sense.
41. Physical Sight vs. Mental Judgment
Raʾaytu al-qamara is physical perception (one object). Raʾaytu al-ʿadla nāfiʿan is a judgment (two objects).
42. Finding Something vs. Realizing a Quality
Finding a book takes one object; realizing patience to be beneficial expresses a predication with two objects.
43. Knowing a Person vs. Knowing a Proposition
ʿAlima in the recognition sense takes one object; in propositional knowledge it takes two.
44. Author’s Wording: Changes in Meaning
فَتَنْصِبُ مَفْعُولًا وَاحِدًا فَقَطْ، فَلَا تَكُونُ حِينَئِذٍ مِنْ أَفْعَالِ الْقُلُوبِ
Translation: They then govern only one object and are no longer treated as verbs of the heart in this two-object construction.
The author names four alternate senses: suspect, recognize, see with the eye, and find a lost object; in these senses the verbs take one object.
45. Two Accusatives Do Not Always Mean Cognition
Both giving verbs and cognition verbs can govern two accusatives; identify whether the two objects form an underlying predication.
46. Diagnostic: Government or Cancellation?
Verb position plus the visible case endings distinguish active government from cancellation.
47. Diagnostic: Suspension or Cancellation?
A fronted interrogative/negative/initial-lām embedded clause signals suspension; a medial or final cognition verb with nominative predication can signal cancellation.
48. Full Parsing Practice
ظَنَنْتُ الطَّالِبَ نَاجِحًا
Translation: I thought the student had passed.
ʿIʿrāb: ẓanantu is verb with subject ta; al-ṭāliba object 1; nājiḥan object 2. Original predication: al-ṭālibu nājiḥun.
49. Parsing Cancellation
الطَّالِبُ ظَنَنْتُ نَاجِحٌ
Translation: The student, I think, is successful.
Al-ṭālibu and nājiḥun are nominative subject and predicate; ẓanantu is canceled in the intervening position.
50. Parsing Suspension
عَلِمْتُ أَزَيْدٌ نَاجِحٌ؟
Translation: I learned whether Zayd was successful.
The interrogative particle keeps al-ṭālibu/nājiḥun nominative within the embedded clause; that clause occupies the two-object position.
51. Five Common Pitfalls
Five traps: conflating two-object classes, treating cancellation as obligatory, ignoring the suspended clause’s syntactic position, imposing one reading on raʾā, and ignoring one-object recognition senses.
52. Chapter Summary
Seven verbs; two objects from an underlying predication; no bare restriction to one; optional cancellation in medial/final placement; obligatory suspension before certain clause-initial elements; and alternate one-object senses.
53. Next Chapter
Next comes the chapter on deficient verbs such as kāna and its sisters, contrasting their nominative subject and accusative predicate with the two accusative objects in the current chapter.
Practice questions
Question 1
How many cognition verbs does this chapter enumerate?
Question 2
Which listed verb means “supposed”?
Question 3
Which is object 1 in ʿalimtu Zaydan ʿāliman?
- ʿĀliman
- Subject tāʾ
- Verb stem
- Zaydan
Question 4
What is object 2 in the same sentence?
- ʿAlimtu
- Zaydan
- ʿĀliman
- Subject tāʾ
Question 5
In Zaydun ʿālimun, what is ʿālimun?
- First object
- Nominative predicate
- Second object
- Verb subject
Question 6
What is qaṣīran in ḥasib-tu al-ṭarīqa qaṣīran?
- Accusative object 2
- Nominative subject
- Nominative mubtadaʾ
- Genitive possessor
Question 7
Khiltu is the first-person past form of which verb?
- Kharaja
- Khalaqa
- Khalaṣa
- Khāla
Question 8
Sense of raʾaytu in “I considered justice beneficial”?
- Physical sight only
- To hear
- To judge or consider
- To write
Question 9
What relation do the two objects of aʿṭaytu have?
- Underlying subject and predicate
- Recipient and gift
- Subject and proxy subject
- Possessor and possessed
Question 10
What is the underlying nominal sentence?
- Zaydun ʿālimun
- Zaydan ʿāliman
- ʿAlimtu Zaydan
- ʿĀlimun Zaydan
Question 11
Why is ʿalimtu Zaydan alone incomplete in the two-object cognition sense?
- Zayd is not a subject
- The verb is passive
- Preposition required
- Missing predication about Zayd
Question 12
How many objects when ʿalimtu means “recognized Zayd”?
Question 13
Which process is in Zaydun ẓanantu qāʾimun?
- Suspension
- Cancellation
- Government of two accusatives
- Genitive annexation
Question 14
What is Zaydun in the cancellation example?
- Nominative subject of nominal sentence
- Accusative object 1
- Kāna subject
- Genitive possessor
Question 15
Where is the cognitive verb placed?
- Before both
- Between them
- Before the genitive
- After both constituents
Question 16
Why are Zaydan and qāʾiman accusative in the medial example?
- Government is suspended
- Both are predicates
- Government is retained
- Preposition governs them
Question 17
Why are both objects accusative with verb first?
- Initial lām is present
- The cognition verb governs them
- Cancellation is required
- Both are subjects
Question 18
Positions that permit cancellation here?
- Medial or final
- Only at the start
- Only after a preposition
- Only after a question
Question 19
What case do mubtadaʾ and khabar retain in cancellation?
- Both accusative
- Both genitive
- One jussive
- Both nominative
Question 20
Trigger in ʿalimtu a-Zaydun ʿindaka am ʿAmrun?
- Preposition bi-
- Emphatic nūn
- Interrogative hamza
- Jussive lām
Question 21
What is mā in this source example?
- Conjunction
- Negator
- Relative pronoun
- Vocative particle
Question 22
What type of lām appears in this example?
- Initial lām
- Imperative lām
- Causal prepositional lām
- Lām of denial
Question 23
What remains with taʿlīq?
- Every word visibly accusative
- Verb loses meaning
- Subject is jussive
- Clause occupies object position
Question 24
What happens inside an embedded suspended clause?
- All nouns turn accusative
- All nouns turn genitive
- Internal nominal cases remain
- Verb is deleted
Question 25
Nominative constituents with the full clause filling objects’ position?
- Cancellation
- Suspension
- Genitive construction
- Vocative
Question 26
What is the case of Zayd inside the negative clause?
- Nominative
- Accusative
- Genitive
- Jussive
Question 27
Who does the -nī refer to?
- Third-person male
- Female addressee
- Dual third-person
- Speaker, also the subject
Question 28
What is the second object?
- Tāʾ of subject
- Protective nūn
- Munṭaliqan
- Verb root
Question 29
What is the role of -ka here?
- Subject
- First object
- Second object
- Genitive complement
Question 30
How many objects in raʾaytu al-qamara?
Question 31
Sense of wajadtu in wajadtu al-kitāba?
- Knew book as learned
- Book reported
- Supposed a book
- Found the book
Question 32
What sense of wajadtu is this?
- Finding an item only
- Intransitive verb
- Judgment with two objects
- Imperative
Question 33
What does zaʿama signal in this context?
- Claim must be true
- Reported claim, not guaranteed truth
- Imperative
- Both objects genitive
Question 34
Which sentence uses physical perception with one object?
- Raʾaytu al-qamara
- Raʾaytu al-ʿadla nāfiʿan
- ʿAlimtu Zaydan ʿāliman
- Ẓanantu al-walada ṣādiqan
Question 35
Which medial verb construction retains government?
- Zaydun ẓanantu qāʾimun
- Zaydun qāʾimun ẓanantu
- ʿAlimtu mā Zaydun fī al-dār
- Zaydan ẓanantu qāʾiman
Question 36
Which one shows suspension?
- Ẓanantu Zaydan qāʾiman
- Zaydun ẓanantu qāʾimun
- ʿAlimtu mā Zaydun fī al-dār
- Aʿṭaytu Zaydan kitāban
Question 37
What is nājiḥun in the canceled construction?
- Accusative object 2
- Nominative predicate
- Verbal subject
- Absolute object
Question 38
What syntactic position does the interrogative clause fill?
- Accusative slot of both objects
- Genitive possessor
- Nominative subject
- No syntactic role
Question 39
What was nājiḥan before ẓanna entered?
- Subject
- Preposition
- Possessive complement
- Predicate
Question 40
How does fī al-dār function in the embedded clause?
- Direct accusative object
- Nominative subject
- Prepositional predicate
- Negative particle
Question 41
Best way to identify cognitive two-object use?
- Only two fatḥas
- Meaning and underlying predication
- Always three nouns
- Just letters of verb
Question 42
ʿAlimtu, ẓanantu, and ḥasibtu belong to the chapter list.
Question 43
The two accusative objects began as a subject-predicate pair.
Question 44
Aʿṭaytu Zaydan kitāban contains two objects derived from mubtadaʾ and khabar.
Question 45
Bare mention of only one object is normally enough in the two-object cognition sense.
Question 46
Ẓanantu is canceled in Zaydun ẓanantu qāʾimun.
Question 47
Ilghāʾ applies only when the verb comes first.
Question 48
Medial ẓanantu can still govern two accusative objects.
Question 49
Suspension and cancellation have identical grammatical effect.
Question 50
Negative mā triggers suspension in the cited construction.
Question 51
With initial lām, the clause occupies the syntactic slot of the two objects.
Question 52
The subject and first-object pronouns co-refer in ʿalimtunī munṭaliqan.
Question 53
Ḍarabtunī is the standard reflexive form for a physical-action verb.
Question 54
Raʾaytu al-qamara is one-object physical sight.
Question 55
ʿAlimtu Zaydan is incorrect in every context.
Question 56
Two accusative nouns alone prove the verb belongs to this class.
Question 57
Zaʿama does not itself guarantee the truth of a claim.
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