كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَهَا لَمْ يَلْبَثُوٓا۟ إِلَّا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَىٰهَا
Ayah summary
When people see the Resurrection, their life in this world will seem no longer than one evening or one morning.
Sentence structure
كَأَنَّهُمْ introduces a comparison. يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَهَا gives the time, and لَمْ يَلْبَثُوٓا۟ إِلَّا... is its predicate: it will seem that they stayed only an evening or its morning.
كَأَنَّهُمْ — As though they
Grammar: كَأَنَّ is a particle resembling a verb that expresses comparison; attached هُمْ is its noun.
يَوْمَ — (the) Day
Grammar: يَوْمَ is a time adverb functioning as the linked complement.
يَرَوْنَهَا — they see it
Grammar: third-person masculine plural imperfect verb. In the ending وْنَ, “و” is wāw al-jamāʿah, the attached subject pronoun, while “نَ” is the indicative nūn. Attached هَا is a third-person feminine singular pronoun functioning as object.
لَمْ — not
Grammar: لَمْ is a negative and jussive particle. The complete verbal clause لَمْ يَلْبَثُوٓا۟ إِلَّا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَىٰهَا functions as the predicate of كَأَنَّ.
يَلْبَثُوٓا۟ — they had remained
Grammar: A third-person masculine plural imperfect verb in the jussive mood, forming the verb of the predicate clause of كَأَنَّ. In the ending وٓا۟, “و” is wāw al-jamāʿah and the subject pronoun; the indicative nūn is omitted because of لَمْ, and the final alif is orthographic.
إِلَّا — except
Grammar: إِلَّا is a particle of restriction.
عَشِيَّةً — an evening
Grammar: An indefinite feminine accusative noun functioning as an adverb of time: an evening.
أَوْ — or
Grammar: أَوْ is a conjunction.
ضُحَىٰهَا — or its morning
Grammar: ضُحَىٰ is an accusative time expression coordinated with عَشِيَّةً; attached هَا is a genitive pronoun.