Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Elementary Arabic Syntax 2 Adjectives What is an adjective? An adjective is a word that describes a characteristic found in the word before it. For example: جاءَ التلمیذُ المجتهدُ (The striving student came.) How many types of adjectives are there? There are two types of adjectives: essential and non-essential. What is an essential adjective? An essential adjective indicates a characteristic that is in the described word.
For example: جاء الرجل العاقلُ (The rational man came.) What is the ruling regarding an essential adjective? An essential adjective follows the described word in: • being definite or indefinite: الثوبُ الممزّقُ (torn clothes) • being masculine or feminine: وَلَدٌ مُهَذَّبٌ (well-behaved child) • being singular, dual, or plural: عاملانِ ماهرانِ (two skilled workers) • the state of the word: عاملَین ماهرَین (two stilled workers) What is a non-essential adjective?
A non-essential adjective indicates a characteristic of a word that follows the described word. For example: جاء الرجلُ الکثیرُ مالُهُ (The man who has a lot of money came.) What is the ruling regarding a non-essential adjective?
A sentence or fragment can be an adjective only after an indefinite word, for example: سمعتُ شاعراً یُنشدُ (I heard a poet reciting poetry.) Previous Next