Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Elementary Arabic Morphology 2 Definite and Indefinite Nouns What is an indefinite noun? What is a definite noun? How many types of definite nouns are there? How is an indefinite noun made definite? An indefinite noun is a noun that is common amongst a certain species, not specific to any one of the instances. For example: قَلَمٌ (pen) and بُستانٌ (garden). A definite noun is a noun that indicates a specific instance from a species.
For example: القَلَمُ (the pen) and البُستانُ There are six forms of definite nouns: • Proper nouns: سلیمان (Solomon) • Pronouns: أنا (I) • Demonstrative pronouns: هذا (this) • conjuncts: الذي (he who) • Made definite by a alif-lām: الرجل (the man) • Compliment of a prefixed noun: کتابُ الرجل (The man's book) A common noun is made definite in the following ways: • if an alif-lām is added to it (and the nunation is erased if it was nunated). For example: کتابٌ (a book) becomes الکتابُ (the book).