This accounts for the initial confusion experienced by...

This accounts for the initial confusion experienced by Arabic beginners when they are told that the following are nouns in Arabic: جَميل (beautiful), قائمٌ (is standing), معَ (with), أمامَ (in front), خَلْفَ (behind), عِنْدَ (at, with), etc. As will be seen in the discussion of the signs of the Ism, the Fi‘l and the Ḥarf, what determines a word to be an Ism, Fi‘l or Ḥarf is the presence or absence of particular signs in the word rather than the meaning that it denotes.

Thus, a word could have the meaning of a Fi‘l but because it lacks the signs of the Fi‘l it is regarded as an Ism instead. Likewise, a word could have the meaning of a Ḥarf but because it displays the signs of a Fi‘l it is regarded as Fi‘l. [^7] The Fi‘l is generally defined as a word that denotes a meaning (in the form of an action, state or quality) that is complete in and by itself with time being a part of it.

Another way of defining the Fi‘l is to say that it is a word signifying the occurrence of an action in one of the three tenses (Past, Present and Future i.e. before, during and after the time of speaking respectively). [^8] The Ḥarf is generally defined as a word that denotes a meaning that is not complete in and by itself such that its meaning cannot be completely understood except with reference to an Ism or a Fi‘l.

It follows that the meaning of the Ḥarf is always relative such that it cannot be comprehended except with reference to words other than itself. The number of Ḥurūf that exist in Arabic is said to be eighty.

The following are some of the meanings and usages associated with the Ḥarf: Nafy (negation), Jawāb (responding), Tafsīr (explaining), Sharṭ (conditionality), Taḥḍīḍ (urgent request), ‘Arḍ (mild request), Tanbīh (calling attention to something), Istiqbāl (marking the Future), Taukīd (emphasis), Istifhām (interrogation), Tamannī (expressing a wish), Tarajjī and Ishfāq (expressing hope and pity), Tashbīh (comparison), Ta‘līl (causality), Rad‘ and Zajr (rebuke), Ta’nīţ (femininity), Sakt (pausing), Nidā’ (calling by way of address), Ṭalab (request in general), etc.

[^9] The reason for this qualification is to distinguish the word Ḥ arf as a particle from the word Ḥarf as a letter of the Arabic alphabet. A letter is not used to signify a meaning i.e. it has no Semantic value. Instead, it is used as a unit in the construction of words.