Iḍāfah (Arabic: إضافة) is the Arabic grammatical construct case, mostly used to indicate possession.
Iḍāfah basically entails putting one noun after another: the second noun specifies more precisely the nature of the first noun. In forms of Arabic which mark grammatical case, this second noun must be in the genitive case. The construction is typically equivalent to the English construction "(noun) of (noun)". It is a very widespread way of forming possessive constructions in Arabic,[1] and is typical of a Semitic language.[2] Simple examples include:
The Arabic grammatical terminology for this construction derives from the verb Arabic: أضاف ʼaḍāfa "he added, attached", verb form IV from the hollow root Arabic: ض ي ف ḍ y f.[3] [4]
The range of relationships between the first and second elements of the idafah construction is very varied, though usually consists of some relationship of possession or belonging.[6] In the case of words for containers, the iḍāfah may express what is contained: Arabic: فِنْجانُ قَهْوةٍ "a cup of coffee". The iḍāfah may indicate the material something is made of: Arabic: خاتَمُ خَشَبٍ "a wooden ring, ring made of wood". In many cases the two members become a fixed coined phrase, the idafah being used as the equivalent of a compound noun used in some Indo-European languages such as English. Thus Arabic: بَيْتُ الطَلَبةِ can mean "house of the (certain, known) students", but is also the normal term for "the student hostel".
The first term in iḍāfah has the following characteristics:[7]
The second term in iḍāfah has the following characteristics when it is a noun:[8]
iḍāfah constructions of multiple terms are possible, and in such cases, all but the final term are in the construct state, and all but the first member are in the genitive case. For example: Arabic: سَرْقةُ جَوازِ سَفَرِ أِحَدِ اللاعِبِينَ "the theft of the passport [literally "license of journey"] of one of the athletes".[9]
The iḍāfah construction as a whole is a noun phrase. It can be considered indefinite or definite only as a whole. An idafah construction is definite if the second noun is definite, by having the article or being the proper name of a place or person. The construction is indefinite if it the second noun is indefinite. Thus idafah can express senses equivalent to:
But it cannot express a sense equivalent to 'the house of a director': this sense has to be expressed with a prepositional phrase, using a preposition such as Arabic: لـِـ . For example:
Iḍāfah constructions can typically be distinguished from nominal sentences (Arabic: جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة) and from noun-adjective phrases (Arabic: اسْمٌ وَصِفَّة) by the case ending of the as well as the definiteness of the nouns.
| Arabic: بِنْتُ جَمِيْلَةٍ | Arabic: البِنْتُ جَمِيْلَةٌ | Arabic: بِنْتٌ جَمِيْلَةٌ | |
| bintu jamilatin | al-bintu jamilatun | bintun jamilatun | |
| the daughter of Jamila | The girl is beautiful. | a beautiful girl |
Nothing (except a demonstrative determiner) can appear between the two nouns in iḍāfah. If an adjective modifies the first noun, it appears at the end of the iḍāfah.
An adjective modifying the first noun appears at the end of the iḍāfah and agrees with the noun it describes in number, gender, case, and definiteness (the latter of which is determined by the last noun of the iḍāfah).[12]
| feminine nominative singular | indefinite (no adjective) | Arabic: فُرْشاةُ أَسْنانٍ | a toothbrush (literally "a brush of teeth") | |
| indefinite (adjective describing first noun) | Arabic: فُرْشاةُ أَسْنانٍ كَبِيرةٌ | a big toothbrush (literally "a big brush of teeth") | ||
| definite (no adjective) | Arabic: فُرْشاةُ الأَسْنانِ | the toothbrush (literally "brush of the teeth") | ||
| definite (adjective describing first noun) | Arabic: فُرْشاةُ الأَسْنانِ الكَبِيرةُ | the big toothbrush (literally "the big brush of the teeth") | ||
| masculine nominative singular | indefinite (no adjective) | Arabic: طَبِيبُ أَسْنانٍ | a dentist (literally "doctor of teeth") | |
| indefinite (adjective describing first noun) | Arabic: طَبِيبُ أَسْنانٍ كَبِيرٌ | a big dentist (literally "a big doctor of teeth") | ||
| definite (no adjective) | Arabic: طَبِيبُ الأَسْنانٍ | the dentist (literally "doctor of the teeth") | ||
| definite (adjective describing first noun) | ٌArabic: طَبِيبُ الأَسْنانٍ الكَبِيرُ | the big dentist (literally "the big doctor of the teeth") | ||
| feminine nominative singular | proper noun (no adjective) | Arabic: مَدِينةُ شِيكاغُو | city of Chicago, the city of Chicago | |
| proper noun (adjective describing first noun) | Arabic: مَدِينَةُ شِيكَاغُو الكَبِيرةُ | the big city of Chicago | ||
| masculine nominative singular | proper noun (no adjective) | Arabic: اِبنُ أَحْمَدَ | son of Ahmad, the son of Ahmad | |
| proper noun (adjective describing first noun) | Arabic: اِبنُ أَحْمَدَ الكَبِيرُ | the old son of Ahmad, Ahmad's old son |
An adjective modifying the last term appears at the end of the iḍāfah and agrees with the noun it describes in number, gender, definiteness, and case (which is always genitive).
| second word (always genitive):gender, number | state | Arabic script | transliteration | translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| feminine singular | indefinite (no adjective) | نَهْرُ مَدِينةٍ | nahr-u madīnat-in | a river of a town |
| indefinite (adjective describing last noun) | نَهْرُ مَدِينةٍ جَمِيلةٍ | nahr-u madīnat-in jamīlat-in | a river of a beautiful town | |
| definite (no adjective) | نَهْرُ المَدِينةِ | nahr-u l-madīnat-i | the river of the town | |
| definite (adjective describing last noun) | نَهْرُ المَدِينةِ الجَمِيلةِ | nahr-u l-madīnat-i l-jamīlat-i | the river of the beautiful town | |
| masculine singular | indefinite (no adjective) | نَهْرُ بَلَدٍ | nahr-u balad-in | a river of a country |
| indefinite (adjective describing last noun) | نَهْرُ بَلَدٍ جَمِيلٍ | nahr-u balad-in jamīl-in | a river of a beautiful country | |
| definite (no adjective) | نَهْرُ البَلَدِ | nahr-u l-balad-i | the river of the country | |
| definite (adjective describing last noun) | نَهْرُ البَلَدِ الجَمِيلِ | nahr-u l-balad-i l-jamīl-i | the river of the beautiful country |
If both terms in the iḍāfah are modified, the adjective modifying the last term is set closest to the iḍāfah, and the adjective modifying the first term is set further away.[13] For example:
The possessive suffix can also take the place of the second noun of an construction, in which case it is considered definite. Indefinite possessed nouns are also expressed via a preposition.
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | (poss.) (obj.) | |||
| 2nd | masculine | |||
| feminine | ||||
| 3rd | masculine | |||
| feminine | ||||
For all but the first person singular, the same forms are used regardless of the part of speech of the word attached to. In the third person masculine singular, occurs after the vowels u or a (), while occurs after i or y (). The same alternation occurs in the third person dual and plural.
Arabic: صَدِيقَتُهَا "her friend"
Arabic: صَدِيقَتُهَا الجَدِيدةُ "her new friend"
Arabic: صَدِيقةٌ لَهَا "a friend of hers"
Arabic: صَدِيقةٌ جَدِيدةٌ لَهَا "a new friend of hers"
In the first person singular, however, the situation is more complicated; "my" is attached to nouns. In the latter case, is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to before (presumably, of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to ). Examples:
| Person | Dual |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Arabic: مُعَلِّمايَ |
| Accusative | Arabic: مُعَلِّمَيَّ |
| Genitive |
| Person | Singluar | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Arabic: أَبِيّ | |
| Accusative | Arabic: أَبايَ | |
| Genitive | Arabic: أَبِيّ |
| Person | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | (poss.) (obj.) | |||
| 2nd | masculine | |||
| feminine | ||||
| 3rd | masculine | |||
| feminine | ||||
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | |||
| 2nd | masculine | ||
| feminine | |||
| 3rd | masculine | ||
| feminine | |||
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | |||
| 2nd | masculine | ||
| feminine | |||
| 3rd | masculine | ||
| feminine | |||
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | |||
| 2nd | |||
| 3rd | masculine | ||
| feminine | |||
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | |||
| 2nd | |||
| 3rd | masculine | ||
| feminine | |||