Coordination
Coordination joins a word to an earlier one through a particle, and the second word takes the case of the first: jāʾa Muḥammadun wa-ʿAliyyun, where ʿAliyyun is nominative like Muḥammadun. The particles are wa, fa, thumma, ḥattā, aw, am, bal, lā, and lākin, each with its own meaning.
Coordination is the easiest rule in the grammar and one of the richest chapters in meaning. The rule is that the coordinated word takes the case of what it is coordinated onto, without exception. The richness is in the particles: Arabic distinguishes joining without order, joining in immediate sequence, and joining after a delay, where English has only the word and.
Learn: the case follows
The coordinated word takes the case of the word before it, and the particle is built with no position of its own.
By the end of this lesson
- Give the case of a coordinated word without looking at it.
- Distinguish the three particles of sequence by what each says about order and delay.
- Coordinate verbs and whole sentences, not only nouns.
- Apply the condition for coordinating onto an attached nominative pronoun.
أَكْرَمْتُ الطَّالِبَ وَالْمُعَلِّمَ فِي الْمَدْرَسَةِ وَالْبَيْتِ
akramtu l-ṭāliba wa-l-muʿallima fī l-madrasati wa-l-bayti
I honoured the student and the teacher, in the school and the house.
Show the i‘rāb
أكرمتُ فعل وفاعل، الطالبَ مفعول به منصوب، الواو حرف عطف، المعلمَ معطوف على الطالب منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة، في حرف جر، المدرسةِ اسم مجرور، الواو حرف عطف، البيتِ معطوف على المدرسة مجرور وعلامة جره الكسرة الظاهرة.
The same particle produces an accusative in one place and a genitive in the other, because it simply passes on whatever case it finds. Say what the word is coordinated onto, not merely that it is coordinated.
See: the nine particles
Four join in both ruling and case; five carry finer rulings.
- wāw: joining with no implication of order.
- fāʾ: order with immediacy.
- thumma: order with delay.
- aw: choice, permission, or doubt.
- am: paired with an interrogative hamza, asking which of two.
- bal: retraction, transferring the ruling to the second.
- lā: negating of the second what was affirmed of the first.
- lākin: restoring a ruling after a negation.
- ḥattā: inclusion of an extreme member.
The three of sequence deserve attention because English flattens them. Wa asserts nothing about order at all, so a Quranic wa should not be read as "and then".
Understand: coordinating verbs and sentences
A verb coordinated onto a verb takes its case, including the jussive. A sentence coordinated onto a sentence takes its position when it has one.
إِنَّهُ مَنْ يَتَّقِ وَيَصْبِرْ فَإِنَّ اللهَ لَا يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
innahu man yattaqi wa-yaṣbir fa-inna Llāha lā yuḍīʿu ajra l-muḥsinīn
Indeed whoever fears Allah and is patient, Allah does not waste the reward of the doers of good.
Show the i‘rāb
من اسم شرط جازم مبني في محل رفع مبتدأ، يتقِ فعل مضارع مجزوم فعل الشرط وعلامة جزمه حذف حرف العلة، الواو حرف عطف، يصبرْ فعل مضارع مجزوم معطوف على يتق وعلامة جزمه السكون، الفاء واقعة في جواب الشرط.
Two jussive verbs with two different markers: a deleted weak letter on the first, sukūn on the second. The second is jussive purely by coordination, not because any particle reached it. Note also the fāʾ before the answer, required because it is a nominal sentence.
Check yourself
What case is the second verb, and why?
لَمْ يَكْتُبْ وَلَمْ يَقْرَأْ
Show the answer
Jussive, and here by its own particle rather than by coordination.
lam is repeated before the second verb, so it governs directly. Had it been lam yaktub wa-yaqraʾ, the second would have been jussive by coordination onto the first. Both readings are grammatical; the wording of the iʿrāb differs.
Coordinating onto a pronoun
Coordinating onto an attached nominative pronoun requires that the pronoun first be emphasised by a detached one, or that something separate the two.
اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ
uskun anta wa-zawjuka l-jannata
Dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden.
Show the i‘rāb
اسكنْ فعل أمر مبني على السكون، والفاعل ضمير مستتر وجوبًا تقديره أنت، أنتَ ضمير منفصل مبني في محل رفع توكيد للضمير المستتر، الواو حرف عطف، زوجُك معطوف على الضمير المستتر مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة وهو مضاف، الجنةَ مفعول به منصوب.
The doer of uskun is a hidden pronoun. Coordinating a noun onto it directly would be disliked, so anta is brought in to emphasise it first, and the coordination then attaches to the emphasised pronoun. This is the rule in action rather than in the abstract.
Where learners go wrong
Two errors, and the second is about meaning rather than case.
- Breaking the case. The coordinated word takes the case of what precedes it, whatever that is.
- Flattening the particles. Reading fa and thumma as plain "and" loses the sequence and the delay that the Arabic states.
Sources
The particles and their meanings follow these texts.
- Ibn Hishām al-Anṣārī, مغني اللبيب: the meanings of each particle.
- Ibn ʿAqīl, شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك: coordinating onto pronouns and the condition on it.
Quranic evidence
A rule is clearest in a text you already know by heart. Each ayah below contains the very construction this lesson teaches, and every one has a full word-by-word i'rab on this site. Read the ayah first and try to find the construction yourself, then open its i'rab to check.
- ٱللَّهُ يَسْتَهْزِئُ بِهِمْ وَيَمُدُّهُمْ فِى طُغْيَٰنِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
- تَبَٰرَكَ ٱلَّذِى بِيَدِهِ ٱلْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌ
- إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا۟ كَانُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ يَضْحَكُونَ
- هَٰذَا بَيَانٌۭ لِّلنَّاسِ وَهُدًۭى وَمَوْعِظَةٌۭ لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ
- يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَدْحًۭا فَمُلَٰقِيهِ
- وَمَا نَقَمُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ إِلَّآ أَن يُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْحَمِيدِ
Common questions
Frequently asked
What case does a coordinated word take?
The same as the word it is coordinated onto, in every case: nominative onto nominative, accusative onto accusative, genitive onto genitive, and jussive onto jussive when verbs are coordinated. The particle itself is built and has no position in iʿrāb.
What is the difference between wāw, fāʾ and thumma?
wāw joins without implying order at all: jāʾa Zaydun wa-ʿAmrun says nothing about who came first. fāʾ implies order with immediacy. thumma implies order with delay. English "and" covers all three, which is why translations lose the distinction.
When is aw for choice and when for permission?
After a command, if the two options may not be combined it is choice: tazawwaj Hindan aw Zaynaba. If they may, it is permission: jālis al-ʿulamāʾa aw al-zuhhāda, where sitting with both is allowed. After a statement it usually indicates doubt or vagueness.
Can a verb be coordinated onto a verb?
Yes, and it takes the same case: man yattaqi wa-yaṣbir has both verbs jussive, the second by coordination onto the first. Whole sentences may also be coordinated, taking the position of the sentence they follow if it has one.
What is the condition for coordinating onto an attached nominative pronoun?
The pronoun must be emphasised by a detached one, or something must separate the two. So uskun anta wa-zawjuka l-jannata has anta emphasising the implied doer before wa-zawjuka is coordinated onto it. Without that emphasis the coordination is disliked.
What is the difference between lā, bal and lākin as coordinators?
lā negates of the second what was affirmed of the first: jāʾa Zaydun lā ʿAmrun. bal transfers the ruling from the first to the second, retracting it. lākin restores a ruling after a negation: mā jāʾa Zaydun lākin ʿAmrun. All three keep the case of what precedes.