Annexation
Annexation joins two nouns so that the second qualifies the first. The second noun is always genitive, and the first drops its tanwīn and the nūn of the dual and plural: kitābu l-ṭālibi. Semantic annexation makes the first noun definite or specific; formal annexation does not.
Two nouns placed together so that the second qualifies the first is one of the most frequent structures in Arabic, and one of the simplest to state: the second term is genitive, always. What repays study is everything around that rule, namely the three things annexation deletes from the first term, the preposition it quietly implies, and the one variety that gives no definiteness at all.
Learn: the two terms
Annexation attaches one noun to another on an implied preposition. The first term is parsed by its role in the sentence; the second is genitive, always.
By the end of this lesson
- State the case of each term of an annexation without hesitating.
- Name the three things annexation deletes from the first term.
- Tell a meaningful annexation from a merely verbal one, and say why it matters.
- Supply the preposition that an annexation implies.
قَرَأْتُ كِتَابَ الطَّالِبِ
qaraʾtu kitāba l-ṭālibi
I read the student's book.
Show the i‘rāb
قرأتُ فعل وفاعل، كتابَ مفعول به منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة وهو مضاف، الطالبِ مضاف إليه مجرور وعلامة جره الكسرة الظاهرة.
Change the sentence and only the first term moves: jāʾa kitābu l-ṭālibi has it nominative, naẓartu fī kitābi l-ṭālibi has it genitive. al-ṭālibi stays put in every version.
Understand: what annexation deletes
Three things leave the first term: tanwīn, the nūn of the dual, and the nūn of the sound masculine plural. The last two are tested as often in spelling as in parsing.
جَاءَ مُعَلِّمَا الْمَدْرَسَةِ
jāʾa muʿallimā l-madrasati
The school's two teachers came.
Show the i‘rāb
جاء فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح، معلّما فاعل مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الألف لأنه مثنى وحُذفت النون للإضافة وهو مضاف، المدرسةِ مضاف إليه مجرور وعلامة جره الكسرة الظاهرة.
Standing alone the word is muʿallimāni. Annexed, the nūn goes and only the alif remains to mark the nominative. Writing muʿallimāni l-madrasati is a spelling error and a grammatical one at once.
Check yourself
Correct this phrase and say what was deleted.
مُعَلِّمُونَ الْمَدْرَسَةِ
Show the answer
muʿallimū l-madrasati. The nūn of the sound masculine plural is deleted by annexation.
Annexation removes tanwīn, the dual nūn, and the sound masculine plural nūn from the first term. The wāw stays to mark the nominative.
See: meaningful annexation and its implied preposition
The default kind. It makes the first term definite if the second is definite, or merely specific if the second is indefinite, and it always implies one of three prepositions.
- lām, possession: kitābu Zaydin, a book belonging to Zayd.
- min, material: khātamu fiḍḍatin, a ring made of silver.
- fī, time or place: makru l-layli, plotting during the night.
Because definiteness arrives from the second term, the first may not carry al-. Two sources of definiteness cannot combine on one word.
يَوْمَ يَقُومُ النَّاسُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
yawma yaqūmu l-nāsu li-rabbi l-ʿālamīn
The day mankind will stand before the Lord of the worlds.
Show the i‘rāb
يومَ ظرف زمان منصوب وهو مضاف، يقومُ فعل مضارع مرفوع، الناسُ فاعل مرفوع، والجملة الفعلية في محل جر مضاف إليه، لربِّ جار ومجرور وهو مضاف، العالمينَ مضاف إليه مجرور وعلامة جره الياء لأنه جمع مذكر سالم.
A whole verbal sentence occupies the genitive slot. A sentence has no ending to inflect, so the analysis gives it a position instead: fī maḥall jarr. Note also the second annexation inside the verse, rabbi l-ʿālamīn, and that al-ʿālamīn is genitive by yāʾ.
Verbal annexation, which gives nothing
When the first term is a descriptive word governing the second, the annexation conveys neither definiteness nor specification. Its purpose is lightness of expression.
جَاءَ الْحَسَنُ الْوَجْهِ
jāʾa l-ḥasanu l-wajhi
The handsome-faced one came.
Show the i‘rāb
جاء فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح، الحسنُ فاعل مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة وهو مضاف، الوجهِ مضاف إليه مجرور وعلامة جره الكسرة الظاهرة.
The first term carries al-, which a meaningful annexation forbids. It is permitted here because this annexation is merely verbal: al-ḥasanu is a descriptive word governing al-wajhi, and the phrase is a lighter way of saying al-ḥasanu wajhuhu.
Where learners go wrong
Three errors, all of them about the first term.
- Leaving tanwīn on the first term. Say kitābu l-ṭālibi, never kitābun al-ṭālibi.
- Keeping the dual or plural nūn. muʿallimā l-madrasati, muʿallimū l-madrasati.
- Moving the second term. It is genitive whatever happens to the first.
Sources
The two kinds and the implied prepositions follow these texts.
- Ibn Ājurrūm, الآجرومية: the genitive by annexation.
- Ibn Hishām al-Anṣārī, أوضح المسالك: meaningful and verbal annexation and the implied prepositions.
- Ibn ʿAqīl, شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك: annexation to a clause, and what is deleted from the first term.
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.
- كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
- إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا۟ كَانُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ يَضْحَكُونَ
- مَن يُضْلِلِ ٱللَّهُ فَلَا هَادِىَ لَهُۥ ۚ وَيَذَرُهُمْ فِى طُغْيَٰنِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
- صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ
- أَفَلَا يَعْلَمُ إِذَا بُعْثِرَ مَا فِى ٱلْقُبُورِ
- ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ
Common questions
Frequently asked
Is the second term always genitive?
Yes, without exception. The first term takes whatever case its role in the sentence requires, and the second is genitive always. That asymmetry is the whole of the rule: jāʾa kitābu l-ṭālibi, raʾaytu kitāba l-ṭālibi, naẓartu fī kitābi l-ṭālibi, and al-ṭālibi never moves.
What does annexation delete from the first term?
Three things: tanwīn, the nūn of the dual, and the nūn of the sound masculine plural. So kitābun becomes kitābu, muʿallimāni becomes muʿallimā, and muʿallimūna becomes muʿallimū.
What is the difference between meaningful and verbal annexation?
Meaningful annexation, maʿnawiyya, is the default and gives the first term definiteness or specification from the second. Verbal annexation, lafẓiyya, occurs when the first term is a descriptive word governing the second, and it gives no definiteness at all; its purpose is lightness of expression.
Which preposition does a meaningful annexation imply?
One of three. lām for possession (kitābu Zaydin, a book belonging to Zayd), min for material (khātamu fiḍḍatin, a ring made of silver), and fī for time or place (makru l-layli, plotting during the night).
Can the first term carry al-?
Not in a meaningful annexation, because its definiteness comes from the second term and two sources of definiteness cannot combine. It may carry al- in a verbal annexation, where the first term is a descriptive word: al-ḥasanu l-wajhi.
How is a clause parsed when it is annexed?
It is given a position rather than an ending: fī maḥall jarr muḍāf ilayhi. Adverbials such as yawma, ḥīna and idh are commonly annexed to whole sentences, as in yawma yaqūmu l-nāsu, where the verbal sentence is in the position of genitive.