The Absolute Object
The absolute object is an accusative verbal noun from the same root as its verb, placed after it to confirm the act, state its kind, or state its number: ḍarabtu ḍarban, sirtu sayra l-ṣāliḥīna, daqqa l-jarasu daqqatayni.
English has no equivalent, which is why this chapter feels strange at first and then becomes one of the most satisfying in the grammar. The absolute object is the act itself named a second time, by a verbal noun from the verb's own root, in order to confirm it, describe how it happened, or say how many times. Several everyday expressions turn out to be absolute objects of verbs nobody ever says.
Learn: the act named twice
The absolute object is an additional accusative verbal noun, derived from the wording of its governing verb or from its meaning, mentioned to confirm the verb, show its kind, or count it.
By the end of this lesson
- Recognise the absolute object by its root and its relation to the verb.
- Name its three purposes and say which one never takes a dual or plural.
- Identify the words that stand in for the verbal noun.
- Parse the fixed expressions whose verb has been dropped entirely.
English can do something distantly similar in "he smiled a broad smile" or "she slept a deep sleep", and that is the intuition to hold. The difference is that Arabic makes it a regular construction with a name and rules, not a stylistic flourish.
وَكَلَّمَ اللهُ مُوسَىٰ تَكْلِيمًا
wa-kallama Llāhu Mūsā taklīman
And Allah spoke to Moses directly.
Show the i‘rāb
كلّم فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح، اللهُ لفظ الجلالة فاعل مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، موسى مفعول به منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة المقدرة على الألف منع من ظهورها التعذر، تكليمًا مفعول مطلق منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة.
taklīman adds no new information: it is kallama said again as a noun. Its work is to remove any possibility of the verb being read figuratively. English translators reach for 'directly' or 'in speech' to carry what the bare repetition carries in Arabic.
See: the three purposes
Confirming the act, showing its manner, or counting its occurrences. The confirming kind is always singular.
سَارَ الْجُنْدِيُّ سَيْرَ الْأَبْطَالِ
sāra l-jundiyyu sayra l-abṭāli
The soldier marched the march of heroes.
Show the i‘rāb
سار فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح، الجنديُّ فاعل مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، سيرَ مفعول مطلق مبين للنوع منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة وهو مضاف، الأبطالِ مضاف إليه مجرور وعلامة جره الكسرة الظاهرة.
Here the verbal noun is annexed, and the annexation is what supplies the description. This is the usual way of showing manner: the noun alone would only confirm.
ضَرَبْتُهُ ضَرْبَتَيْنِ
ḍarabtuhu ḍarbatayni
I struck him twice.
Show the i‘rāb
ضربتُ فعل وفاعل، والهاء ضمير متصل في محل نصب مفعول به، ضربتينِ مفعول مطلق مبين للعدد منصوب وعلامة نصبه الياء لأنه مثنى.
Note the marker: yāʾ, because the word is dual. The counting kind may be dual or plural, while the confirming kind never is, since a bare confirmation has no number to express.
Understand: what stands in for the verbal noun
Words that are not verbal nouns can occupy the position: an adjective of it, a number of it, kull or baʿḍ annexed to it, a demonstrative, an instrument, or a synonym from another root.
فَلَا تَمِيلُوا كُلَّ الْمَيْلِ
fa-lā tamīlū kulla l-mayli
So do not incline with complete inclination.
Show the i‘rāb
لا ناهية جازمة، تميلوا فعل مضارع مجزوم وعلامة جزمه حذف النون لأنه من الأفعال الخمسة، وواو الجماعة في محل رفع فاعل، كلَّ نائب عن المفعول المطلق منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة وهو مضاف، الميلِ مضاف إليه مجرور.
kull is not a verbal noun, yet it occupies the slot because it is annexed to one. The wording in iʿrāb changes accordingly: nāʾib ʿan al-mafʿūl al-muṭlaq, standing in for the absolute object, rather than being one.
قَعَدْتُ جُلُوسًا
qaʿadtu julūsan
I sat down, a sitting.
Show the i‘rāb
قعدتُ فعل وفاعل، جلوسًا مفعول مطلق منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة.
julūs comes from the root j-l-s while the verb is from q-ʿ-d. The definition allowed this from the start: derived from the wording of the verb or from its meaning. Meaning is enough.
Where learners go wrong
Three errors, and the first is simply confusing the act with what the act fell upon.
- Calling it a direct object. Ask whether the accusative is the act itself renamed, or a different thing the act fell upon.
- Putting the verbal noun in the nominative. Learners see a bare verbal noun at the start of a phrase, as in subḥāna, and read it as a subject. It is accusative, governed by an omitted verb.
- Missing the substitutes. kulla, baʿḍa, a number, or a demonstrative can all occupy the slot without being verbal nouns.
Sources
The three kinds, the substitutes and the cases of obligatory omission follow these texts.
- Ibn Ājurrūm, الآجرومية: the absolute object among the accusatives.
- Ibn Hishām al-Anṣārī, أوضح المسالك: the substitutes for the verbal noun.
- Ibn ʿAqīl, شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك: the expressions whose governing verb is obligatorily omitted.
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
- يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَدْحًۭا فَمُلَٰقِيهِ
- أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَٰبِ ٱلْفِيلِ
- فَيَوْمَئِذٍۢ لَّا يُعَذِّبُ عَذَابَهُۥٓ أَحَدٌۭ
- فَلْيَنظُرِ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ إِلَىٰ طَعَامِهِۦٓ
- كَلَّا لَوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عِلْمَ ٱلْيَقِينِ
Common questions
Frequently asked
What is the difference between the absolute object and the direct object?
A direct object names what the act fell upon and is a different thing from the act. An absolute object is the act itself, named again: a verbal noun from the verb's own root, used to emphasise it, describe its manner, or count it. In ḍarabtu l-walada ḍarban, al-walada is the direct object and ḍarban is the absolute object.
Why is it called "absolute"?
Because it is the object unrestricted by any preposition. The other objects are qualified: the object "of purpose", the object "in which". This one is a mafʿūl without qualification, so the tradition calls it muṭlaq, released or unrestricted.
What can stand in for the verbal noun?
Several things: its adjective (sirtu sarīʿan), a number of it (ḍarabtuhu ḍarbatayni), kull or baʿḍ annexed to it (fa-lā tamīlū kulla l-mayl), a demonstrative pointing at it, the instrument of the act, or a synonym from another root (qaʿadtu julūsan).
Is the governing verb ever omitted?
Yes, and in some expressions it is obligatorily omitted, so much so that they have become fixed formulas. subḥāna Llāhi, "glory be to Allah", is an absolute object of a verb never uttered, estimated as usabbiḥu. Likewise shukran, ḥamdan, and ʿafwan.
What are the three kinds?
Confirming the verb (ḍarban after ḍarabtu), showing its manner (sayra l-kirāmi), and counting its occurrences (ḍarbatayni). The first kind is always singular and never made dual or plural, because a bare confirmation has no number.
How is subḥāna parsed in subḥāna Llāh?
As an absolute object, accusative, of an omitted verb estimated as usabbiḥu, and it is annexed to the name of Allah which is therefore genitive. The full wording is: mafʿūl muṭlaq li-fiʿl maḥdhūf taqdīruhu usabbiḥu, manṣūb, wa-huwa muḍāf.