The Direct Object
The direct object is the accusative noun on which the doer’s act falls: qaraʾa l-ṭālibu l-kitāba. It takes fatḥa or its substitute, it may precede the doer, and verbs that take two or three objects have more than one.
The direct object is the accusative noun on which the doer's act falls. It is the first accusative a learner meets and the one every other accusative gets confused with, so this lesson spends as much time on telling it apart from its neighbours as on the rule itself. It also covers the verbs that take two objects, and why their two accusatives are not the same kind of thing.
Learn: the definition
The direct object is an accusative noun denoting what the doer's act fell upon, and the verb does not change shape for it. It comes after the verb and doer in the default order, as an explicit noun, a pronoun, or an infinitival phrase.
By the end of this lesson
- Identify the direct object and give its accusative marker with the reason.
- Say when it may precede the doer and when it must.
- Recognise verbs that take two objects, and where those two came from.
- Tell a direct object apart from the three other accusatives it is confused with.
Two parts of that definition are doing quiet work. "The verb does not change shape for it" separates the object from the deputy doer, which does change the verb. And "accusative" is the constant: whatever else varies, the object is manṣūb.
قَرَأَ الطَّالِبُ الْكِتَابَ
qaraʾa l-ṭālibu l-kitāba
The student read the book.
Show the i‘rāb
قرأ فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح، الطالبُ فاعل مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، الكتابَ مفعول به منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة على آخره.
See: the accusative markers
Fatḥa by default, yāʾ in the dual and the sound masculine plural, kasra in the sound feminine plural, alif in the five nouns.
كَرَّمَ الْمُدِيرُ الْمُعَلِّمَاتِ
karrama l-mudīru l-muʿallimāti
The principal honoured the female teachers.
Show the i‘rāb
كرّم فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح، المديرُ فاعل مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، المعلماتِ مفعول به منصوب وعلامة نصبه الكسرة نيابة عن الفتحة لأنه جمع مؤنث سالم.
A kasra that means accusative. If you read endings mechanically you will call this genitive every time, and there is no preposition anywhere to justify that reading. Always pair the marker with its reason.
أَكْرَمْتُ أَخَاكَ
akramtu akhāka
I honoured your brother.
Show the i‘rāb
أكرمتُ فعل وفاعل، أخاك مفعول به منصوب وعلامة نصبه الألف لأنه من الأسماء الخمسة وهو مضاف، والكاف ضمير متصل في محل جر مضاف إليه.
Understand: word order
The object follows the doer by default, may precede it for emphasis, and must precede it in certain cases. It may also precede the verb itself.
Fronting in Arabic is rarely only grammatical. When an object moves forward it is usually because attention has moved with it.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
iyyāka naʿbudu wa-iyyāka nastaʿīn
You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.
Show the i‘rāb
إياك ضمير منفصل مبني على الفتح في محل نصب مفعول به مقدم، نعبدُ فعل مضارع مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، والفاعل ضمير مستتر وجوبًا تقديره نحن.
The object is fronted twice, and each time the fronting produces restriction: not merely 'we worship You' but 'You and no other'. English needs the word 'alone' to carry what Arabic carries by order alone.
Check yourself
Which word is the object, and why can the order not be reversed?
زَارَ بَيْتَهُ صَاحِبُهُ
Show the answer
baytahu is the object, fronted before its doer ṣāḥibuhu, and here the fronting is obligatory.
The doer ṣāḥibuhu carries a pronoun referring to the object. Had the doer come first, that pronoun would point forward to something not yet mentioned, which Arabic does not allow.
Verbs with two objects, and where the two came from
Some verbs take two accusatives whose origin is a subject and predicate, and some take two of quite a different origin. The distinction decides what the pair means.
Original subject and predicate. Ẓanna and its sisters, verbs of thinking and knowing, enter a nominal sentence and put both its pillars in the accusative. The two objects therefore describe each other.
ظَنَنْتُ الْأَمْرَ سَهْلًا
ẓanantu l-amra sahlan
I thought the matter easy.
Show the i‘rāb
ظننتُ فعل وفاعل، الأمرَ مفعول به أول منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة، سهلًا مفعول به ثانٍ منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة.
Before ẓanantu entered, the sentence was al-amru sahlun, a nominal sentence with two nominatives. The verb has put both into the accusative. That is why the second object describes the first: it was its predicate.
أَعْطَيْتُ الْفَقِيرَ دِرْهَمًا
aʿṭaytu l-faqīra dirhaman
I gave the poor man a dirham.
Show the i‘rāb
أعطيتُ فعل وفاعل، الفقيرَ مفعول به أول منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة، درهمًا مفعول به ثانٍ منصوب وعلامة نصبه الفتحة الظاهرة.
Here the two do not describe each other: the poor man is not a dirham. These two accusatives were never a subject and predicate, which is exactly the difference from the previous card.
Telling it from its neighbours
Four accusatives crowd the same position in a sentence. Ask what question each answers and they separate cleanly.
- Direct object: answers "what did the act fall upon?" qaraʾtu l-kitāba.
- Absolute object: a verbal noun from the same root, emphasising or describing the act itself. qaraʾtu qirāʾatan.
- Object of purpose: answers "why?" qumtu iḥtirāman.
- Adverbial object: answers "when?" or "where?" qaraʾtu ṣabāḥan.
Two further habits to break: reading a sound feminine plural object as genitive because of its kasra, and missing an infinitival phrase in the object slot, as in araadtu an adrusa, where an adrusa is in the position of accusative.
Sources
The definition, the markers and the classification of multiple objects follow these texts.
- Ibn Ājurrūm, الآجرومية: the direct object among the accusatives.
- Ibn Hishām al-Anṣārī, أوضح المسالك: obligatory fronting and the verbs taking two and three objects.
- Ibn ʿAqīl, شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك: on the origin of the two objects of ẓanna and its sisters.
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
- وَمَا نَقَمُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ إِلَّآ أَن يُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْحَمِيدِ
- مَن يُضْلِلِ ٱللَّهُ فَلَا هَادِىَ لَهُۥ ۚ وَيَذَرُهُمْ فِى طُغْيَٰنِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
- كَلَّآ إِنَّ كِتَٰبَ ٱلْفُجَّارِ لَفِى سِجِّينٍۢ
- ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ
- فَإِذَا جَآءَتِ ٱلطَّآمَّةُ ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ
Common questions
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a direct object and a deputy doer?
Their case, and the shape of the verb. A direct object is accusative after a verb built for the active; a deputy doer is nominative after a verb built for the passive. The same noun can be either: kataba l-ṭālibu l-darsa has al-darsa accusative as object, while kutiba l-darsu has al-darsu nominative as deputy.
Can the object come before the doer?
Yes, optionally for emphasis, and obligatorily in some cases: when the object is a pronoun attached to the verb while the doer is an explicit noun, or when the doer is annexed to a pronoun referring to the object. It may also precede the verb itself, as in iyyāka naʿbudu.
Can there be more than one object?
Yes. Some verbs take one, some take two whose origin is a subject and predicate (ẓanna and its sisters), some take two of a different origin (aʿṭā, manaʿa), and a few take three (aʿlama, arā). The origin matters because it determines what the two accusatives mean in relation to each other.
How is a dual or plural object put into the accusative?
By yāʾ in the dual and the sound masculine plural, and by kasra standing in place of fatḥa in the sound feminine plural. So raʾaytu l-muʿallimayni, raʾaytu l-muʿallimīna, and raʾaytu l-muʿallimāti, that last one accusative despite its kasra.
Can the object be omitted?
Yes, when the meaning is clear without it or when attention is on the act rather than what it fell upon. In wa-Llāhu yadʿū ilā dāri l-salām the object of the invitation is left unstated. This is omission for a purpose, not an incomplete sentence.
How is a clause parsed when it is the object?
It is given a position rather than an ending: fī maḥall naṣb mafʿūl bihi. After verbs of speech the quoted sentence occupies the object slot, as in qāla innī ʿabdu Llāh, where the whole clause after qāla is in the position of accusative.