Demonstratives
Demonstratives are indeclinable definites that point to something: hādhā and hādhihi for the singular, hādhāni and hātāni for the dual (which decline), hāʾulāʾi for the plural, hunā and thamma for place. Their case position follows their role, and a noun with al- after them is a substitute or an explanatory apposition.
Demonstratives are built, like all the indeclinables, with one exception that proves instructive: the duals decline, because being dual outranks being built. The chapter's most useful rule concerns what follows them, since a single change in definiteness turns a phrase into a whole sentence. This is what separates this book from this is a book.
Learn: the forms
dhā for the masculine singular, dhī and tī for the feminine, dhāni and tāni for the dual, ulāʾi for the plural, and hunā and thamma for place.
By the end of this lesson
- Give the demonstrative for each number and gender, and the two of place.
- Say why the dual forms are the only declinable ones.
- Parse the noun after a demonstrative, which changes with its definiteness.
- Account for the hāʾ, the kāf and the lām that attach to these words.
Three particles commonly attach to them, and none is a pronoun:
- hāʾ of alerting, prefixed: hādhā.
- kāf of address, suffixed, agreeing with the addressee: dhāka.
- lām of distance: dhālika, farther than dhāka.
Understand: built, except the duals
All are built and take positions. The duals alone are declined, by alif and yāʾ, because being dual outranks being built.
ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ
dhālika l-kitābu lā rayba fīhi
That is the Book, in which there is no doubt.
Show the i‘rāb
ذا اسم إشارة مبني على السكون في محل رفع مبتدأ، واللام للبعد والكاف للخطاب حرفان لا محل لهما، الكتابُ بدل من اسم الإشارة مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، لا نافية للجنس، ريبَ اسم لا مبني على الفتح في محل نصب، وخبر لا محذوف، في حرف جر، والهاء في محل جر.
Three separate things are parsed at the start: the demonstrative itself, the lām of distance, and the kāf of address. Neither particle has a position, and neither is a pronoun.
Check yourself
Correct this and explain.
رَأَيْتُ هَٰذَانِ الطَّالِبَيْنِ
Show the answer
raʾaytu hādhayni l-ṭālibayni.
The dual demonstrative is declined, so the accusative takes yāʾ, not alif. This is the one place demonstratives behave like ordinary nouns, and using hādhāni in every position is the commonest error in the chapter.
See: the noun after a demonstrative
With al- it is a substitute; indefinite it is the predicate. One letter decides whether you have a phrase or a sentence.
هَٰذَا كِتَابٌ
hādhā kitābun
This is a book.
Show the i‘rāb
هذا اسم إشارة مبني على السكون في محل رفع مبتدأ، كتابٌ خبر مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة.
Compare hādhā l-kitābu, 'this book', which is a phrase and not yet a sentence, with al-kitābu a substitute for the demonstrative. The difference between a phrase and a statement is a single al-.
The demonstratives of place
hunā and hunāka point to places rather than things, and they are parsed as built adverbials.
Learners often meet these two as vocabulary and never as grammar, which leaves them unable to parse a sentence that begins with one. They are demonstratives like any other, built, and occupying the position of accusative because they answer the question where.
هُنَاكَ مَسْجِدٌ قَدِيمٌ
hunāka masjidun qadīmun
There is an old mosque there.
Show the i‘rāb
هناك اسم إشارة للمكان البعيد مبني على الفتح في محل نصب مفعول فيه ظرف مكان متعلق بمحذوف خبر مقدم، مسجدٌ مبتدأ مؤخر مرفوع وعلامة رفعه الضمة الظاهرة، قديمٌ نعت مرفوع.
Two things happen at once. The adverbial is fronted, and the predicate it attaches to is omitted, which is why the analysis names a deleted predicate. The kāf here is again the particle of address, exactly as in dhālika.
Where learners go wrong
Three errors, and the second is about a letter that looks like a pronoun and is not.
- Using hādhāni in the accusative and genitive. The duals decline.
- Parsing the kāf of dhālika as a pronoun. It is a particle of address with no position.
- Naming the position without the bināʾ. Say built, then in the position of, never simply nominative.
Sources
The forms and the analysis of what follows them come from these texts.
- Ibn Hishām al-Anṣārī, أوضح المسالك: the forms and the attached particles.
- Ibn ʿAqīl, شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك: the declined duals and the noun following a demonstrative.
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
- هَٰذَا بَيَانٌۭ لِّلنَّاسِ وَهُدًۭى وَمَوْعِظَةٌۭ لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ
- الٓر ۚ تِلْكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْمُبِينِ
- وَٱلتِّينِ وَٱلزَّيْتُونِ
- حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةُ وَٱلدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ بِهِۦ وَٱلْمُنْخَنِقَةُ…
- هُنَالِكَ ٱبْتُلِىَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَزُلْزِلُوا۟ زِلْزَالًۭا شَدِيدًۭا
Common questions
Frequently asked
Why are demonstratives built?
Because they carry a meaning that belongs to particles, namely pointing, and words carrying particle-like meanings are built. Their endings therefore never change, and they take positions in iʿrāb rather than cases.
Why are hādhāni and hātāni declined?
Because they are duals, and the dual is declined by letters: alif for the nominative, yāʾ for the accusative and genitive. So hādhāni in the nominative but hādhayni otherwise. They are the only demonstratives that decline.
How is the noun after a demonstrative parsed?
By its definiteness. Carrying al-, it is a substitute for the demonstrative or an explicative apposition: hādhā l-kitābu. Indefinite, it is the predicate: hādhā kitābun, "this is a book". That difference is the key to the whole chapter.
What is the difference between dhāka and dhālika?
Distance. dhā is for what is near, dhāka for what is middling, and dhālika for what is far, the lām being the marker of that distance. The kāf in both is a particle of address, not a pronoun.
Are hunā and hunāka demonstratives?
Yes, demonstratives of place. hunā points to a near place and hunāka to a far one. They are built adverbials, so they are parsed as being in the position of accusative as adverbials of place.
How are the hāʾ of hādhā and the kāf of dhālika parsed?
Neither is a pronoun. The hāʾ is a particle of alerting, prefixed to draw attention, and the kāf is a particle of address. Both are built with no position in iʿrāb. Parsing the kāf as a genitive pronoun is a common error.