I'rab of Surah Al-Fatihah Ayah 5: word by word Arabic grammar
Surah Al-Fatiha (الفاتحة) · Meccan · Ayah 5
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ Transliterationiyyāka naʿbudu wa-iyyāka nastaʿīn
MeaningYou alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.
Two parallel verbal sentences. In each, the fronted detached pronoun إيّاك is a built-in accusative object placed before its verb for emphasis and restriction. The present-tense verbs نَعبد and نَستعين are nominative, each governed by an obligatory hidden subject "we" (naḥnu). The connector وَ joins the second clause to the first.
Word by word i'rab
fronted direct object (maf'ul bihi muqaddam)
A detached pronoun built on fatḥa, holding the accusative position as the object placed before its verb to give the meaning of exclusivity (You alone).
accusativedetached object pronoun (maf'ul bihi)
The pronoun base إيّا is fixed in form and occupies the accusative slot as the direct object of the following verb.
accusativeaddress particle (harf khitab)
The attached كَ is simply a letter of address that specifies the second-person masculine addressee and carries no independent grammatical case.
indeclinablepresent-tense verb (fi'l mudari') with hidden subject
An imperfect verb in the nominative because nothing puts it in another state; its doer is a necessarily hidden pronoun understood as "we."
nominativeconjunction (harf 'atf)
A connecting particle that joins the second clause to the first, linking the two statements of worship and seeking help.
indeclinableparallel verbal sentence (jumla fi'liyya ma'tufa)
This phrase is parsed exactly like the first: a fronted accusative object إيّاك followed by the nominative verb نستعين whose subject is the hidden pronoun "we."
nominativeDetailed i'rab
This verse is two matching verbal sentences joined by the conjunction وَ. In each, the detached pronoun إيّاك serves as the direct object (maf'ul bihi) and stands in the accusative position even though, as a fixed pronoun, it shows no case endings; it is built on fatḥa. What makes the structure striking is the fronting: placing the object before its verb conveys restriction, the sense that worship and reliance are directed to God alone. The attached كَ is only a particle of address marking the masculine "you." The verbs نَعبد and نَستعين are present-tense and nominative, since no governing word shifts them to the subjunctive or jussive. Each verb's doer is an obligatorily concealed pronoun understood as naḥnu ("we"). The second clause repeats the first pattern exactly.
Frequently asked
Why is إيّاك placed before the verb instead of after it?
Arabic normally puts the object after the verb, so fronting it here is deliberate. Moving إيّاك ahead of نَعبد creates the meaning of exclusivity ("You alone we worship"), restricting worship to God and nothing else.
What case is the verb نَعبد, and why?
It is a present-tense (mudari') verb in the nominative (marfu'). An imperfect verb stays nominative as long as no particle of subjunctive (like أن or لن) or jussive (like لم) precedes it. None do here, so it keeps its nominative ḍamma.
Where is the subject of نَعبد and نَستعين?
There is no separate word for the subject. Each verb carries an obligatorily hidden pronoun understood as naḥnu ("we"), which is the doer of the action embedded in the verb form itself.