I'rab of Surah An-Nasr Ayah 1: word by word Arabic grammar
Surah An-Nasr (النصر) · Medinan · Ayah 1
إِذَا جَآءَ نَصْرُ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلْفَتْحُ TransliterationIdhā jāʾa naṣru llāhi wal-fatḥ(u)
MeaningWhen the help of God comes, along with the victory,
This verse opens with the time-conditional particle إِذَا, which introduces a condition awaiting its answer in a later verse. Its verb is the past-tense جَاءَ, whose subject نَصْرُ heads a possessive construction with ٱللَّهِ. The noun ٱلْفَتْحُ is then joined to that subject by وَ, sharing its nominative case.
Word by word i'rab
adverb of time governing a condition (ẓarf li-mā yustaqbal)
A fixed (mabni) time-adverb that points to the future and carries a conditional sense; it is attached to its answering clause, which appears later in the surah.
indeclinablepast-tense verb of the condition (fi'l al-shart)
A perfect verb built on fatḥah; it forms the condition clause governed by إِذَا and takes the following noun as its subject.
indeclinablesubject (fa'il) and first term of the iḍāfah (muḍāf)
The doer of جَآءَ, nominative with a ḍammah, and it is the possessed noun leading into the genitive that follows.
nominativepossessor / genitive noun (muḍāf ilayh)
The majestic name in the genitive with a kasrah, completing the possessive phrase 'the help of God.'
genitivecoordinating conjunction (ḥarf 'aṭf)
A connective particle joining what follows to the subject نَصْرُ and passing on its nominative case.
indeclinablenoun coordinated to the subject (ma'ṭuf 'ala al-fa'il)
Linked by وَ to نَصْرُ, so it shares the subject role and is nominative with a ḍammah.
nominativeDetailed i'rab
The verse begins with إِذَا, a fixed time-adverb that looks toward the future and sets up a condition whose answer comes in a later verse. Its condition-verb is جَآءَ, a perfect verb built on fatḥah. The subject of this verb is نَصْرُ, which is nominative by a ḍammah and simultaneously functions as the first part of a possessive construction (iḍāfah). The second part is ٱللَّهِ, the majestic name, genitive by a kasrah, so the phrase reads "the help of God." The conjunction وَ then joins ٱلْفَتْحُ to the subject نَصْرُ; because it is coordinated to a nominative subject, ٱلْفَتْحُ is itself nominative with a ḍammah. The whole clause "when the help of God and the victory come" remains incomplete in sense until its answering clause arrives.
Frequently asked
Why is نَصْرُ nominative and ٱللَّهِ genitive when they sit side by side?
They form a possessive pair (iḍāfah). نَصْرُ is the subject of جَآءَ, so it is nominative, while ٱللَّهِ is the possessor in second position, which must be genitive. Together they mean 'the help of God.'
What does إِذَا do at the start of the verse?
إِذَا is a future-leaning time-adverb that also carries a conditional meaning. It needs both a condition clause (here جَآءَ نَصْرُ ٱللَّهِ) and an answering clause, which does not appear until later in the surah.
Why is ٱلْفَتْحُ nominative?
It is joined by the conjunction وَ to نَصْرُ, the nominative subject. A coordinated noun matches the case of the word it is linked to, so ٱلْفَتْحُ takes the same nominative ending.