Shariah Program Online Sarf 1 1 is the

ﺻﺮﻑ ﺍﻟﺪﺭﺱ ﺍﻻﻭﻝ Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 1

ﻋﻠﻢ ﺍﻟﺼﺮﻑ ﺻﺮﻑ is the science of Classical Arabic that deals with: 1. Patterns of Vowellizatio ) which convey the tense and voice of verbs, and 2. Suffixes which reflect aspects of the subject (gender, plurality, and person) Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 2

Background In Arabic, 3 -letter groups of consonants have an associated “root” meaning: “writing” “helping” = ﺏ + ﺕ + ﻙ = ﺭ + ﺹ + ﻥ But, consonants without vowels cannot be pronounced, and in Arabic, these vowels also carry a meaning, a non-word meaning. Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 3

Conveying Meaning In addition to the root, there are several nonword meanings that are conveyed via vowels, non-base letters, prefixes, suffixes etc. (tense, voice, added connotations, and much more) In order to get a grasp on these non-word meanings, heavy emphasis is placed on mastering the essentials of Arabic Morphology in classical teaching methodologies. Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 4

The Arabic Alphabet n In the Arabic language we have 29 letters and they are all consonants. ﺍﺏﺕﺙﺝﺡﺥﺩﺫﺭﺯﺱﺵﺹﺽﻁﻅﻉﻍﻑﻕﻙﻝﻡﻥﻩ ﻭﻱﺀ n The short vowels are not considered separate letters and therefore are not part of the alphabet. Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 5

Short Vowels ﺣﺮﻛﺎﺕ n n n - corresponds to a short ‘o’ or ‘u’ in English. A letter that has a ﺓ over it is said to be ﺿﻤﻮﻡ ﺗ - corresponds to a short ‘a’ in English. A letter that has a ﺗﺓ over it is said to be ﻓﺘﻮﺡ ﺳ - corresponds to a short ‘e’ or ‘i’ in English. A letter that has a ﺳﺓ under it is said to be ﻛﺴﻮﺭ Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 6

Absence of Vowels and Duplication n The absence of vowel is called ) ﻛﻮ. If a letter is ( ﺳﺎﻛﻦ i. e. has a ﻛﻮﻥ on it), this would mean it is the final consonant in a syllable. n Pronouncing of the letter twice, first with a ‘ ’ﻛﻮﻥ , and then with a ﺣﺮﻛﻪ , is called ﺷ ﻳﺪ or ﻩ , and the letter is said to be ( ﺩ e. g. the ﺏ in ﺕ is ) ﺩ. Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 7

Aspects of Subject In all languages, verbs are conjugated to reflect three aspects of their subjects: n Gender — Masculine or Feminine n Plurality — Singular, Dual (unlike English, Arabic also has separate forms to indicate on two of something) and Plural (3 or more), and n Person — Third person, Second person and First person. n Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 8

Conjugation Tables A great portion of Arabic Morphology is devoted to memorizing the tables that result from MULTIPLYING the three aspects mentioned above (i. e. gender, plurality, and person). Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 9

3 rd Person Conjugation Layout Person Gender Masculine Plurality English Equivalent # Singular He 1 Dual (2) They (M 2) 2 Plural (>2) They (M>2) 3 Singular She 4 Dual (2) They (F 2) 5 Plural (>2) They (F>2) 6 3 rd Feminine Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 10

2 nd Person Conjugation Layout Person Gender Masculine Plurality English Equivalent # Singular You (M) 7 Dual (2) You (M 2) 8 Plural (>2) You (M>2) 9 Singular You (F) 10 Dual (2) You (F 2) 11 Plural (>2) You (F>2) 12 2 nd Feminine Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 11

1 st Person Conjugation Layout Person Gender Masculine Plurality English Equivalent # Singular I (M/F) 13 Dual (2) We (M/F≥ 2) 14 Plural (>2) We 15 Singular I 16 Dual (2) We 17 Plural (>2) We 18 1 st Feminine Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 12

Table of 14 Conjugations n Due to the fact that EVERY subject will need a gender, plurality AND a person, we look at the total combinations that result from multiplying the above. It comes to 18, six for each of the third, second and first persons. n In the first person, separate dual and feminine forms do not exist. This will reduce the number in the first person group from six to just two: #13 ‘I’ (male or female) and #14 ‘We’ (males or females; two or more than two) Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 13

Active vs. Passive Voice n n For all actions that require objects (transitive verbs), the verb can either be active or passive. Active is when the action of the verb is directed at the subject which is also mentioned e. g. he helped. Passive voice is for the verb whose action is directed towards the object, and the subject is missing e. g. he was helped. In Sarf, there are separate gardaans for each of the active and passive voices, 14 conjugations per gardaan. Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 14

Model Base-letters n For simplification purposes, in order to isolate the pattern meanings (subject matter of Sarf) from the meaning coming from the base letters (which are found in dictionaries; not directly a concern of Sarf), the scholars of Sarf have used the most basic base letters in terms of meaning as models for all of the patterns to be discussed through out the science. The three ‘model’ letters are ﻑ , ﻉ , and ﻝ. Shariah Program Online - Sarf 1 15