Teacher License – Arabic 2 Complete Review Guide 2026–2027

4. Kāna and its sisters raise the subject, called their ism, and put the predicate in the accusative. Example «ṣāra akhūka baṭalan»: akhūka is the ism of ṣāra, raised with wāw, and baṭalan is its predicate in the accusative. Inna and its sisters put the subject in the accusative and raise the predicate: «inna l-ʿilma nūrun». (Standard 6.2.2)
5. The absolute object is an accusative verbal noun that emphasises its verb, shows its kind or its number: «fariḥtu faraḥan», «sirtu sayra l-musāfirīna», «ḍarabtuhu ḍarbatayni». The object of purpose is an accusative heart-action verbal noun giving the reason for the act: «zurtuka maḥabbatan laka». (Standard 6.2.3)
6. Meanings of prepositions: bāʾ for attachment «akhadhtu bi-yadika», fī for containment, min for starting point, ilā for end point, ʿan for moving away, ʿalā for being on top, lām for ownership or specific belonging. (Standard 6.2.4)
7. The real construct (maʿnawiyya) gives definiteness or specification «kitābu ṭ-ṭālibi»; the verbal construct (lafẓiyya) annexes an adjective to its object and does not give definiteness «rajulun ḥasanu l-khuluqi». The first term loses nunation and the dual or plural nūn: «muʿallimā l-madrasati». (Standard 6.2.4)
8. The imperfect is raised when free of a subjunctive or jussive particle; it is subjunctive after an, lan, kay and idhan; jussive after lam, lammā, the prohibitive lā, the lām of command and conditional particles. The five verbs (such as yafʿalāni) are raised by keeping the nūn and are subjunctive or jussive by dropping it. (Standard 6.2.5)
9. The particle an is implied obligatorily after the lām of negation (mā kāna li-yafʿala), after ḥattā, and after fāʾ of causation and wāw of accompaniment in the answer to a request; it is implied optionally after the lām of purpose: «jiʾtu li-tataʿallama», that is li-an tataʿallama. (Standard 6.2.5)
10. Jussive conditional particles put two verbs in the jussive: the protasis and the apodosis, as in «in tajtahid tanjaḥ». The apodosis takes fāʾ obligatorily when it cannot stand as a condition, such as a nominal or request clause: «in tajtahid fa-anta nājiḥun». (Standard 6.2.5)
11. The real adjective follows its noun in case, definiteness, gender and number: «jāʾa rajulun karīmun». The causal adjective follows it in case and definiteness, and agrees in gender with what comes after: «jāʾa rajulun karīmatun ummuhu». (Standard 6.2.6)
12. Apposition (badal) is of four kinds: whole for whole «jāʾa akhūka Muḥammadun», part for whole «akaltu r-raghīfa thuluthahu», inclusion «aʿjabanī l-ustādhu ʿilmuhu», and substitution of a different word. Verbal emphasis repeats the word; semantic emphasis uses words like nafs, ʿayn, kull, jamīʿ: «jāʾa ṭ-ṭullābu kulluhum». (Standard 6.2.6)
13. The comparative noun is of the pattern afʿal with three cases: bare, it stays singular and masculine and is followed by min «huwa akbaru min akhīhi»; with al- it agrees «al-akbaru, al-kubrā»; annexed to an indefinite noun it stays singular and masculine, annexed to a definite noun both agreement and non-agreement are allowed. (Standard 6.2.7)
14. Numbers 3 to 10 take the opposite gender to the counted noun, which is a genitive plural: «thalāthatu rijālin, thalāthu nisāʾin». In 11 to 19 both parts are built on fatḥa (except ithnā ʿashar) and the counted noun is a singular accusative. The tens 20 to 90 have one form for both genders and a singular accusative counted noun. The hundred and the thousand take a singular genitive counted noun. (Standard 6.2.7)
15. A vocative that is a single proper name or a specific indefinite noun is built on what it would be raised with «yā Muḥammadu, yā rajulu»; the annexed noun, the noun resembling an annexed one and the non-specific indefinite noun are accusative «yā ṭāliba l-ʿilmi, yā ghāfilan tanabbah». Appeal for help: «yā la-llāhi li-l-maẓlūmi». Lament: «wā Muḥammadāh». (Standard 6.2.7)
16. Exception: after illā in a complete positive clause the excepted noun is obligatorily accusative «fa-sharibū minhu illā qalīlan». In a complete negative clause both accusative and agreement are allowed «mā ḥaḍara ṭ-ṭullābu illā Zaydun». The noun after ghayr or siwā is genitive by annexation. After khalā, ʿadā and ḥāshā both accusative and genitive are allowed; after mā khalā and mā ʿadā only accusative. (Standard 6.2.7)
17. Niʿma and biʾsa are two fixed, non-derived perfect verbs for praise and blame. Their doer is a noun with al-, a noun annexed to one with al-, or a hidden pronoun explained by a tamyīz. The specified noun follows: «niʿma r-rajulu Muḥammadun», where it is a postponed subject whose predicate is the preceding clause. (Standard 6.2.7)
18. Clauses with a case position are seven: those in the place of a predicate, ḥāl, adjective, object or annexed noun; the apodosis of a jussive condition joined by fāʾ; and a clause following one that has a position. Clauses without a position: opening, resumptive, explanatory, relative (ṣila), parenthetical and the answer to an oath. (Standard 6.2.8)

Common mistakes in this chapter

• ✕ Object of purpose vs absolute object: the first is a heart-action verbal noun answering «why?» (zurtuka maḥabbatan laka), the second is a verbal noun from the verb's own root that emphasises, specifies the kind or gives the number (fariḥtu faraḥan).
• ✕ Wāw of accompaniment vs wāw of conjunction: in «sirtu wa-n-Nīla» the noun after wāw is an accusative object of accompaniment; in «jāʾa Muḥammadun wa-Khālidun» it is a conjunct that follows the preceding noun's case.
• ✕ Kāna and inna work in opposite ways: kāna raises the subject (its ism) and puts the predicate in the accusative, while inna puts the subject (its ism) in the accusative and raises the predicate. Candidates often raise inna's ism or put its predicate in the accusative.
• ✕ Case of the excepted noun: after a complete positive clause the noun after illā is obligatorily accusative (fa-sharibū minhu illā qalīlan); after a complete negative clause both accusative and agreement with the excepted-from noun are allowed, with agreement preferred; in a reduced clause it takes the case the governor requires.
• ✕ Numbers 3 to 10 take the opposite gender to the counted noun and the counted noun is a genitive plural (thalāthatu rijālin, thalāthu nisāʾin); from 11 to 99 the counted noun is a singular accusative (aḥada ʿashara rajulan).
• ✕ Ḥāl vs tamyīz: the ḥāl is usually a derived adjective-like word giving the state of its owner (jāʾa aṭ-ṭālibu musriʿan); the tamyīz is usually a non-derived noun that removes vagueness from the word before it (ishtaraytu riṭlan zaytan).
• ✕ The real adjective agrees with its noun in case, definiteness, number and gender; the causal adjective agrees in case and definiteness only and takes its gender from the noun after it (jāʾa rajulun karīmatun ummuhu).
• ✕ A clause after an indefinite noun is an adjective and after a definite noun is a ḥāl: in «qadima rajulun yatahallalu wajhuhu» the clause is in the position of a nominative adjective. A relative-clause (ṣila) and a resumptive clause have no case position.