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Iḍāfah

Iḍāfah (إضافة) is the Arabic grammatical construct case, mostly used to indicate possession.

Iḍāfah basically entails putting one noun after another: the second noun specifies more precisely the nature of the first noun. In forms of Arabic which mark grammatical case, this second noun must be in the genitive case. The construction is typically equivalent to the English construction "(noun) of (noun)". It is a very widespread way of forming possessive constructions in Arabic,^[1] and is typical of a Semitic language.^[2] Simple examples include:

• دارُ السَلامِ dāru‿s-salām "the house of peace".
• كِيلُو مَوْزٍ kīlū mawz "a kilo of bananas".
• بِنْتُ حَسَنٍ bintu Ḥasan "the daughter of Hasan/Hasan's daughter".
• بَيْتُ رَجُلٍ baytu rajul "the house of a man/a man's house".
• بَيْتُ الرَجُلِ baytu‿r-rajul "the house of the man/the man's house".

Terminology[edit]

The Arabic grammatical terminology for this construction derives from the verb أضاف ʼaḍāfa "he added, attached", verb form IV from the hollow root ض ي ف ḍ y f.^[3][4]

• The whole phrase consisting of a noun and a genitive is known in Arabic as إضافة iḍāfah ("annexation, addition") and in English as the "genitive construct", "construct phrase", or "annexation structure".
• The first term in the pair is called المُضاف al-muḍāf "the thing annexed".
• The first term governs (i.e. is modified by) the second term, referred to as المُضاف إلَيْهِ al-muḍāf ilayhi "the thing added to".^[5]

Kinds of relationship expressed[edit]

The range of relationships between the first and second elements of the idafah construction is very varied, though usually consists of some relationship of possession or belonging.^[6] In the case of words for containers, the iḍāfah may express what is contained: فِنْجانُ قَهْوةٍ finjānu qahwatin "a cup of coffee". The iḍāfah may indicate the material something is made of: خاتَمُ خَشَبٍ khātamu khashabin "a wooden ring, ring made of wood". In many cases the two members become a fixed coined phrase, the idafah being used as the equivalent of a compound noun used in some Indo-European languages such as English. Thus بَيْتُ الطَلَبةِ baytu al-ṭalabati can mean "house of the (certain, known) students", but is also the normal term for "the student hostel".

Forming iḍāfah constructions[edit]

First term[edit]

The first term in iḍāfah has the following characteristics:^[7]

• It must be in the construct state: that is, it does not have the definite article or any nunation (any final -n), or any possessive pronoun suffix.
  • When using a pronunciation that generally omits cases (’i‘rāb), the ة (tā’ marbūṭah) of any term in the construct state must always be pronounced with a -t (after /a/) when spoken, e.g. خالة أَحْمَد khālat ’aḥmad "Ahmad's aunt".
• It can be in any case: this is determined by the grammatical role of the first term in the sentence where it occurs.

Second term[edit]

The second term in iḍāfah has the following characteristics when it is a noun:^[8]

• It must be in the genitive case.
• It is marked as definite (with the definitive article) or indefinite (with nunation, in those varieties of Arabic that use it), and can take a possessive pronoun suffix. The definiteness or indefiniteness of the second term determines the definiteness of the entire iḍāfah phrase.

Three or more terms[edit]

iḍāfah constructions of multiple terms are possible, and in such cases, all but the final term are in the construct state, and all but the first member are in the genitive case. For example: سَرْقةُ جَوازِ سَفَرِ أِحَدِ اللاعِبِينَ sarqatu jawāzi safari ’aḥadi l-lā‘ibīna "the theft of the passport [literally "license of journey"] of one of the athletes".^[9]

Indicating definiteness in iḍāfah constructions[edit]

The iḍāfah construction as a whole is a noun phrase. It can be considered indefinite or definite only as a whole. An idafah construction is definite if the second noun is definite, by having the article or being the proper name of a place or person. The construction is indefinite if it the second noun is indefinite. Thus idafah can express senses equivalent to:

• 'the house of the director' (بَيْتُ المُدِيرِ baytu l-mudīr-i)
• 'a house of a director' (بَيْتُ مُدِيرٍ baytu mudīr-in)

But it cannot express a sense equivalent to 'the house of a director': this sense has to be expressed with a prepositional phrase, using a preposition such as لـِـ li-. For example:

• ٍِالبَيْتُ لِمُدِير al-baytu li mudīrin (literally 'the house for/to a director').^[10]
• بَيْتُ مُحَمَّدٍ الكَبِيرُ baytu muḥammadini l-kabīru "Muhammad's big house, the big house of Muhammad" (idafah)
  • بَيْتٌ كَبِيرٌ لِمُحَمَّدٍ baytun kabīrun li-muḥammadin "a big house of Muhammad's" (construction with li-)^[11]

Nominal sentences, noun-adjective phrases, and iḍāfah[edit]

Iḍāfah constructions can typically be distinguished from nominal sentences (جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة) and from noun-adjective phrases (اسْمٌ وَصِفَّة) by the case ending of the muḍāf ilayhi as well as the definiteness of the nouns.

Adjectives and other modifiers in iḍāfah[edit]

Nothing (except a demonstrative determiner) can appear between the two nouns in iḍāfah. If an adjective modifies the first noun, it appears at the end of the iḍāfah.

Modifying the first term[edit]

An adjective modifying the first noun appears at the end of the iḍāfah and agrees with the noun it describes in number, gender, case, and definiteness (the latter of which is determined by the last noun of the iḍāfah).^[12]

Modifying the last term[edit]

An adjective modifying the last term appears at the end of the iḍāfah and agrees with the noun it describes in number, gender, definiteness, and case (which is always genitive).

Modifying both terms[edit]

If both terms in the iḍāfah are modified, the adjective modifying the last term is set closest to the iḍāfah, and the adjective modifying the first term is set further away.^[13] For example:

majma‘-u

academy

l-lughat-i

the-language

l-‘arabiyyat-i

the-Arabic

l-’urdunniyy-u

the-Jordanian

majma‘-u l-lughat-i l-‘arabiyyat-i l-’urdunniyy-u

academy the-language the-Arabic the-Jordanian

"the Jordanian Arabic Language Academy"

Iḍāfah constructions using pronouns[edit]

The possessive suffix can also take the place of the second noun of an iḍāfah construction, in which case it is considered definite. Indefinite possessed nouns are also expressed via a preposition.

Variant forms[edit]

For all but the first person singular, the same forms are used regardless of the part of speech of the word attached to. In the third person masculine singular, -hu occurs after the vowels uora (-a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw), while -hi occurs after iory (-i, -ī, -ay). The same alternation occurs in the third person dual and plural.

صَدِيقَتُهَا ṣadīqatu-hā "her friend"

صَدِيقَتُهَا الجَدِيدةُ ṣadīqatu-hā l-jadīdatu "her new friend"

صَدِيقةٌ لَهَا ṣadīqatun la-hā "a friend of hers"

صَدِيقةٌ جَدِيدةٌ لَهَا ṣadīqatun jadīdatun la-hā "a new friend of hers"

In the first person singular, however, the situation is more complicated; -ī/-ya "my" is attached to nouns. In the latter case, -ya is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while -ī is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before -ya (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Examples:

• From ‏كِتابٌ‎ kitāb "book", pl ‏كُتُبٌ‎ kutub (most of nouns in general).

• From ‏كَلِمةٌ‎ kalimah "word" (nouns ending on ة‎), pl ‏كَلِمَات‎ or ‏كَلِم‎.

• From ‏دُنْيَا‎ dunyā "world"; ‏مُسْتَشْفًى‎ mustashfan "hospital" (nouns ending on ـَا ـَى ـًى).

• From nom. dual ‏مُعَلِّمانَ‎ mu‘allimān "teachers", acc./gen. dual مُعَلِّمَينَ mu‘allimayn (dual nouns)

• From nom. pl. مُعَلِّمُونَ mu‘allimūn "teachers", acc./gen. pl. مُعَلِّمِينَ mu‘allimīn (regular plural ـُون nouns)

• From pl. ‏مُصْطَفَوْنَ‎ muṣṭafawn "chosen" (regular plural ـَوْن nouns)

• From ‏قاضٍ‎ qāḍin "judge" (active participle nouns ending on ـٍ as nominative)

• From ‏أَبٌ‎ ab "father", long construct form أَبُو abū (long construct nouns)

• From any nouns ending on ـُو -ū, ـَو -aw or ـِي -ī (more commonly loanwords).

• From any nouns ending on ـَي -ay (more commonly loanwords).

Pronominal nouns in most of Arabic dialects[edit]

• From ‏كِتابٌ‎ kitāb "book", pl ‏كُتُبٌ‎ kutub (most of nouns in general).

• From ‏كِلْمة‎ kilma "word" (nouns ending on ة).

• From ‏دُنْيا‎ dunyā "world"

• From ‏أَب‎ ab "father"

References[edit]