Elementary Arabic Morphology 3

Possessive Nouns

159. What is a possessive noun?

160. What is the ruling of possessive noun?

161. How is a word ending in a hamzah made into a possessive noun?

162. How is a word ending in an alif made into a possessive noun?

163. How is a word ending in a yā' made into a possessive noun?

164. How is a word ending in a doubled yā' made into a possessive noun?

165. How is the form فعیلة made into a possessive noun?

166. How is a triliteral noun whose third root letter has been erased made into a possessive noun?

167. A possessive noun is a noun where a doubled yā' is added to the end it in order to relate it to something, for example: لبنان becomes لبنانيّ.

168. The ruling of a possessive noun is that the feminine tā' and the signs of the dual and plural forms should be erased from the word and the letter that comes before the possessive yā' is always given a kasrah, for example: عراقین becomes عراقيّ.

169. If the noun ends in a hamzah and one wants to make it into a possessive noun there are three cases: first, if it is a feminine hamzah it is changed to a wāw, for example: بیضاء becomes بَیضاويّ. Second, if it is a replacement of a weak letter one can either change it to a wāw or have it remain as it is, for example: سَماء becomes سَماويّ or سَمائيّ. Third, if it is an original letter it is not changed, for example: قرّاء becomes قرّائيّ.

170. If the noun ends in an alif and one wants to make it into a possessive noun there are three cases: first, if the alif is the third letter it is changed into a wāw, for example: فتیَ becomes فَتَويّ. Second, if it is the fourth letter and the second letter of the word does not have a vowel sign it is changed into a wāw, for example: معنیَ becomes مَعنَوِيّ. Third, the alif is erased if it is the fifth letter or greater, for example: خُزَامیَ becomes خُزاميّ.

171. If the noun ends in a yā' and one wants to make it into a possessive noun the yā' is changed into a wāw and the letter before it is given a fathah, for example: الشجيّ becomes الشَجَويّ. The exception is if the yā' comes after a sound letter without a vowel sign, in this case it is not changed, for example: ظَبي becomes ظَبیيّ.

172. If the noun ends in a doubled yā' and one wants to make it into a possessive noun there are three cases: first, if it is after one letter, the second yā' is changed into a wāw and the first is given its original form with a fathah, for example: حيّ becomes حَیَويّ. Second, if it is after two letters, the first yā' is erased and the second is changed into a wāw and the letter before it is given a fathah, for example: نَبيّ becomes نَبَوِيّ. Third, if it is after three or more letters the word remains the same, for example: کرسي becomes کرسيٌ.

173. If the noun is in the form فعیلة and one wants to make it into a possessive noun the yā' is erased and the letter before it is given a fathah, for example: مدینة becomes مَدَنيّ. The exception to this rule is if the second root letter is weak or doubled, in this case the yā' is not erased, for example: طَوِیلة becomes طَویليّ.

174. If the noun is a trilateral noun whose third letter is erased and two letters remain and one wants to make it into a possessive noun the erased letter returns in the possessive form, for example: أب becomes أبَويّ. If a feminine tā' replaces the erased letter, it will be erased and the original letter will be brought back, for example: سنة becomes سنويّ.