Elementary Arabic Morphology 3

Conjugational and Non-Conjugational Declinable Nouns

  1. What is a conjugational declinable noun?

  2. What is a non-conjugational declinable noun?

  3. How many types of nouns are there that do not conjugate?

  4. When is a proper noun non-conjugational?

  5. What condition makes an adjective non-conjugational?

  6. When is a plural non-conjugational?

  7. What condition makes a noun ending in a feminine alif non-conjugational?

  8. When does a non-conjugational noun receive a kasrah?

  9. A conjugational declinable noun is a noun which accepts nunation and all vowel signs, for example: جاءنا رجلٌ عالِمٌ.

  10. A non-conjugational declinable noun is a noun that does not accept a kasrah or nunation; it is limited in accepting a dummah and a fathah only, for example: قَدِمَ إبرهیمُ و سافَرتُ مَعَ یُوسفَ.

  11. The nouns which do not conjugate are: singular proper nouns and singular adjectives, plurals in the forms مَفاعِل and مَفاعِیل, and any noun that ends in the feminine alif.

  12. Proper nouns are non-conjugational in six cases: First, if it ends in an additional alif and nūn, for example: عثمان. Second, if it is in a form similar to a verb, for example: أحمَد. Third, if it is an insignificant compound, for example: بَعلَبَکَّ. Fourth, if it is feminine, be it grammatically (مُعاویة), real (مریم), or grammatically and real (وردة). Fifth, if it is a non-Arabic word consisting of more than three letters, for example: إبراهیم. Sixth, if it is transformed, for example: عُمَرwhich is transformed from عامر.

  13. Plurals become non-conjugational when they have the following forms: مَفاعِل for example: مَساجِد or مَفاعِیل for example: مَصابِیح.

  14. Maqsūr and mamdūd nouns ending in the feminine alif are non-conjugational whether they are singular or plural or proper or adjective on the condition that the alif is additional, not an original letter of the word and that it has four letters or more, for example: سَلمیَ.

  15. A non-conjugational noun is but in the genitive form by giving it a kasrah when it is the compliment of a prefixed noun or given the alif-lam prefix, for example: مَرَرتُ بأفضَلِ العُلماءِ.