Elementary Arabic Morphology 2
Nunated and Unnunated Words
What is a nunated word?
What is an unnunated word?
What are the most important unnunated words?
What is a proper noun being unnunated conditional upon?
What is an adjective being unnunated conditional upon?
What is a plural being unnunated conditional upon?
What is a noun ending in the feminine alif being unnunated conditional upon?
When does an unnunated noun accept a kasrah?
A nunated word is a word that accepts nunation and all of the vowel signs. For example: رجُل (man) and عالم (scholar)
An unnunated word is a word that does not except a kasrah or nunation. For example: إبراهیم (Abraham) یعقوب (Jacob).
The most important unnunated words are:
• Some proper nouns and singular adjectives
• Plural nouns in the two forms مفاعل and مفاعیل
• Any word that ends in the feminine alif
- A Proper noun becomes unnunated if:
• it is feminine, for example: مریم (Maryam)
• it is taken from a foreign language, for example: إسحَق (Isaac)
• it is a compound word, for example: بَعلبَک (a city in Lebanon)
• it has an alif and nūn added to the end of it, for example: عثمان
• it is on the form of a verb, for example: أحمَد
• it was taken from another word, for example: عُمَر
- Adjectives become unnunated if:
• they are on the form فَعلان which is made feminine by putting it into the فَعلیَ form, for example: عَطشان (thirsty)
• they are on the اَفعَل form, for example: أحسَن (better)
• they are taken from another word, for example: ثُلاث (third)
- Plurals are unnunated if:
• they are on the مفاعل form, for example: مَساجِد (mosques)
• they are on the مفاعیل form, for example: مَصابیح (lanterns)
Any noun that ends in a feminine alif is unnunated, for example: سَکریَ (drunk)
Unnunated nouns receive a kasrah if they are contracted to other words or if they have an alif-lām. For example: مَرَرتُ بأفضَلِ العلماء (I passed by the best scholars).