Elementary Arabic Morphology 2

Nunated and Unnunated Words

  1. What is a nunated word?

  2. What is an unnunated word?

  3. What are the most important unnunated words?

  4. What is a proper noun being unnunated conditional upon?

  5. What is an adjective being unnunated conditional upon?

  6. What is a plural being unnunated conditional upon?

  7. What is a noun ending in the feminine alif being unnunated conditional upon?

  8. When does an unnunated noun accept a kasrah?

  9. A nunated word is a word that accepts nunation and all of the vowel signs. For example: رجُل (man) and عالم (scholar)

  10. An unnunated word is a word that does not except a kasrah or nunation. For example: إبراهیم (Abraham) یعقوب (Jacob).

  11. 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

  1. 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

  1. 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)

  1. Plurals are unnunated if:

• they are on the مفاعل form, for example: مَساجِد (mosques)

• they are on the مفاعیل form, for example: مَصابیح (lanterns)

  1. Any noun that ends in a feminine alif is unnunated, for example: سَکریَ (drunk)

  2. 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).