I'rabCategory — the special casescore term
Also written: Asma khamsa · The five nouns · Five special nouns · Asmaa al-khamsa · Six nouns
In one line
Five short nouns — أَب، أَخ، حَم، فُو، ذُو — show i'rab with full letters: a wāw in rafa, an alif in nasab, a yā' in jarr, but only when they are muḍāf.
The five, and their i'rab
وَهِيَ: أَبُوكَ، وَأَخُوكَ، وَحَمُوكَ، وَفُوكَ، وَذُو مَالٍ. وَإِعْرَابُهَا: تُرْفَعُ بِالْوَاوِ، وَتُنْصَبُ بِالْأَلِفِ، وَتُجَرُّ بِالْيَاءِ.
“They are: your father, your brother, your father-in-law, your mouth, and a man of wealth. Their i'rab: raised with the waw, put into nasab with the alif, and into jarr with the ya'.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
تُرْفَعُ بِالْوَاوِraised by the wāw
تُنْصَبُ بِالْأَلِفِput into nasab by the alif
تُجَرُّ بِالْيَاءِput into jarr by the yā'
Understand it
These five are so common in the Qur'an and hadith that they are worth learning as a set.
The five nouns — how they show their i'rab
| State | Sign | Example | |
|---|
| rafa | ـُو | أَبُوكَ | abūka |
| nasab | ـَا | أَبَاكَ | abāka |
| jarr | ـِي | أَبِيكَ | abīka |
A long vowel letter carries the state — wāw, alif, yā' — and only when the noun is a muḍāf.
The special cases
Seven categories that express i'rab their own way — by letters instead of vowels, or by not showing it at all.
The full set is أَبٌ (father), أَخٌ (brother), حَمٌ (father-in-law), فُو (mouth) and ذُو (possessor of).1
The condition is absolute: they behave this way only as a muḍāf. Standing alone they decline like any ordinary ism — أَبٌ، أَبًا، أَبٍ. And joined to the speaker's own yā', they show no i'rab at all: أَبِي is the same in all three states.
ذُو is a special case even here: it is never used except as a muḍāf, and never joined to a pronoun — ذُو مَالٍ, a man of wealth.
How to spot it
Recognition test
One of the five, standing as the first word of a possessive, with a long wāw, alif or yā' where you expected a short vowel.
Related terms
Next in the guideاَلِاسْم الْمَقْصُورWhat is a maqṣūr ism, and why does it never change? →
Notes
- Some books count six rather than five, adding هَنٌ and calling them اَلْأَسْمَاء السِّتَّة الْمُكَبَّرَة. The word is rare and its use is disputed, which is why most primers leave it out. Nothing turns on it: the five above are the five you will meet. ↩
Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.