What are the five nouns (al-asma' al-khamsa)?
In one line
Classical definition
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 | abuka |
| nasab | ـَا | أَبَاكَ | abaka |
| jarr | ـِي | أَبِيكَ | abika |
A long vowel letter carries the state — waw, alif, ya' — and only when the noun is a mudaf.
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 mudaf. Standing alone they decline like any ordinary ism — أَبٌ، أَبًا، أَبٍ. And joined to the speaker's own ya', 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 mudaf, and never joined to a pronoun — ذُو مَالٍ, a man of wealth.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
Related terms
Common questions
Why do only these five nouns behave this way?
Because of their shape and their use. They are short, they lose a letter when standing alone, and they show their case with a full letter only when they are possessing something and are not shortened. Outside those conditions they decline normally.
Next in the guideاَلِاسْم الْمَقْصُورWhat is a maqsur 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. ↩
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