Grammar term · I'rab · 'Alāmāt al-i'rāb — the signs
Fatha marker
al-fatha
الْفَتْحَة
I'rab'Alāmāt al-i'rāb — the signscore term10,666+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The fatha — the short -a vowel that is the base marker of nasab.
Classical definition
وَأَمَّا الْفَتْحَةُ فَتَكُونُ عَلَامَةً لِلنَّصْبِ فِي ثَلَاثَةِ مَوَاضِعَ: فِي الِاسْمِ الْمُفْرَدِ، وَجَمْعِ التَّكْسِيرِ، وَالْفِعْلِ الْمُضَارِعِ إِذَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ نَاصِبٌ وَلَمْ يَتَّصِلْ بِآخِرِهِ شَيْءٌ.
“The fatha is the marker of nasab in three places: the singular noun, the broken plural, and the present verb when a nasab-particle has entered upon it and nothing is attached to its end.”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
نَاصِبa nasab-causing particle (أَنْ، لَنْ…)
Understand it
One vowel, two different jobs — so read with care. A final fatha may be nasab doing grammar (رَأَيْتُ الْكِتَابَ), or simply the fixed vowel of a madi verb (كَتَبَ), which is mabni and takes no i'rab at all. The cure is to ask what the word is: a noun with a governor acting on it, or a past verb whose ending never changes anyway.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A final ـَ (or ً) on a noun after a verb, or on a mudari' after أَنْ / لَنْ — that fatha is nasab.
Related terms
Next in the guideالْكَسْرَةKasra marker →