Grammar term · I'rab · The signs
Fatha marker
al-fatha
الْفَتْحَة
I'rabThe signscore term
In one line
The fatha (فَتْحَة) is the short -a vowel, and it 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.”
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.
In the Qur'an
وَأَنَّهُۥ خَلَقَ ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ ٱلذَّكَرَ وَٱلْأُنثَىٰ
An-Najm 53:45 — “That He did create in pairs,- male and female,”
ٱلذَّكَرَ ends in a fatha because it is the thing خَلَقَ fell upon. The fatha is the base marker of nasab, and twelve different roles will put a word there.
Study this ayah word by word →Related terms
Common questions
Is a fatha always a sign of nasab?
Not always. It is the base marker of nasab, but it is also the built-in ending of many mabni words, and it is the jarr marker on a diptote, where a kasra would be expected. The vowel alone never settles the case.
Next in the guideالْكَسْرَةKasra marker →Updated