What is a verbal sentence (jumlah fi'liyyah)?
In one line
Definition
Understand it
A sentence that opens with a verb is a جُمْلَة فِعْلِيَّة (jumlah fi'liyyah). The verb comes first, and the one who did it comes after.
The parts
The verb comes first, then the fa'il who did it — or, when the doer is left out, a na'ib fa'il standing in its place.
The doer is the فَاعِل (fa'il), and it is always marfu'.
In كَتَبَ مُحَمَّدٌ (kataba muhammadun), “Muhammad wrote”, كَتَبَ is the verb and مُحَمَّد is the fa'il. Arabic puts them in that order; English reverses it.
The doer can be left unnamed. Drop the fa'il from كَتَبَ الدَّرْسَ and you get كُتِبَ الدَّرْسُ (kutiba al-darsu), “the lesson was written” — الدَّرْس now stands in for the missing doer as نَائِب فَاعِل (na'ib fa'il).
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
In the language — فِي اللُّغَة
The word فِعْلِيَّة (fi'liyyah) in everyday Arabic simply means “to do with an act”.
جُمْلَةٌ فِعْلِيَّةٌ (jumlatun fi'liyyatun) — “a verb-sentence”
In Arabic grammar it marks the sentence that opens with a verb rather than a noun.
Common questions
Does a verbal sentence always start with the verb?
In its basic form, yes — that is what makes it verbal rather than nominal. Something may stand in front of the clause, a particle or a condition, but the verb still leads its own clause. Move the doer to the front and you have changed the sentence type.
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