Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
الْجُمْلَة الِاعْتِرَاضِيَّة
al-jumla al-i'tiradiyya
Parenthetical clause
Nahw · syntaxClause/structureadvanced term
Also written: Jumla mu'tarida · Al-jumla al-mu'tarida · Mu'tarida · Parenthetical clause
In one line
A parenthesis mid-sentence: a clause wedged between two inseparable parts, adding meaning but taking no i'rab place.
Classical definition
الجُمْلَةُ الاعْتِرَاضِيَّةُ مَا تَتَوَسَّطُ بَيْنَ شَيْئَيْنِ مُتَلَازِمَيْنِ لِإِفَادَةِ مَعْنًى، وَلَا مَحَلَّ لَهَا مِنَ الإِعْرَابِ.
“The parenthetical clause is one that intervenes between two mutually dependent elements to add a meaning, and it has no place in i'rab.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
تَتَوَسَّطُcomes in between
مُتَلَازِمَيْنِtwo inseparable parts
Understand it
Arabic interrupts itself deliberately: between a mubtada and its khabar, a qasam and its answer, a noun and its adjective, a clause slips in to bless, warn or emphasise — then the sentence carries on as if nothing happened. Remove the i'tirad and the syntax is untouched; keep it and the rhetoric gains. Standing outside the sentence's structure, it has no mahall. The books use two names for one device — الْجُمْلَةُ الِاعْتِرَاضِيَّةُ and الْجُمْلَةُ الْمُعْتَرِضَةُ; whichever you meet, everything here applies.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Two parts that belong together (mawsuf–sifa, mubtada–khabar, qasam–jawab) with a complete clause between them: lift it out — if the frame still reads perfectly, it was i'tiradiyya.
In the Qur'an
وَإِنَّهُۥ لَقَسَمٌ لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمٌ
Al-Waqi'a 56:76 — “and indeed, it is a mighty oath — if only you knew”
لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ interrupts قَسَمٌ and its adjective عَظِيمٌ — a parenthesis with no i'rab place.
Related terms