Grammar term · I'rab · i'rab
الْكَسْرَة
al-kasra
Kasra marker
I'rab · i'rabI'rab marker (alama)core term11,335+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The kasra — the short -i vowel that is the base marker of jarr.
Classical definition
وَأَمَّا الْكَسْرَةُ فَتَكُونُ عَلَامَةً لِلْخَفْضِ فِي ثَلَاثَةِ مَوَاضِعَ: فِي الِاسْمِ الْمُفْرَدِ الْمُنْصَرِفِ، وَجَمْعِ التَّكْسِيرِ الْمُنْصَرِفِ، وَجَمْعِ الْمُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِمِ.
“The kasra is the marker of khafd in three places: the fully-declining singular noun, the fully-declining broken plural, and the sound feminine plural.”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
الْمُنْصَرِفfully declining — accepts tanwin
الْخَفْضthe Kufan name for jarr
Understand it
A kasra ending marks a noun as lowered — normally by a preposition in front or an idafa around it. Note the fine print in the definition: “fully-declining”. Diptotes refuse the kasra and show jarr with a fatha instead: بِمَسَاجِدَ. And since verbs never take jarr, a grammatical kasra is itself evidence that you are looking at an ism.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A final ـِ (or ٍ) after a preposition, or on the second word of an idafa — that kasra is jarr.
Related terms