What are the majrurat (al-majrurat)?
In one line
The two, in the classical wording
Key words in the Arabic
Understand it
This is the shortest list in Arabic grammar, and the most worth memorising outright.1
The two, in order
Two roles, and no third. Everything else in jarr is a follower copying one of these.
An ism is in jarr for exactly two reasons: a حَرْف جَرّ stands before it, or it is the مُضَاف إِلَيْه — the second word of a possessive.
Anything else you meet in jarr is a تَابِع, a follower2: an adjective, an emphasis, a substitute or a word joined by a conjunction, taking its kasra from the word in front of it rather than earning it in its own right.
How to spot it
Related terms
Common questions
Why are there only two?
Because only two things ever cause jarr: a preposition standing in front of an ism, and a noun being possessed by the one before it. Everything else that appears in jarr is a follower inheriting it, and inheriting is not causing.
Next in the guideاَلِاسْم الْمَجْرُورWhat is a noun made majrur by a preposition? →Notes
- اَلْهِدَايَة فِي النَّحْو states it as plainly as it can be stated: اَلْأَسْمَاءُ الْمَجْرُورَاتُ وَهِيَ عَلَى قِسْمَيْنِ — the nouns in jarr, and they are of two kinds. ↩
- اَلْآجُرُّومِيَّة uses the older name خَفْض (khafd) for this state and counts three kinds — majrur by a particle, majrur by idafa, and the follower of a majrur. The difference is only that it treats a follower as a role in its own right; this guide does not. ↩
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