I'rabRoles in nasabcore term
Also written: Mansoobaat · Mansubat · Words always in nasab
In one line
The mansubat (اَلْمَنْصُوبَات) are the roles that put an
ism into nasab. There are twelve of them, beginning with the object.
The twelve, in the classical wording
اَلْمَقْصَدُ الثَّانِي: اَلْأَسْمَاءُ الْمَنْصُوبَةُ، وَهِيَ اثْنَا عَشَرَ قِسْمًا: اَلْمَفْعُولُ الْمُطْلَقُ، وَالْمَفْعُولُ بِهِ، وَالْمَفْعُولُ فِيهِ، وَالْمَفْعُولُ لَهُ، وَالْمَفْعُولُ مَعَهُ، وَالْحَالُ، وَالتَّمْيِيزُ، وَالْمُسْتَثْنَى، وَخَبَرُ كَانَ وَأَخَوَاتِهَا، وَاسْمُ إِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتِهَا، وَالْمَنْصُوبُ بِ(لَا) النَّافِيَةِ لِلْجِنْسِ، وَخَبَرُ (مَا) وَ(لَا) الْمُشَبَّهَتَيْنِ بِ(لَيْسَ).
“The second aim: the nouns in nasab. They are twelve kinds: the absolute object; the direct object; the object of time or place; the object of reason; the object of accompaniment; the circumstance; the specifier; the excepted noun; the
khabar of kana and its sisters; the noun of inna and its sisters; the noun put into nasab by the la of absolute negation; and the khabar of ma and la resembling laysa.”
Key words in the Arabic
اثْنَا عَشَرَ قِسْمًاtwelve kinds
اَلْمَفْعُولُ الْمُطْلَقُal-Hidaya opens with this one; Tasheel opens with maf'ul bihi
Understand it
Nasab carries more roles than the other two states put together, and that is why it takes up the longest chapter of every book of nahw.1
The twelve, in order
Twelve roles. The first five are the mafa'il al-khamsa and share the word maf'ul.
The first five are called اَلْمَفَاعِيلُ الْخَمْسَة (al-mafa'il al-khamsa), the five objects. They share the word مَفْعُول and each one answers a different question about the action: what it fell upon, how much of it there was, why it happened, who it happened alongside, and when or where.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Ask why the word is in nasab. The answer has to be one of the twelve roles, and naming which one is exactly what i'rab asks of you.
Related terms
Common questions
Why are there so many more nasab roles than the others?
Because nasab absorbs everything that is neither the pillar of the clause nor governed by a preposition. Objects, states, reasons, times, specifications and exceptions all end up there, so the list is long because the category is broad.
Next in the guideاَلْمَفْعُول بِهِWhat is the object (maf'ul bihi)? →
Notes
- The count of twelve is اَلْهِدَايَة فِي النَّحْو's, and تَسْهِيل النَّحْو follows it. The two order the twelve slightly differently — al-Hidaya opens with the مَفْعُول مُطْلَق, Tasheel with the مَفْعُول بِهِ — but they are the same twelve. This guide follows Tasheel's order. ↩
- اَلْآجُرُّومِيَّة counts fifteen, listing the مُنَادَى and the followers separately. One honest caution the books raise themselves: the twelfth, اَلْمُسْتَثْنَى, is not always mansub — see its own page. ↩
“And We have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember.”
Al-Qamar 54:17
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