Grammar term · I'rab · Role — al-marfū'āt (the eight)
What are the marfū'āt (al-marfū'āt)?
al-marfū'āt
اَلْمَرْفُوعَات
I'rabRole — al-marfū'āt (the eight)core term
Also written: Marfooaat · Marfuat · Words always in rafa
In one line
The marfū'āt (اَلْمَرْفُوعَات) are the roles that put an ism into rafa. There are eight of them, beginning with the doer.
The eight, in the classical wording
اَلْمَقْصَدُ الْأَوَّلُ: فِي الْأَسْمَاءِ الْمَرْفُوعَةِ، وَهِيَ ثَمَانِيَةُ أَقْسَامٍ: اَلْفَاعِلُ، وَالْمَفْعُولُ الَّذِي لَمْ يُسَمَّ فَاعِلُهُ، وَالْمُبْتَدَأُ، وَالْخَبَرُ، وَخَبَرُ إِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتِهَا، وَاسْمُ كَانَ وَأَخَوَاتِهَا، وَاسْمُ (مَا) وَ(لَا) الْمُشَبَّهَتَيْنِ بِـ(لَيْسَ)، وَخَبَرُ (لَا) الَّتِي لِنَفْيِ الْجِنْسِ.
“The first aim: the nouns in rafa. They are eight kinds: the doer; the object whose doer is not named; the mubtada'; the khabar; the khabar of inna and its sisters; the noun of kana and its sisters; the noun of ma and la resembling laysa; and the khabar of the la that negates the class.”
(بتصرف من الهداية في النحو)
Key words in the Arabic
اَلْمَقْصَدُ الْأَوَّلُthe first aim — the book's own chapter title
ثَمَانِيَةُ أَقْسَامٍeight kinds
اَلْمَفْعُولُ الَّذِي لَمْ يُسَمَّ فَاعِلُهُthe older name for nā'ib al-fā'il
Understand it
An ism is never marfū' by accident. It is marfū' because of the job it is doing, and there is a fixed list of jobs that call for rafa.
The eight, in order
1فَاعِل–(fā'il)2نَائِب الْفَاعِل–(nā'ib al-fā'il)3مُبْتَدَأ–(mubtada')4خَبَر–(khabar)5خَبَر إِنَّ–(khabar inna)6اِسْم كَانَ–(ism kāna)7اِسْم مَا وَلَا–(ism mā wa lā)8خَبَر لَا–(khabar lā)
Eight roles, and every marfū' ism in Arabic is marfū' for one of them.
Learn them as a set and the whole of rafa is settled. Meet a marfū' word in a sentence and one of these eight is the reason for it — there is no ninth.1
Related terms
اَلرَّفْع · rafa / marfū'
اَلْمَنْصُوبَات · al-manṣūbāt
اَلْمَجْرُورَات · al-majrūrāt
الْإِعْرَاب · al-i'rab
What this covers
اَلْفَاعِلWhat is the doer (fā'il)?fā'ilThe one who does the action of the verb.Read the full entry →
نَائِبُ الْفَاعِلWhat is the stand-in doer (nā'ib al-fā'il)?nā'ib al-fā'ilThe word that takes the doer's place when the doer is not named.Read the full entry →
اَلْمُبْتَدَأWhat is the subject (mubtada')?mubtada'The word a nominal sentence starts with — what it is about.Read the full entry →
اَلْخَبَرWhat is the predicate (khabar)?khabarWhat is said about the mubtada' — the information.Read the full entry →
خَبَرُ إِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتِهَاWhat is the khabar of inna (khabar inna wa akhawātihā)?khabar inna wa akhawātihāThe predicate after إِنَّ and its sisters, which stays in rafa.Read the full entry →
اِسْمُ كَانَ وَأَخَوَاتِهَاWhat is the ism of kāna (ism kāna wa akhawātihā)?ism kāna wa akhawātihāThe noun of كَانَ and its sisters, which is raised to rafa.Read the full entry →
اِسْمُ مَا وَلَا الْمُشَبَّهَتَيْنِ بِلَيْسَWhat is the ism of mā and lā resembling laysa?ism mā wa lā al-mushabbahatayn bi-laysaThe noun after مَا or لَا when they negate the way لَيْسَ does.Read the full entry →
خَبَرُ لَا الَّتِي لِنَفْيِ الْجِنْسِWhat is the khabar of lā of absolute negation?khabar lā allatī li-nafy al-jinsThe predicate of the لَا that denies a whole class.Read the full entry →
Next in the guideاَلْفَاعِلWhat is the doer (fā'il)? →
Notes
- The count of eight, and the order they are given in here, follow اَلْهِدَايَة فِي النَّحْو (al-Hidāya fī al-Naḥw), which opens its chapter on the marfū'āt with وَهِيَ ثَمَانِيَةُ أَقْسَامٍ — “they are eight kinds”. تَسْهِيل النَّحْو (Tasheel al-Nahw) takes its list and its order from that book, and this guide follows both. ↩
- اَلْآجُرُّومِيَّة (al-Ājurrūmiyya) counts seven rather than eight. It folds the follower — النَّعْت، الْعَطْف، التَّوْكِيد، الْبَدَل — into the list as a single item, and it does not name the two roles involving مَا and لَا resembling لَيْسَ. Neither count is wrong; the two books cut the same material in different places. This guide keeps the followers separate, on the ground that a follower has no i'rab of its own — it copies the word before it. ↩