Grammar term · I'rab · Roles in rafa
What are the marfu'at (al-marfu'at)?
al-marfu'at
اَلْمَرْفُوعَات
I'rabRoles in rafacore term
Also written: Marfooaat · Marfuat · Words always in rafa
In one line
The marfu'at (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 بِ(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.”
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 na'ib al-fa'il
Understand it
An ism is never marfu' by accident. It is marfu' because of the job it is doing, and there is a fixed list of jobs that call for rafa.
The eight, in order
1فَاعِل–(fa'il)2نَائِب الْفَاعِل–(na'ib al-fa'il)3مُبْتَدَأ–(mubtada')4خَبَر–(khabar)5خَبَر إِنَّ–(khabar inna)6اِسْم كَانَ–(ism kana)7اِسْم مَا وَلَا–(ism ma wa la)8خَبَر لَا–(khabar la)
Eight roles, and every marfu' ism in Arabic is marfu' for one of them.
Learn them as a set and the whole of rafa is settled. Meet a marfu' word in a sentence and one of these eight is the reason for it — there is no ninth.1
How to spot it
Recognition test
Ask why the word is in rafa. The answer has to be one of the eight roles — and if it is none of them, the word is not marfu' and you have misread the ending.
Related terms
اَلرَّفْع · rafa / marfu'
اَلْمَنْصُوبَات · al-mansubat
اَلْمَجْرُورَات · al-majrurat
الْإِعْرَاب · al-i'rab
Common questions
Why learn the roles as a list rather than one at a time?
Because i'rab asks a closed question. When a word is in rafa the answer is one of eight, and knowing the list turns an open puzzle into a process of elimination. That is what makes the analysis finishable rather than endless.
What this covers
اَلْفَاعِلWhat is the doer (fa'il)?fa'ilThe one who does the action of the verb.Read the full entry →
نَائِبُ الْفَاعِلWhat is the stand-in doer (na'ib al-fa'il)?na'ib al-fa'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 akhawatiha)?khabar inna wa akhawatihaThe predicate after إِنَّ and its sisters, which stays in rafa.Read the full entry →
اِسْمُ كَانَ وَأَخَوَاتِهَاWhat is the ism of kana (ism kana wa akhawatiha)?ism kana wa akhawatihaThe noun of كَانَ and its sisters, which is raised to rafa.Read the full entry →
اِسْمُ مَا وَلَا الْمُشَبَّهَتَيْنِ بِلَيْسَWhat is the ism of ma and la resembling laysa?ism ma wa la 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 la of absolute negation?khabar la allati li-nafy al-jinsThe predicate of the لَا that denies a whole class.Read the full entry →
Next in the guideاَلْفَاعِلWhat is the doer (fa'il)? →
Notes
- The count of eight, and the order they are given in here, follow اَلْهِدَايَة فِي النَّحْو (al-Hidaya fi al-Nahw), which opens its chapter on the marfu'at 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-Ajurrumiyya) 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. ↩
Updated