Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
أَلِف الِاثْنَيْن
alif al-ithnayn
Dual alif
Nahw · syntaxAttached-pronoun letteradvanced term152+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The dual-alif on a verb: the ا of كَتَبَا / يَكْتُبَانِ is 'the two of them' — a pronoun in mahall rafa'.
Definition (modern)
أَلِفُ الِاثْنَيْنِ مِنَ الضَّمَائِرِ الْخَمْسَةِ الَّتِي تَخْتَصُّ بِمَحَلِّ الرَّفْعِ، وَتَتَّصِلُ بِالْمَاضِي وَالْمُضَارِعِ وَالْأَمْرِ.
“The alif of the two is among the five pronouns confined to the place of rafa'; it attaches to the past, the present and the command verb.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
أَلِفُ الِاثْنَيْنِthe alif of 'the two'
تَتَّصِلُ بِـattaches to
Understand it
One letter carries the whole meaning 'they-two' or 'you-two': كَتَبَا (they two wrote), يَكْتُبَانِ (they two write), اكْتُبَا (you two, write!). In the mudari' it creates two of the five famous verbs (al-af'al al-khamsa), whose nun survives in rafa' and drops in nasb and jazm. Wherever it appears it is a full pronoun in mahall rafa' — fa'il or the ism of كان.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A verb-final alif meaning 'two people': the pronoun. On a mudari' look for the ـَانِ ending and apply the five-verbs i'rab; on a madi or amr the alif stands alone.
In the Qur'an
كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ ٱلطَّعَامَ
Al-Ma'ida 5:75 — “They both used to eat food”
Two alifs, two jobs: in كَانَا the pronoun is the ism of كان; in يَأْكُلَانِ it is the fa'il — both in mahall rafa'.
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