Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
أَنْ الْمَصْدَرِيَّة الْمُضْمَرَة
an al-masdariyya al-mudmara
Hidden 'an' (masdari)
Nahw · syntaxOperationadvanced term439+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The invisible أَنْ: hidden after لِ، حَتَّى، فَ and وَ, it silently turns the mudari' mansub and wraps it into a masdar.
Classical rule
«أَنْ» المَصْدَرِيَّةُ المُضْمَرَةُ تُقَدَّرُ بَعْدَ بَعْضِ النَّوَاصِبِ كَلَامِ الجُحُودِ وَحَتَّى وَفَاءِ السَّبَبِيَّةِ، فَيُنْصَبُ بِهَا المُضَارِعُ.
“The concealed masdar-forming an is assumed after certain nasb contexts — the lam of denial, hatta, the fa of cause and the waw of accompaniment — and the verb after it is mansub by it, not by what precedes.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
مُضْمَرَةconcealed, unspoken
يُنْصَبُ بِهَاmade mansub by IT
Understand it
When you meet لِتُبَيِّنَ or حَتَّىٰ يَرْجِعَ, the fatha on the verb is not the work of the lam or hatta — prepositions cannot govern verbs. The classical solution: an unspoken أَنْ stands between them, doing the nasb and folding the verb into a masdar for the preposition to govern (لِتُبَيِّنَ = لِلتَّبْيِينِ). After لِ and حَتَّى the concealment is optional-to-standard; after فَ السببية and وَ المعية it is obligatory.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A mansub mudari' after لِ، حَتَّى، أَو, or after the sababiyya-fa / ma'iyya-waw with no visible nasib: credit the hidden أَنْ and test with the masdar recast.
In the Qur'an
حَتَّىٰ يَرْجِعَ إِلَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ
Ta-Ha 20:91 — “until Moses returns to us”
يَرْجِعَ is mansub — by أَنْ concealed after حَتَّىٰ: 'until the returning of Musa'.
Related terms