Sarf · morphologyPart of speech (Sarf)core term
Also written: Ism Fi'l Harf · Parts of speech · Kalimah · Types of words
In one line
Every Arabic word is one of three types: ism (naming word), fi'l (action word) or harf (linking particle).
Classical definition
وَأَقْسَامُهُ ثَلَاثَةٌ: اسْمٌ، وَفِعْلٌ، وَحَرْفٌ جَاءَ لِمَعْنًى.
“Its divisions (that is, of speech) are three: a noun, a verb, and a particle that comes for a meaning.”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
أَقْسَامdivisions, types
جَاءَ لِمَعْنًىcomes (only) to add a meaning
Understand it
Arabic is built from just three kinds of word: the ism (a noun-plus — names, descriptions, pronouns and more), the fi'l (a verb, an action tied to a time), and the harf (a particle with meaning only when joined to something else, like “in”, “from” or “not”). Every single word in the Quran is one of these three. It sounds almost too simple, but it is the map the whole language hangs on: once you can tell which of the three a word is, you already know what questions to ask of it.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Test any word three ways: takes ال or tanwin or jarr = ism; accepts قَدْ / سَـ or a time-shift = fi'l; refuses both sets of signs = harf.
In the Qur'an
خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ
Al-'Ankabut 29:44 — “Allah created the heavens and the earth”
All three word types in one ayah: خَلَقَ is a fi'l, اللَّهُ and السَّمَاوَاتِ are isms, and وَ is a harf joining the two objects.
Related terms
▶ Watch the lessons
From the free course The Language of Quran — Easier than English (Book 1) (LoQ1), taught by Ustad Muhammad Arjan Ali.
Common questions
Why does Arabic have only three parts of speech when English has eight or more?
Arabic groups words by grammatical behaviour rather than by meaning. Adjectives, adverbs and pronouns all behave like nouns — case endings, definiteness, gender — so all belong to the ism. The result is a dramatically simpler map: a “noun-plus”.
Domain: Sarf · Category: Part of speech (Sarf) · Frequency in the Qur'an: 0 · Source: الآجرّومية, cross-checked against the Quranic corpus · Reviewed by Ustad M. Arjan Ali