Subordinating (masdari) particle
In one line
Classical definition
Key words in the Arabic
Understand it
أَنْ تَصُومُوا (“that you fast”) can be re-read as one noun: صِيَامُكُمْ (“your fasting”) — and the Quran does the maths for you: وَأَن تَصُومُوا خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ, where the أَنْ-clause serves as mubtada. This “re-reading” (الْمَصْدَر الْمُؤَوَّل) is how whole clauses take noun jobs: subject, object, after prepositions.
The five
| # | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | أَنْ | an | before a verbal sentence — and it puts the mudari' into nasab |
| 2 | أَنَّ | anna | before a nominal sentence |
| 3 | مَا | ma | before a verbal sentence |
| 4 | كَيْ | kay | before a verbal sentence |
| 5 | لَوْ | law | before a verbal sentence, mostly after وَدَّ and أَحَبَّ |
Each one folds the clause after it into a masdar mu'awwal — an interpreted verbal noun that then takes whatever i'rab the sentence needs. بِمَا نَسُوا reads as بِنِسْيَانِهِمْ. The test is simply whether the clause can be rewritten as a noun.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
Related terms
Common questions
How do I know a particle is a masdar-maker and not something else?
Try the swap. If the particle and the verb after it can be replaced by a single verbal noun and the sentence still says the same thing, it is a masdar-maker. If the swap breaks the meaning, the particle is doing another job.
Next in the guideالْمَصْدَر الْمُؤَوَّلInterpreted verbal noun (an+verb) →Updated