Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
حَرْف تَنْبِيه
harf tanbih
Attention particle (tanbih)
Nahw · syntaxParticle typeadvanced term215+ in the Qur'an
In one line
An attention particle — أَلَا, أَمَا, or the هَا of هَٰذَا: “Now listen!”.
Classical definition
حُرُوفُ التَّنْبِيهِ مَا يُنَبَّهُ بِهِ المُخَاطَبُ، كَهَا وَأَلَا وَأَمَا.
“The attention particles are those by which the addressed one is alerted — like ha, ala and ama.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
يُنَبَّهُ بِهِby which one is alerted
Understand it
أَلَا clears the air before something weighty: أَلَا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ — “Listen: indeed the friends of Allah…”. And the هَا you see daily in هَٰذَا is this same particle fused onto the demonstrative: ha + dha, “look — this”. Small words that do nothing but raise the listener's head.
How to spot it
Recognition test
أَلَا / أَمَا opening a sentence that then makes an announcement — attention machinery.
Related terms