What is the ism of inna (ism inna wa akhawatiha)?
In one line
Definition
Key words in the Arabic
Understand it
زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ (zaydun qa'imun), Zayd is standing — two words, both marfu'.
Put إِنَّ in front: إِنَّ زَيْدًا قَائِمٌ (inna zaydan qa'imun), indeed Zayd is standing. زَيْد has moved into nasab. It is now the اِسْم إِنَّ.
What inna does
إِنَّ takes hold of a nominal sentence: the noun drops into nasab, the khabar stays in rafa.
إِنَّ is one of the نَوَاسِخ — the abrogators, words that enter upon a ready-made nominal sentence and change its ruling. It is one of six particles.
إِنَّ and its five sisters
| # | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | إِنَّ | inna | emphasis — it confirms that the khabar belongs to the mubtada' and removes doubt about it |
| 2 | أَنَّ | anna | emphasis too, but it must follow an expression its clause depends on — سَرَّنِي، عَلِمْتُ |
| 3 | كَأَنَّ | ka'anna | comparison, or resemblance |
| 4 | لَكِنَّ | lakinna | correction — it removes a misunderstanding created by what came before |
| 5 | لَيْتَ | layta | wishing — for what is impossible, or hard to reach |
| 6 | لَعَلَّ | la'alla | hope or expectation — and sometimes apprehension, when the thing is feared |
All six work the same way — the noun goes into nasab, the khabar stays in rafa. Only the meaning changes.1
Whatever each of them means, all six do the same grammatical work: nasab on the noun, rafa on the khabar.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
Don't confuse it with ism kana
Do not confuse إِنَّ with كَانَ. They are mirror images.
إِنَّ puts its noun in nasab and leaves its khabar in rafa — إِنَّ زَيْدًا قَائِمٌ.
كَانَ puts its noun in rafa and its khabar in nasab — كَانَ زَيْدٌ قَائِمًا.
That is why the noun of إِنَّ and the khabar of كَانَ both sit here among the twelve, while the khabar of إِنَّ and the noun of كَانَ sit among the eight.
Related terms
Common questions
Why does inna push the first word into nasab?
Because it governs it. Inna and its sisters enter the sentence and take the mubtada' as their own noun, and what they govern goes into nasab. The khabar is left where it was, in rafa — the exact reverse of kana.
Next in the guideخَبَرُ مَا وَلَا الْمُشَبَّهَتَيْنِ بِلَيْسَWhat is the khabar of ma and la resembling laysa? →Notes
- The six particles and their meanings follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Nahw at-Tatbiqi). ↩
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