What is the ism of kana (ism kana wa akhawatiha)?
In one line
Classical definition
Understand it
Start again from زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ (zaydun qa'imun). Put كَانَ in front: كَانَ زَيْدٌ قَائِمًا (kana zaydun qa'iman), Zayd was standing.
زَيْدٌ has not moved — it is still marfu', and it is now called the اِسْم كَانَ. قَائِمًا has moved into nasab.
What kana does
كَانَ takes hold of a nominal sentence: the noun stays in rafa, the khabar drops into nasab.
Words that enter upon a ready-made nominal sentence and change its ruling are called the نَوَاسِخ (nawasikh), the abrogators. There are three kinds of them, and كَانَ heads the first.
It has twelve sisters, and every one of them does exactly what it does.
The twelve sisters of كَانَ
| # | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | أَصْبَحَ | asbaha | the description applies in the morning |
| 2 | أَضْحَى | adha | the description applies during the forenoon |
| 3 | أَمْسَى | amsa | the description applies in the evening |
| 4 | ظَلَّ | zalla | the description applies throughout the daytime |
| 5 | بَاتَ | bata | the description applies during the night |
| 6 | صَارَ | sara | the ism changes into the state the khabar names |
| 7 | لَيْسَ | laysa | it negates the khabar from the ism |
| 8 | مَا زَالَ | ma zala | continuation |
| 9 | مَا بَرِحَ | ma bariha | continuation |
| 10 | مَا فَتِئَ | ma fati'a | continuation |
| 11 | مَا انْفَكَّ | ma infakka | continuation |
| 12 | مَا دَامَ | ma dama | it limits the statement to the duration of a condition |
With كَانَ itself that is thirteen verbs in all — twelve sisters, and the one they are sisters to. Each works the same way: it raises the noun and puts the khabar into nasab. Only the time, or the state, differs.1 The four continuation verbs carry one meaning between them, by the agreement of the grammarians.
They do not all operate freely, though.
When each one actually operates
| Group | Condition | |
|---|---|---|
| operate freely | كَانَ، أَصْبَحَ، أَضْحَى، أَمْسَى، ظَلَّ، بَاتَ، صَارَ، لَيْسَ | no condition at all |
| operate only after a negation | زَالَ، بَرِحَ، فَتِئَ، اِنْفَكَّ | must follow a negation, a prohibition or a supplication |
| operates only with مَا | دَامَ | must follow the مَا of duration — مَا دَامَ |
This is why the last five are almost always met with مَا in front of them. Their derived forms — يَكُونُ، كُنْ، يُصْبِحُ — work exactly as the past forms do, under the same conditions.
They are called الْأَفْعَال النَّاقِصَة (al-af'al al-naqisa), the incomplete verbs, because unlike an ordinary verb they do not describe an action done by a doer. They only add a time or a state to a sentence that already exists — لَيْسَ عَمْرٌو شَاخِصًا (laysa 'amrun shakhisan), 'Amr is not setting out.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
Don't confuse it with ism inna
Do not confuse كَانَ with إِنَّ. They are mirror images.
كَانَ puts its noun in rafa and its khabar in nasab — كَانَ زَيْدٌ قَائِمًا.
إِنَّ puts its noun in nasab and its khabar in rafa — إِنَّ زَيْدًا قَائِمٌ.
Learn the pair together and neither will ever be in doubt.
Related terms
Common questions
Does kana change the meaning, or only the endings?
Both, but lightly. It adds time to a sentence that had none, and grammatically it takes the mubtada' as its own noun and leaves it in rafa while pushing the khabar into nasab. The sentence stays nominal throughout.
Next in the guideاِسْمُ مَا وَلَا الْمُشَبَّهَتَيْنِ بِلَيْسَWhat is the ism of ma and la resembling laysa? →Notes
- The thirteen verbs, their meanings and the conditions on their operation follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Nahw at-Tatbiqi), which opens the chapter وَهِيَ ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَ فِعْلًا — “they are thirteen verbs”. ↩
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