Grammar term · I'rab · Role — al-majrūrāt (the two)

What is a noun made majrūr by a preposition?

ism majrūr

اَلِاسْم الْمَجْرُور

I'rabRole — al-majrūrāt (the two)core term6,492+ in the Qur'an

Also written: Ism majroor · Majrur bi harf al-jarr · Noun after a preposition · Object of preposition

In one line

Put a حَرْف جَرّ in front of an ism and the ism is in jarr — the first of the only two roles that produce jarr.

Definition

اَلْمَجْرُورُ بِحَرْفِ الْجَرِّ، وَهُوَ كُلُّ اسْمٍ نُسِبَ إِلَيْهِ شَيْءٌ بِوَاسِطَةِ حَرْفِ الْجَرِّ لَفْظًا، نَحْوُ: (مَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ)، وَيُعَبَّرُ عَنْ هٰذِهِ التَّرْكِيبِ فِي الِاصْطِلَاحِ بِـ(الْجَارِّ وَالْمَجْرُورِ).

“The noun made majrūr by a particle of jarr: every noun to which something is attributed through a particle of jarr, spoken outright — as in “I passed by Zayd”. This construction is called, in the terminology, the jarr-and-majrūr.”

(الهداية في النحو)

Key words in the Arabic

بِوَاسِطَةِ حَرْفِ الْجَرِّby means of a particle of jarr

لَفْظًاspoken outright — the particle is actually written

الْجَارِّ وَالْمَجْرُورِthe jārr and the majrūr — the pair, named together

Understand it

A حَرْف جَرّ never stands alone. It takes an ism after it, and that ism is majrūr — every time, without exception.

مَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ (marartu bi-zaydin), I passed by Zayd. فِي الْبَيْتِ (fī al-bayti), in the house. The kasra is not decoration; it is the particle's work.

The two parts

1حَرْف جَرّ–(ḥarf jarr)2اِسْم مَجْرُور–(ism majrūr)3شِبْه الْجُمْلَة–(shibh al-jumla)

The particle and the noun after it: the noun is always majrūr, and the pair together forms a shibh al-jumla.

The pair together is called الْجَارّ وَالْمَجْرُور (al-jārr wa-al-majrūr), and the pair forms a شِبْه الْجُمْلَة — a quasi-sentence, which then attaches to something else in the sentence.

There are twenty prepositions in all. These nine are the ones the books single out.

The nine best known

#			Meaning
1	مِنْ	min	a part of something; the start of a limit in place, time or otherwise; a cause
2	إِلَى	ilā	the end of a limit in place, time or otherwise
3	عَنْ	'an	passing beyond — moving away from
4	عَلَى	'alā	being above something; also accompaniment
5	فِي	fī	being contained in, or the circumstance of; also a cause
6	رُبَّ	rubba	few, or many — only the context decides which
7	بِ	bi	the instrument; a cause; a circumstance; accompaniment
8	كَ	ka	comparison, or resemblance
9	لِ	li	ownership; close association; entitlement; a cause

There are twenty prepositions in all; these are the nine the books single out.¹ Three more — الْوَاو، الْبَاء، التَّاء — are prepositions and oath particles at once, and التَّاء enters upon no word but اللَّه.

How to spot it

Recognition test

Find the preposition. Whatever ism follows it is majrūr — and check the category before assuming the sign is a kasra.

A kasra is not proof of jarr

A kasra at the end is not proof of jarr.

هٰذِهِ always ends in a kasra and is mabnī — it can be in any of the three states.

A partly declining noun takes a fatḥa in jarr, not a kasra: فِي مَسَاجِدَ.

A dual in rafa ends in ـَانِ — a kasra on the nūn, and still marfū'.

Read the particle, then the category. The ending comes last.

Next in the guideاَلْمُضَاف إِلَيْهWhat is the possessor (muḍāf ilayh)? →

Notes

The set of nine, their order and their meanings follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Naḥw at-Taṭbīqī), which says عَدَدُهَا عِشْرُونَ حَرْفًا — twenty in all — and then confines itself to the best known. ↩

Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.