Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
جُمْلَة الشَّرْط
jumlat al-shart
Conditional (protasis) clause
Nahw · syntaxClause/structureadvanced term13+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The 'if' half of a condition: the clause straight after the adat, carrying the shart verb the particle governs.
Definition (modern)
أُسْلُوبُ الشَّرْطِ يَتَكَوَّنُ مِنْ ثَلَاثَةِ أَرْكَانٍ، هِيَ: أَدَاةُ الشَّرْطِ + جُمْلَةُ الشَّرْطِ + جُمْلَةُ جَوَابِ الشَّرْطِ.
“The conditional construction is built of three pillars: the conditional particle + the condition clause + the answer clause.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
أُسْلُوب الشَّرْطthe conditional construction
أَرْكَانpillars, essential parts
Understand it
The pin's three pillars always arrive in order: the adat sets the condition, the jumlat al-shart states it, the jawab delivers the consequence. With a jazima like إِنْ or مَنْ the shart verb is jazmed — إِن تَنصُرُوا۟ drops its nun — while non-jazim tools (إِذَا، لَوْ، لَوْلَا) take the clause without jazm. The shart clause cannot stand alone: its whole purpose is to hand the sentence on to its jawab.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Straight after any adat shart, bracket up to where the consequence begins: that bracket is jumlat al-shart; with jazim tools its verb shows jazm.
In the Qur'an
إِن تَنصُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ
Muhammad 47:7 — “If you support Allah, He will support you”
تَنصُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ is the shart clause — its verb jazmed by إِن (nun dropped) — and يَنصُرْكُمْ answers it.
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