What is the khabar of inna (khabar inna wa akhawātihā)?
Take a plain nominal sentence: زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ (zaydun qā'imun), Zayd is standing. Both words are marfū'.
Now put إِنَّ in front of it: إِنَّ زَيْدًا قَائِمٌ (inna zaydan qā'imun), indeed Zayd is standing. زَيْد has moved into nasab — it is now the اِسْم of إِنَّ. قَائِمٌ has not moved. It is still marfū', and it is now called the خَبَر إِنَّ.
إِنَّ takes hold of a nominal sentence: the noun drops into nasab, the khabar stays in rafa.
إِنَّ is one of the نَوَاسِخ (nawāsikh), the abrogators — words that enter upon a ready-made nominal sentence and change its ruling.
It is one of six particles, and each carries its own meaning.
| # | 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 | lākinna | 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
All six do the same grammatical work, whatever they mean: nasab on the noun, rafa on the khabar.
Do not confuse إِنَّ with كَانَ. They do the exact opposite of one another.
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 appear in the list of manṣūbāt, while the khabar of إِنَّ and the noun of كَانَ both appear here among the marfū'āt. One pair of particles, two mirror-image effects.
- The six particles and their meanings follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Naḥw at-Taṭbīqī). ↩