I'rabRole — al-marfū'āt (the eight)core term8,206+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Khabr · Predicate · Information
In one line
The khabar (خَبَر) is what is said about the mubtada' — the information the sentence carries — and it is always in rafa.
Definition and ruling
اَلْخَبَرُ هُوَ الْمُسْنَدُ الَّذِي تَتِمُّ بِهِ مَعَ الْمُبْتَدَأِ الْفَائِدَةُ. حُكْمُهُ: اَلرَّفْعُ بِالْمُبْتَدَأِ؛ فَعَامِلُ الرَّفْعِ فِي الْخَبَرِ عَامِلٌ لَفْظِيٌّ، وَهُوَ الْمُبْتَدَأُ.
“The khabar is what is predicated, and through which — together with the mubtada' — the meaning is completed. Its ruling is rafa by the mubtada': here the governor is an actual word, the mubtada' itself.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
اَلْمُسْنَدُwhat is predicated — what is said of the subject
تَتِمُّ بِهِ الْفَائِدَةُthe meaning is completed by it
عَامِلٌ لَفْظِيٌّan expressed governor — a word you can point to
Understand it
Name a thing, then say something about it. The naming is the مُبْتَدَأ; the saying is the خَبَر. Without a khabar there is no sentence, only a word left hanging.
In الْمُسْلِمُ صَادِقٌ (al-muslimu ṣādiqun), the Muslim is truthful, صَادِقٌ is the khabar, and it carries rafa exactly as the mubtada' does.
The two parts of a nominal sentence
Both are marfū'. Change the mubtada' and the khabar follows it in number and gender.
The khabar agrees with its mubtada' in i'rab, in number and in gender: الْمُسْلِمَانِ صَادِقَانِ, الْمُسْلِمُونَ صَادِقُونَ.
A khabar need not be a single word. It can be a prepositional phrase — زَيْدٌ فِي الدَّارِ (zaydun fī al-dāri), Zayd is in the house; a word of place — زَيْدٌ عِنْدَكَ; a verb with its own doer — زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَبُوهُ, Zayd, his father stood; or a whole nominal sentence of its own.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Ask what is being said about the opening word. The answer is the khabar — and if the answer is longer than one word, it is still the khabar.
Don't confuse it with
Like most Arabic grammar terms, خَبَر (khabar) was taken from everyday speech and then given one precise technical sense.
In everyday Arabic it means a piece of news, a report.
نَشْرَةُ الْأَخْبَارِ (nashratu al-akhbāri) — “the news bulletin”
In Arabic grammar it means the part of a nominal sentence that reports something about the mubtada'.
Related terms
Next in the guideخَبَرُ إِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتِهَاWhat is the khabar of inna (khabar inna wa akhawātihā)? →
Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.