Grammar term · I'rab · Category — the special cases

What is a manqūṣ ism, and why does its fatḥa show?

ism manqūṣ
اَلِاسْم الْمَنْقُوص
I'rabCategory — the special casescore term383+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Manqus · Manqoos · Defective ism · Ends in ya
In one line
A manqūṣ (مَنْقُوص) ism ends in a permanent yā' after a kasra: its ḍamma and kasra are understood, but its fatḥa is pronounced.
Definition
هُوَ كُلُّ اسْمٍ مُعْرَبٍ آخِرُهُ يَاءٌ لَازِمَةٌ مَكْسُورٌ مَا قَبْلَهَا.
“It is every declinable noun ending in a permanent ya' with a kasra on the letter before it.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
يَاءٌ لَازِمَةٌa permanent yā'
مَكْسُورٌ مَا قَبْلَهَاwith a kasra on the letter before it
Understand it

الْقَاضِي، الدَّاعِي، السَّاقِي، الْمُهْتَدِي — a yā' at the end, a kasra before it.

The manqūṣ — how it shows its i'rab
StateSignExample
rafaḍammaالْقَاضِيunderstood — too heavy to say
nasabfatḥaالْقَاضِيَheard — a fatḥa is light
jarrkasraالْقَاضِيunderstood — too heavy to say

Two of the three are estimated. Only the nasab is pronounced.

The special cases

Seven categories that express i'rab their own way — by letters instead of vowels, or by not showing it at all.

The reason is not impossibility this time but الثِّقَل (al-thiqal), heaviness. A ḍamma or a kasra on a final yā' is heavy to say, so it is left understood. A fatḥa is light, so it comes out.

Indefinite, the yā' disappears altogether in rafa and jarr, and the word takes tanwīn instead: قَاضٍ in rafa, قَاضٍ in jarr, but قَاضِيًا in nasab — the yā' returning the moment the light fatḥa needs it.

How to spot it
Recognition test
A yā' at the end with a kasra before it. If a fatḥa appears on it, you are looking at nasab — that is the one state a manqūṣ shows openly.
Two states, one appearance

قَاضٍ is not majrūr — and the tanwīn is not a tanwīn of jarr.

An indefinite manqūṣ loses its yā' in both rafa and jarr, and looks identical in the two: جَاءَ قَاضٍ and مَرَرْتُ بِقَاضٍ.

Only the role separates them. The ending cannot, because the ending is the same.

And in nasab the yā' comes straight back: رَأَيْتُ قَاضِيًا.

Related terms
Next in the guideاَلِاسْم الْمَمْدُودWhat is a mamdūd ism? →
Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.