Grammar term · I'rab · The followers
Conjoined element (ma'tuf)
ma'tuf
مَعْطُوف
I'rabThe followerscore term
In one line
The ma'ṭūf (مَعْطُوف) is the word joined on by a connector — و، فَ، ثُمَّ — and it takes the same i'rab as the word before it.
Classical definition
المَعْطُوفُ تَابِعٌ يَتَوَسَّطُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ مَتْبُوعِهِ أَحَدُ حُرُوفِ العَطْفِ، فَيَتْبَعُهُ فِي إِعْرَابِهِ.
“The ma'tuf is a follower with one of the conjunction particles between it and the word it follows; it copies that word's i'rab.”
Key words in the Arabic
تَابِعa follower — agrees with what precedes
يَتَوَسَّطُcomes between
مَتْبُوعthe word being followed
Understand it
Arabic chains equals with connectors: X and Y, X then Y, X or Y. The second element — the ma'tuf — borrows its case from the first, so the case-ending travels down the chain: جَاءَ زَيْدٌ وَعَمْرٌو، رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا وَعَمْرًا. When you meet a long Quranic list, find the case of the first item and you have parsed the whole list.
How to spot it
Recognition test
What comes after a connector like و and copies the case of the word before it is the ma'tuf.
In the Qur'an
وَٱلشَّمْسِ وَضُحَىٰهَا
Ash-Shams 91:1 — “By the Sun and his (glorious) splendour;”
وَضُحَىٰهَا is joined by its waw to وَٱلشَّمْسِ and takes the same jarr. A ma'tuf never earns its own i'rab — it inherits.
Related terms
Common questions
Does a ma'tuf have to be the same kind of word as the first?
It has to match in i'rab, not in kind. A noun can be joined to a noun, a verb to a verb, a clause to a clause. The only requirement is that it takes the state of whatever it has been joined to.
Next in the guideإِعْرَابُ الْفِعْلDo verbs have i'rab too? →Updated