What is a conjunctive phrase (murakkab 'atfi)?
In one line
Classical definition
Understand it
Two words are linked by a particle, and whatever ending the first takes, the second takes too. The particle is the حَرْف عَطْف (harf 'atf); the word after it is the مَعْطُوف (ma'tuf); the word before it is the مَعْطُوف عَلَيْه (ma'tuf 'alayh).
The three parts
The ma'tuf 'alayh comes first, the harf 'atf stands between, and the ma'tuf follows — taking the same i'rab as the first.
In حَضَرَ مُحَمَّدٌ وَعَلِيٌّ (hadara muhammadun wa-'aliyyun), “Muhammad and Ali came”, مُحَمَّد is marfu' as the doer, and عَلِيّ is marfu' too — the waw passed the ending on.
Nine particles do this work, and each links in its own way.
The nine linking particles
| # | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | الْوَاو | al-waw | joins the two in one ruling — no order implied |
| 2 | الْفَاء | al-fa' | joins, orders, and puts them straight together — no interval |
| 3 | ثُمَّ | thumma | joins and orders, but with an interval between |
| 4 | أَوْ | aw | choice, permission, doubt, deliberate vagueness, or division |
| 5 | أَمْ | am | either equality between two, or asking which of the two |
| 6 | بَلْ | bal | after a statement, it moves the ruling on; after a negative, it confirms it and asserts the opposite |
| 7 | لَا | la | affirms the first and denies the second |
| 8 | لَكِنْ | lakin | rectifies — confirms what precedes, asserts the opposite for what follows |
| 9 | حَتَّى | hatta | even — and what follows must be part of what came before |
Whichever one is used, the word after it takes the i'rab of the word before it. Only the meaning of the link changes.1
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
In the language — فِي اللُّغَة
The word عَطْف ('atf) in everyday Arabic means bending or inclining one thing toward another.
عَطَفَ عَلَيْهِ ('atafa 'alayhi) — “he was kind to him”
As a grammatical term it means joining a second word to a first with a linking particle.
Common questions
Does the second word have to match the first in everything?
Only in i'rab. Unlike a description, a ma'tuf need not agree in gender, number or definiteness — it can be anything at all. The one thing it cannot do is choose its own ending: it takes whatever the first word has.
Notes
- The nine, and their meanings, follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Nahw at-Tatbiqi): عَلَى الرَّأْيِ الصَّحِيحِ — “according to the sound view”, there are nine. ↩
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