Grammar term · Phrases · Murakkab idāfī — the possessive phrase

What is a possessive phrase (murakkab idāfī)?

murakkab idāfī
الْمُرَكَّب الْإِضَافِيّ
PhrasesMurakkab idāfī — the possessive phrasecore term
In one line
A murakkab idāfī (مُرَكَّب إِضَافِيّ) joins one noun to another so that the second tells you whose the first is, or what it is made of, or where it belongs.
Definition
الْإِضَافَةُ هِيَ نِسْبَةٌ بَيْنَ اسْمَيْنِ عَلَى تَقْدِيرِ حَرْفِ جَرٍّ: (مِنْ) أَوْ (فِي) أَوِ (اللَّامِ).
“The idafa is a relation between two nouns, understood as carrying a preposition: min, fi, or the lam.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Understand it

Two nouns stand side by side and the second explains the first. The first is the مُضَاف (mudāf); the second is the مُضَاف إِلَيْه (mudāf ilayh).

The two parts
مُضَاف · mudāfمُضَاف إِلَيْه · mudāf ilayh

Every idāfa has exactly two parts: the mudāf, which loses its tanwīn, and the mudāf ilayh, which is always majrūr.

In كِتَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ (kitābu muhammadin), “Muhammad’s book”, كِتَاب is the mudāf and مُحَمَّد is the mudāf ilayh. The mudāf loses its tanwīn, and the mudāf ilayh takes a kasra — it is always majrūr.

A hidden preposition is what the relation stands on. بَابُ خَشَبٍ (bābu khashabin) means a door of wood. صِيَامُ النَّهَارِ (siyāmu al-nahāri) means fasting in the day. كِتَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ means the book belonging to Muhammad.

In the language — فِي اللُّغَة

Like most Arabic grammar terms, إِضَافَة (idāfa) was taken from everyday speech and then given one precise technical sense.

In everyday Arabic it means adding one thing to another.

أَضَافَ ضَيْفًا (adāfa dayfan) — “he took in a guest”

In Arabic grammar it means joining one noun to another so that the second defines the first.

Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.