What is a demonstrative phrase (murakkab ishari)?
In one line
Definition
Understand it
One word points, the other is pointed at. The pointing word is the اِسْم إِشَارَة (ism ishara); the thing pointed at is the مُشَار إِلَيْه (mushar ilayh).
The two parts
The ism ishara does the pointing; the mushar ilayh is the noun pointed at, and it carries ال.
In هَٰذَا الْكِتَابُ (hadha al-kitabu), “this book”, هَٰذَا points and الْكِتَاب is what it points at. The noun pointed at carries الْ.
Arabic chooses the pointing word by distance and by the noun itself. هَٰذَا is for what is near, ذَٰلِكَ for what is far, and both change for gender and number.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
In the language — فِي اللُّغَة
The word إِشَارَة (ishara) in everyday Arabic means a sign or a gesture.
أَشَارَ بِيَدِهِ (ashara bi-yadihi) — “he gestured with his hand”
As a grammatical term it means a word that points at the noun beside it.
Common questions
Why does the noun after a demonstrative need ال?
Because without it you no longer have a phrase. The demonstrative is definite already; put a definite noun after it and the two read as one unit — this house. Put an indefinite noun there and the same two words become a complete sentence: this is a house.
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