Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
نُون التَّوْكِيد
nun al-tawkid
Nun of emphasis
Nahw · syntaxSpecific particleadvanced term192+ in the Qur'an
In one line
A nun stitched onto a verb's end to make it emphatic — heavy نَّ or light نْ: 'he will surely do it'.
Classical definition
نُونُ التَّوْكِيدِ نُونٌ تَلْحَقُ آخِرَ الفِعْلِ لِتَوْكِيدِهِ، وَهِيَ ثَقِيلَةٌ وَخَفِيفَةٌ.
“The nun of emphasis is a nun attached to the end of the verb to emphasise it; it is either heavy or light.”
(بتصرف من الألفية)
Key words in the Arabic
ثَقِيلَةheavy — نَّ
خَفِيفَةlight — نْ
Understand it
Arabic can bolt emphasis onto the verb itself: اذْهَبَنَّ is 'go — and no mistake'. The pin's two forms differ only in weight: the heavy doubled نَّ and the light نْ with sukun, which the mushaf sometimes writes like tanwin (لَيَكُونًا). It attaches to the mudari' — most often after the oath lam, لَأَفْعَلَنَّ — and to the amr; the madi never takes it, for you cannot emphasise into the past.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A verb ending in نَّ or نْ beyond its root letters, typically after the لَ of an oath or in commands and prohibitions. The fatha before the nun is bina, not nasb.
In the Qur'an
لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِّنَ ٱلصَّٰغِرِينَ
Yusuf 12:32 — “he will surely be imprisoned and will surely be among the humbled”
Both forms in one ayah: the heavy نَّ on يُسْجَنَنَّ, the light nun on يَكُونًا written as tanwin.
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