Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
تَاء الْفَاعِل
ta' al-fa'il
Subject ta
Nahw · syntaxAttached-pronoun lettercore term1,043+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The subject-ta: the تُ / تَ / تِ on a past verb IS the doer — أَسْلَمْتُ, 'I submitted' — always in mahall rafa'.
Definition (modern)
مَا يَخْتَصُّ بِمَحَلِّ الرَّفْعِ وَهُوَ خَمْسَةُ ضَمَائِرَ، هِيَ: تَاءُ الْفَاعِلِ، أَلِفُ الِاثْنَيْنِ، وَاوُ الْجَمَاعَةِ، يَاءُ الْمُخَاطَبَةِ، نُونُ النِّسْوَةِ. وَ(تَاءُ الْفَاعِلِ) لَا تَتَّصِلُ إِلَّا بِالْفِعْلِ الْمَاضِي.
“What is confined to the place of rafa' — five pronouns: the ta of the doer, the alif of the two, the waw of the group, the ya of the addressed woman, and the nun of the women. The ta of the doer attaches only to the past verb.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
يَخْتَصُّ بِمَحَلِّ الرَّفْعِconfined to the rafa' slot
لَا تَتَّصِلُ إِلَّاattaches only to
Understand it
The vowel on the ta names the speaker: تُ is I, تَ is you (m), تِ is you (f) — كَتَبْتُ، كَتَبْتَ، كَتَبْتِ. It is one of the pin's five rafa'-only pronouns, standing as fa'il, na'ib fa'il, or the ism of كان; and it attaches to the madi alone. Before it, the verb's own final letter always takes sukun — أَسْلَمْتُ, never أَسْلَمَتُ.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A vowelled ta bolted to the end of a madi with a sukun before it = ta al-fa'il, in mahall rafa'. Distinguish the SAKIN ta of أَسْلَمَتْ — that is ta al-ta'nith, no pronoun at all.
In the Qur'an
قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Al-Baqarah 2:131 — “He said: I submit to the Lord of all worlds”
The تُ of أَسْلَمْتُ is the doer himself — a pronoun in mahall rafa' fa'il.
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