Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
تَمْيِيز
tamyiz
Specification (tamyiz)
Nahw · syntaxSyntactic rolecore term223+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The specification — a noun in nasb that clarifies a vague amount or quantity.
Classical definition
التَّمْيِيزُ هُوَ الاسْمُ المَنْصُوبُ المُفَسِّرُ لِمَا انْبَهَمَ مِنَ الذَّوَاتِ.
“The tamyiz is the nasb-state noun that explains an unclear essence (what kind of thing is meant).”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
الذَّوَاتthe essences, the “whats”
Understand it
Some phrases leave a gap: eleven — eleven what? fuller — fuller of what? The tamyiz fills it with a bare noun in nasb: أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا, “eleven stars”. Its twin is the hal — the Ajurrumiyya defines them with the same sentence, changing one word: the hal clears up circumstances (هَيْئَات), the tamyiz clears up essences (ذَوَات).
How to spot it
Recognition test
It answers “in terms of what?” after a number or measure — e.g. “thirty books,” “a handful of dates” — and is in nasb.
In the Qur'an
إِنِّى رَأَيْتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا
Yusuf 12:4 — “Indeed I saw eleven stars”
كَوْكَبًا is tamyiz in nasb — specifying what the eleven were.
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