What is emphasis (tawkid)?
In one line
Definition
Key words in the Arabic
Understand it
Say a thing, then put it beyond question. That second word is the تَوْكِيد.
جَاءَ الرَّجُلُ نَفْسُهُ (ja'a al-rajulu nafsuhu) — the man himself came. Not someone on his behalf; him.
The followers
A follower has no i'rab of its own. It copies the word before it — which is why the followers sit outside the twenty-two roles.
There are two kinds.
تَوْكِيد مَعْنَوِيّ works through a fixed set of eleven words.
The eleven words of tawkid ma'nawi
| # | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | نَفْس | nafs | himself, itself — the very one |
| 2 | عَيْن | 'ayn | himself, itself — the same sense as نَفْس |
| 3 | كِلَا | kila | both — of two masculine |
| 4 | كِلْتَا | kilta | both — of two feminine |
| 5 | كُلّ | kull | all — the whole of |
| 6 | جَمِيع | jami' | all — the entirety of |
| 7 | عَامَّة | 'amma | all — the generality of |
| 8 | أَجْمَع | ajma' | all — masculine singular |
| 9 | جَمْعَاء | jam'a' | all — feminine singular |
| 10 | أَجْمَعُونَ | ajma'una | all — masculine plural |
| 11 | جُمَع | juma' | all — feminine plural |
The first seven are annexed to a pronoun that points back to the word they strengthen. كِلَا and كِلْتَا strengthen a dual only; كُلّ، جَمِيع، عَامَّة strengthen a plural, or a singular that has parts — never a dual. The last four take no annexation at all: usually they come after a كُلّ that has already been used, and the two are then parsed as a first and a second tawkid — but they may also stand alone.1
رَأَيْتُ الْقَوْمَ كُلَّهُمْ, I saw the people, all of them.
تَوْكِيد لَفْظِيّ simply repeats the word itself: جَاءَ الرَّجُلُ الرَّجُلُ.
Either way it follows the word before it in i'rab, and in definiteness too.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
Don't confuse it with nun al-tawkid
Do not confuse تَوْكِيد with the نُون التَّوْكِيد.
The تَوْكِيد on this page is a follower — a noun after a noun, copying its ending: الرَّجُلُ نَفْسُهُ.
The نُون التَّوْكِيد is something else entirely: a letter attached to the end of a verb to strengthen it — لَيَفْعَلَنَّ. It is not a follower and belongs to the verb section.
Same word, two different jobs.
Related terms
Common questions
What is the difference between the two kinds of tawkid?
One repeats the word itself, or repeats it in another form. The other uses a fixed set of words meaning all, both, himself and the like. Either way the emphasiser takes the same i'rab as the word it emphasises.
Next in the guideاَلْبَدَلWhat is the substitute (badal)? →Notes
- The eleven words, their order and the conditions on each follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Nahw at-Tatbiqi). ↩
Updated