The ism

Every word in Arabic is one of three types: an ism, a fi'l (verb), or a harf (particle). The ism is the largest of the three — it covers what English calls nouns, pronouns, adjectives and more: any word that carries meaning but carries no tense.

Three signs exclusive to an ism: tanwīn at the end, tā' marbūṭa (ة) at the end, or al (ال) at the beginning. They can never come on a verb (fiʿl) or a particle (ḥarf).

Every ism has four properties. You cannot build an Arabic phrase or a sentence without understanding the four properties, and how to use them to join with other word types. These properties are: Definiteness, Gender, Number and I'rab — (DiGNI).

English nouns also have three properties they share with Arabic — definiteness, gender and number. However, I'rab is unique, and a classical feature of Arabic.

Definiteness asks whether the word points at a particular one or any one. Gender asks masculine or feminine — there is no neuter in Arabic. Number asks one, exactly two, or three and more. I'rab asks what the word is doing in the sentence, and marks it on the ending.

These short forms are used throughout the guide and throughout the course.

Each of the four properties has its own page, where every term in this section is explained in turn.