Grammar term · I'rab · The signs
Plural waw (subject)
waw al-jama'a
وَاو الْجَمَاعَة
I'rabThe signscore term
In one line
The waw of the plural (وَاو الجَمَاعَة) is the و on a verb — كَتَبُوا, يَكْتُبُونَ — standing for “they”: one letter doing duty as the plural doer.
Definition (modern)
وَاوُ الْجَمَاعَةِ مِنَ الضَّمَائِرِ الْخَمْسَةِ الَّتِي تَخْتَصُّ بِمَحَلِّ الرَّفْعِ، وَتَتَّصِلُ بِالْمَاضِي وَالْمُضَارِعِ وَالْأَمْرِ.
“The waw of the group is among the five pronouns confined to the place of rafa; it attaches to the past, the present and the command verb.”
Key words in the Arabic
وَاوُ الْجَمَاعَةِthe waw of the group
مَحَلِّ الرَّفْعِthe rafa slot
Understand it
The most frequent pronoun letter in the Quran: قَالُوا، آمَنُوا، ٱعْبُدُوا — each waw is 'they' or 'you all', a pronoun in mahall rafa. On a mudari' it builds three more of the five verbs (يَفْعَلُونَ، تَفْعَلُونَ) with the nun-retention i'rab; on a madi and amr it stands with a silent alif written after it (قَالُوا۟) that is spelling only, not a letter of the word.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Verb + و (usually with the trailing spelling-alif) meaning 'they/you-all' = waw al-jama'a in mahall rafa. Distinguish the root-waw of verbs like يَدْعُو — there the waw is the verb's own last letter, not a pronoun.
In the Qur'an
ءَامَنَ ٱلرَّسُولُ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِۦ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَرُسُلِهِۦ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِۦ ۚ وَقَالُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ
Al-Baqarah 2:285 — “The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His messengers." And they say: "We hear, and we obey: (We seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys."”
The waw of قَالُوا۟ is the fa'il — 'they' — in mahall rafa; the alif after it is silent spelling.
Study this ayah word by word →Related terms
Common questions
How do I tell this waw from the linking waw?
By where it sits. This one is attached to the end of a verb and is the doer itself, a pronoun. The linking waw stands in front of a word and joins it to something earlier. One is part of the verb, the other sits between words.
Next in the guideعَلَامَة فَرْعِيَّةSecondary marker (waw/alif/ya/nun) →Updated