Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
يَاء الْمُتَكَلِّم
ya' al-mutakallim
First-person ya (my)
Nahw · syntaxAttached-pronoun lettercore term1,127+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The 'me/my' ya: on a verb it is 'me' (نَصَرَنِي), on a noun 'my' (رَبِّي), after a preposition 'me' again (لِي) — nasb or jarr, never rafa'.
Definition (modern)
مَا هُوَ مُشْتَرَكٌ بَيْنَ مَحَلَّيِ النَّصْبِ وَالْجَرِّ ثَلَاثَةُ ضَمَائِرَ، هِيَ: يَاءُ الْمُتَكَلِّمِ، كَافُ الْمُخَاطَبِ، هَاءُ الْغَائِبِ. تَكُونُ فِي مَحَلِّ نَصْبٍ إِنِ اتَّصَلَتْ بِفِعْلٍ أَوْ بِـ(إِنَّ) أَوْ إِحْدَى أَخَوَاتِهَا، وَفِي مَحَلِّ جَرٍّ إِنِ اتَّصَلَتْ بِحَرْفِ جَرٍّ أَوِ اسْمٍ.
“Shared between the places of nasb and jarr are three pronouns: the ya of the speaker, the kaf of the addressed, and the ha of the absent. They stand in nasb when attached to a verb or to inna and her sisters, and in jarr when attached to a preposition or a noun.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
مُشْتَرَكshared between
يَاءُ الْمُتَكَلِّمِthe speaker's ya — me/my
Understand it
One ya, three addresses, per the pin: after a verb it is the object (نَصَرَنِي — with the guarding nun in between), after إِنَّ its ism (إِنِّي), after a noun the possessor (رَبِّي = my Lord), after a harf jarr its majrur (بِي، لِي). What it never is: the doer — rafa' belongs to the other five letters. In pause the Qur'an often drops it, leaving a kasra or a wiqaya-nun as its trace: رَبِّ، فَٱعْتَزِلُونِ.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A final ي meaning me/my/mine: verb or inna before it = mahall nasb; noun or preposition before it = mahall jarr. A bare final kasra at a pause often marks where it dropped.
In the Qur'an
إِنَّنِى هَدَىٰنِى رَبِّىٓ إِلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
Al-An'am 6:161 — “Indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path”
One ayah, all its jobs: إِنَّنِى (ism of inna, nasb), هَدَىٰنِى (object, nasb), رَبِّىٓ (mudaf ilayh, jarr).
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