Adjectives (Seq # 47)

Adjective is a noun that qualify another noun. As an example, in the phrase “tall man”, the noun “tall” is an adjective that is qualifying another noun “man”. In the English language the adjectives comes before the noun being qualified. But in the Arabic language the adjectives comes after the noun being qualified. The adjective in Arabic is termed as نَعْتٌ or صِــفَــةٌ (property/quality). The noun being qualified is termed as مَنْعُوتٌ. The combination is called as نَعتٌ مَنْعُوتٌ.

نَعْتٌ  should match مَنْعُوتٌ in the following.

• Case

If the مَنْعُوت  is marfoun then نَعْتٌ should also be marfoun.

If the مَنْعُوت  is مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ then نَعْتٌ should also be مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ.

If the مَنْعُوت  is majroor then نَعْتٌ should also be majroor.

Example of marfoun case:  عَذَابٌ عَظِيْمٌ(Severe torment)

• Definite/Indefinite

If the مَنْعُوت  is definite then نَعْتٌ should also be definite.

Example: الصِّراطَ المُسْتَقِيمَ (the straight path)

• Gender

If the مَنْعُوت  is feminine then نَعْتٌ should also be feminine.

Example: أُخْتٌ صَغِيْرَةٌ (small sister)

• Number

If the مَنْعُوت  is dual then نَعْتٌ should also be dual. If the مَنْعُوت  is plural then نَعْتٌ should also be plural.

Example: غُلامَيْنِ يَتِيْمَيْنِ (two orphan boys)

Exercises

• State TRUE or FALSE: Read the verse Quran (15:18:2). The phrases بَاْسًا شَدِيْدًا (a severe punishment) and أَجْرًا حَسَنًا (a good reward) are نَعتٌ مَنْعُوتٌ.
• State TRUE or FALSE: Read the verse Quran (15:18:8). The phrase صَعِيْدًا جُرُزًا (a barren soil) is نَعتٌ مَنْعُوتٌ.
• State TRUE or FALSE: Read the verse Quran (15:18:74). The phrase شَيْــأً نُّكْرًا (an evil thing) is not a نَعتٌ مَنْعُوتٌ.