Arabic Grammar (Qawa'id): Parts of Speech, Verb Forms, Case, and Agreement
Scope of qawa'id
The grammar section tests parts of speech (اسم، فعل، حرف), verb tense and form (ماضي، مضارع، أمر), case endings (رفع، نصب، جر، جزم), and number/gender agreement. Marks are lost less from ignorance of terms than from failing to apply them inside a sentence. Always parse the word in context: a word's ending depends on its job, not on its dictionary shape.
Core rules
- اسم: noun, pronoun, adjective, or مصدر; it can take تنوين and a case ending.
- فعل: ماضي is built on فتح in the third-person singular; مضارع takes رفع unless a ناصب or جازم precedes; أمر is مبني.
- حرف: particles such as في، من، إنّ، لم; they never take تنوين.
- Case: فاعل → رفع; مفعول به → نصب; after حرف جر → جر; after لم → جزم.
- Agreement: a verb normally stays singular before a plural فاعل; a non-human plural takes feminine singular adjectives/verbs.
Worked example
«كتبَ الطلابُ دروسَهم في المكتبةِ.»
- كتبَ: فعل ماضٍ مبني على الفتح.
- الطلابُ: فاعل مرفوع بالضمة.
- دروسَهم: مفعول به منصوب بالفتحة، والهاء مضاف إليه.
- في: حرف جر.
- المكتبةِ: اسم مجرور بالكسرة. Note that the verb كتبَ is singular although الطلابُ is plural; that is correct Arabic, not an error.
Traps
Calling every word ending in -u مرفوع without checking its function; treating إنّ and its sisters as verbs; forgetting that مثنى and جمع sound endings change case; applying human plural agreement to غير العاقل. Parse one short sentence fully before answering multiple-choice items.