Grammar and Applied Grammar (Nahw and Sarf)
What is tested
Nahw (syntax) and Sarf (morphology) carry heavy marks: i'rab/parsing, correcting errors, supplying the correct case, changing tense or voice, deriving words from a root, and identifying the pattern (وزن).
Nahw - the three case groups
- Marfu' (ــُ): mubtada', khabar, fa'il, na'ib al-fa'il.
- Mansub (ــَ): maf'ul bihi, khabar kana, ism inna, hal, tamyiz, maf'ul mutlaq.
- Majrur (ــِ): after a preposition, and as the second term of idafa.
- Case-changing particles: إنّ وأخواتها make the subject accusative and leave the predicate nominative; كان وأخواتها do the reverse.
Sarf
Every word returns to a triliteral (or quadriliteral) root. Learn the derived verb forms (فَعَّلَ، أَفْعَلَ، تَفَعَّلَ، تَفَاعَلَ، اِنْفَعَلَ، اِفْتَعَلَ، اِسْتَفْعَلَ) and the four noun families: masdar, ism fa'il (فاعل), ism maf'ul (مفعول), sifa mushabbaha.
Worked example
«إنَّ الطلابَ مجتهدونَ» Parsing: إنّ = particle of nasb; الطلابَ = ism inna, mansub with fatha (broken plurals take fatha); مجتهدونَ = khabar inna, marfu' with waw because it is a sound masculine plural. Writing مجتهدين would lose the mark.
Traps
- Dual and sound-plural endings are letters, not harakat: مسلمانِ / مسلمونَ.
- The fa'il is always marfu'; a fatha on the doer is an error.
- In idafa the first term takes neither tanwin nor ال.
- Do not confuse the masdar pattern with the ism maf'ul of the same root.