Iḍāfah basically entails putting one noun after another: the second noun specifies more precisely the nature of the first noun. In forms of Arabic which mark grammatical case, this second noun must be in the genitive case. The construction is typically equivalent to the English construction "(noun) of (noun)". It is a very widespread way of forming possessive constructions in Arabic,[1] and is typical of a Semitic language.[2] Simple examples include:
دارُ السَلامِdāru‿s-salām "the house of peace".
كِيلُو مَوْزٍkīlū mawz "a kilo of bananas".
بِنْتُ حَسَنٍbintu Ḥasan "the daughter of Hasan/Hasan's daughter".
بَيْتُ رَجُلٍbaytu rajul "the house of a man/a man's house".
بَيْتُ الرَجُلِbaytu‿r-rajul "the house of the man/the man's house".
Terminology
The word إضافة, spoken by a male from Tiznit, Morocco.
The Arabic grammatical terminology for this construction derives from the verb أضافʼaḍāfa "he added, attached", verb form IV from the hollow rootض ي فḍ y f.[3][4]
The whole phrase consisting of a noun and a genitive is known in Arabic as إضافةiḍāfah ("annexation, addition") and in English as the "genitive construct", "construct phrase", or "annexation structure".
The first term in the pair is called المُضافal-muḍāf "the thing annexed".
The first term governs (i.e. is modified by) the second term, referred to as المُضاف إلَيْهِal-muḍāf ilayhi "the thing added to".[5]
Kinds of relationship expressed
The range of relationships between the first and second elements of the idafah construction is very varied, though usually consists of some relationship of possession or belonging.[6] In the case of words for containers, the iḍāfah may express what is contained: فِنْجانُ قَهْوةٍfinjānu qahwatin "a cup of coffee". The iḍāfah may indicate the material something is made of: خاتَمُ خَشَبٍkhātamu khashabin "a wooden ring, ring made of wood". In many cases the two members become a fixed coined phrase, the idafah being used as the equivalent of a compound noun used in some Indo-European languages such as English. Thus بَيْتُ الطَلَبةِbaytu al-ṭalabati can mean "house of the (certain, known) students", but is also the normal term for "the student hostel".
Forming iḍāfah constructions
First term
The first term in iḍāfah has the following characteristics:[7]
When using a pronunciation that generally omits cases (’i‘rāb), the ة (tā’ marbūṭah) of any term in the construct state must always be pronounced with a -t (after /a/) when spoken, e.g. خالة أَحْمَدkhālat ’aḥmad "Ahmad's aunt".
It can be in any case: this is determined by the grammatical role of the first term in the sentence where it occurs.
Second term
The second term in iḍāfah has the following characteristics when it is a noun:[8]
It must be in the genitive case.
It is marked as definite (with the definitive article) or indefinite (with nunation, in those varieties of Arabic that use it), and can take a possessive pronoun suffix. The definiteness or indefiniteness of the second term determines the definiteness of the entire iḍāfah phrase.
Three or more terms
iḍāfah constructions of multiple terms are possible, and in such cases, all but the final term are in the construct state, and all but the first member are in the genitive case. For example: سَرْقةُ جَوازِ سَفَرِ أِحَدِ اللاعِبِينَsarqatu jawāzi safari ’aḥadi l-lā‘ibīna "the theft of the passport [literally "license of journey"] of one of the athletes".[9]
Indicating definiteness in iḍāfah constructions
The iḍāfah construction as a whole is a noun phrase. It can be considered indefinite or definite only as a whole. An idafah construction is definite if the second noun is definite, by having the article or being the proper name of a place or person. The construction is indefinite if it the second noun is indefinite. Thus idafah can express senses equivalent to:
'the house of the director' (بَيْتُ المُدِيرِbaytu l-mudīr-i)
'a house of a director' (بَيْتُ مُدِيرٍbaytu mudīr-in)
But it cannot express a sense equivalent to 'the house of a director': this sense has to be expressed with a prepositional phrase, using a preposition such as لـِـli-. For example:
ٍِالبَيْتُ لِمُدِيرal-baytu li mudīrin (literally 'the house for/to a director').[10]
بَيْتُ مُحَمَّدٍ الكَبِيرُbaytu muḥammadini l-kabīru "Muhammad's big house, the big house of Muhammad" (idafah)
بَيْتٌ كَبِيرٌ لِمُحَمَّدٍbaytun kabīrun li-muḥammadin "a big house of Muhammad's" (construction with li-)[11]
Nominal sentences, noun-adjective phrases, and iḍāfah
Iḍāfah constructions can typically be distinguished from nominal sentences (جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة) and from noun-adjective phrases (اسْمٌ وَصِفَّة) by the case ending of the muḍāf ilayhi as well as the definiteness of the nouns.
Iḍāfah
Nominal sentence
Noun-adjective phrase
بِنْتُ جَمِيْلَةٍ
البِنْتُ جَمِيْلَةٌ
بِنْتٌ جَمِيْلَةٌ
bintu jamilatin
al-bintu jamilatun
bintun jamilatun
the daughter of Jamila
The girl is beautiful.
a beautiful girl
Adjectives and other modifiers in iḍāfah
Nothing (except a demonstrative determiner) can appear between the two nouns in iḍāfah. If an adjective modifies the first noun, it appears at the end of the iḍāfah.
Modifying the first term
An adjective modifying the first noun appears at the end of the iḍāfah and agrees with the noun it describes in number, gender, case, and definiteness (the latter of which is determined by the last noun of the iḍāfah).[12]
first word:
gender, case, number
state
Arabic script
transliteration
translation
feminine nominative singular
indefinite (no adjective)
فُرْشاةُ أَسْنانٍ
furshāt-u ’asnān-in
a toothbrush (literally "a brush of teeth")
indefinite (adjective describing first noun)
فُرْشاةُ أَسْنانٍ كَبِيرةٌ
furshāt-u ’asnān-in kabīrat-un
a big toothbrush (literally "a big brush of teeth")
definite (no adjective)
فُرْشاةُ الأَسْنانِ
furshāt-u l-’asnān-i
the toothbrush (literally "brush of the teeth")
definite (adjective describing first noun)
فُرْشاةُ الأَسْنانِ الكَبِيرةُ
furshāt-ul-’asnān-i l-kabīrat-u
the big toothbrush (literally "the big brush of the teeth")
masculine nominative singular
indefinite (no adjective)
طَبِيبُ أَسْنانٍ
ṭabīb-u ’asnān-in
a dentist (literally "doctor of teeth")
indefinite (adjective describing first noun)
طَبِيبُ أَسْنانٍ كَبِيرٌ
ṭabīb-u ’asnān-in kabīr-un
a big dentist (literally "a big doctor of teeth")
definite (no adjective)
طَبِيبُ الأَسْنانٍ
ṭabīb-u l-’asnān-i
the dentist (literally "doctor of the teeth")
definite (adjective describing first noun)
ٌطَبِيبُ الأَسْنانٍ الكَبِيرُ
ṭabīb-ul-’asnān-i l-kabīr-u
the big dentist (literally "the big doctor of the teeth")
feminine nominative singular
proper noun (no adjective)
مَدِينةُ شِيكاغُو
madīnat-u shīkāghū
city of Chicago, the city of Chicago
proper noun (adjective describing first noun)
مَدِينَةُ شِيكَاغُو الكَبِيرةُ
madīnat-u shīkāghū l-kabīrat-u
the big city of Chicago
masculine nominative singular
proper noun (no adjective)
اِبنُ أَحْمَدَ
ibn-u ’aḥmad-a
son of Ahmad, the son of Ahmad
proper noun (adjective describing first noun)
اِبنُ أَحْمَدَ الكَبِيرُ
ibn-u ’aḥmad-a l-kabīr-u
the old son of Ahmad, Ahmad's old son
Modifying the last term
An adjective modifying the last term appears at the end of the iḍāfah and agrees with the noun it describes in number, gender, definiteness, and case (which is always genitive).
second word (always genitive):
gender, number
state
Arabic script
transliteration
translation
feminine singular
indefinite (no adjective)
نَهْرُ مَدِينةٍ
nahr-u madīnat-in
a river of a town
indefinite (adjective describing last noun)
نَهْرُ مَدِينةٍ جَمِيلةٍ
nahr-u madīnat-in jamīlat-in
a river of a beautiful town
definite (no adjective)
نَهْرُ المَدِينةِ
nahr-u l-madīnat-i
the river of the town
definite (adjective describing last noun)
نَهْرُ المَدِينةِ الجَمِيلةِ
nahr-u l-madīnat-il-jamīlat-i
the river of the beautiful town
masculine singular
indefinite (no adjective)
نَهْرُ بَلَدٍ
nahr-u balad-in
a river of a country
indefinite (adjective describing last noun)
نَهْرُ بَلَدٍ جَمِيلٍ
nahr-u balad-in jamīl-in
a river of a beautiful country
definite (no adjective)
نَهْرُ البَلَدِ
nahr-u l-balad-i
the river of the country
definite (adjective describing last noun)
نَهْرُ البَلَدِ الجَمِيلِ
nahr-u l-balad-il-jamīl-i
the river of the beautiful country
Modifying both terms
If both terms in the iḍāfah are modified, the adjective modifying the last term is set closest to the iḍāfah, and the adjective modifying the first term is set further away.[13] For example:
The possessive suffix can also take the place of the second noun of an iḍāfah construction, in which case it is considered definite. Indefinite possessed nouns are also expressed via a preposition.
For all but the first person singular, the same forms are used regardless of the part of speech of the word attached to. In the third person masculine singular, -hu occurs after the vowels u or a (-a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw), while -hi occurs after i or y (-i, -ī, -ay). The same alternation occurs in the third person dual and plural.
صَدِيقَتُهَاṣadīqatu-hā "her friend"
صَدِيقَتُهَا الجَدِيدةُṣadīqatu-hā l-jadīdatu "her new friend"
صَدِيقةٌ لَهَاṣadīqatun la-hā "a friend of hers"
صَدِيقةٌ جَدِيدةٌ لَهَاṣadīqatun jadīdatun la-hā "a new friend of hers"
In the first person singular, however, the situation is more complicated; -ī/-ya "my" is attached to nouns. In the latter case, -ya is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while -ī is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before -ya (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Examples:
From كِتابٌ kitāb "book", pl كُتُبٌ kutub (most of nouns in general).
