4.3 CONNECTOR LETTERS – حروف العطف

There are a handful of حُرُوفٌ in Arabic that are used to connect units of language. These connectors can come between أسْماء, fragments, or sentences. They are called حُرُوفٌ العَطْفِ. When these حروف are used to connect between two or more اسم, they carry over the status of that اسم.

The most common of the حروف العطف is the وَ, which translates as “and”. The other حروف العطف will be introduced at a later time.

When grammatically labelling something that contains a حرف عطف, the حرف itself is simply labelled as a حرف عطف. Whatever comes after the حرف is labelled as _______ مَعْطٌوْفٌ عَلَ. What goes in the blank is whatever comes before the حرف (the thing being connected to).

Take a look at the following examples.

اللهُ والرَّسُوْلُ

الوَاوُ: حَرْفُ عَطْفٍ

الرَّسُوْلُ: مَعْطٌوْفٌ عَلَ لَفْظِ الجَلالَةِ

*Note: when speaking of the name of الله grammatically, we use the term لَفْظِ الجَلالَة out of respect. This translates as “The name of Allah” or literally “The name of majesty”.

إِنَّ المُسْلِمِيْنَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتِ وَالمُؤْمِنِيْنَ وَالمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالقَانِتِيْنَ وَالقَانِتَاتِ وَالصَّادِقِيْنَ وَالصَّادِقَاتِ وَالصَّابِرِيْنَ وَالصَّابِرَاتِ وَالخَاشِعِيْنَ وَالخَاشِعَاتِ وَالمُتَصَدِّقِيْنَ وَالمُتَصَدِّقَاتِ وَالصَّائِمِيْنَ وَالصَّائِمَاتِ

Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women…

Notice how the effect of "إِنَّ" is carried on to so many words by using a عطف حرف .The "و" is connecting a series of أسماء and they all carry the same status.

أبُوْ مُحَمَّدٍ وَمَحْمُوْدٍ وَأَحْمَدَ وَفَاطِمَةَ وَمُوْسَى وَزَكَرِيَّا

Father of Muhammad and Mahmoud and Ahmad and Fatima and Musa and Zachariah

Notice how a series of أسماء are connected as multiple مضاف إليه to a single مضاف by use of connector letter "و". All the connected words share جر status because they are connected to a مضاف إليه. Keep in mind different أسماء show جر status in different ways.

➢ DRILL 3 Determine the status of the highlighted words.