2.6 STATUS IN ACTION

Before we continue on to the remaining 3 properties of an Ism, we are going to pause for a moment and learn some fragments that will help us put our knowledge of status into action. Learning these fragments will also allow us to solve the problem of words that look the same in the نصب and جر forms. Once we learn these fragments we will know when to expect a word to be نصب and when we should expect a word to be جر.

WHAT IS A FRAGMENT?

A fragment (مُرَكَّبَة ناقِصَة) is less than a sentence but more than a word. A fragment is formed when two or more words come together but do not form a complete thought. The words in a fragment have a relationship with each other. Sometimes this relationship is between a حرف and an اسم and sometimes it is between an اسم and another اسم. There are five basic fragments in the Arabic language. In order to observe “status in action” we will begin with the first three fragments:

 The first two fragments mentioned are fragments in which the relationship is a relationship between a حرف and an اسم. The remaining fragment is between an اسم and another اسم.