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Al-Maqsuwr
By ArabicTree | April 4, 2008
Arabic has a class of words called “Maqsuwr” (meem qaaf saad waw ra: مَقسُور)–don’t to be confused with “maksuwr” (meem, kaf, seen, waw, ra: مَكسُور), which means broken. Maqsuwr words end with an alif-maqsuwr, the thing that looks like a ya with no dots:
Maqsuwr words have an interesting property–they don’t show any tashkeel on the last letter, because the last letter (alif-maqsuwr) has a sukoon on it!
One of these words you might encounter frequently is mustashfaa مُستَسفى, which means hospital. You can see the last letter is written as an alif-maqsuwr. Similarly, the name Musa مُوسى ends with alif-maqsuwr.
Observe the following sentences:
- المُستَشفى كَبِيرٌ: the hospital is big.
- خَرَجَ التَبِيبُ مِن المُستَشفى: the doctor left from the hospital.
- رَأيتُ المُستَشفى الجَدِيدَ مِن بَيتِي: I saw the new hospital from my house.
In the first case, mustashfaa is marfoo’; in the second, it is majruwr; in the third, it is mansoob. However, in all three cases, the form of the word mustashfaa is the same–you cannot see any tashkeel, any change, that indicates the case–such is the nature of maqsuwr words.
So how do you know what case a maqsuwr word is in? You have to be smart! Deduce it from the grammar!
Now, this raises an interesting question. Say you’re a rich doctor, and you just opened a new hospital. YOUR hospital. How do you say “my hospital?” Hospital is maqsuwr!
Ok, let’s back up a sec. How do you say “my book?” You add a yaa with sukoon, and on the letter befoe it, you write kasra. So “kitaabun” becomes “kitaabiy”: كِتَابِي
Let’s try that. On “mustashfaa”, if you add a yaa with sukoon, it becomes “mustashfaay.” Can you add a kasra on the alif-maqsuwr? No! Because it’s alif-maqsuwr–it has a sukoon, and that’s understood; you can’t change it.
Instead, you add a fatha onto the yaa–so it becomes “mustashfaaya” مُستَشفَايَ
That’s it! Easy breezy, right? No kasra, but a fatha instead. It makes sense, when you know that the alif-maqsuwr takes sukoon, and can’t be changed.
Incidentally, this fatha on the yaa is wajib linguistically–you have to add it. Why? Neglecting to do so would cause confusion.
But! This fatha is also optional in the non-maqsuwr case–so instead of saying kitaabiy, you can say kitaabiya كِتَابِيَ. Add it, if you like–it’s entirely up to you.
And that’s al-maqsuwr in a nutshell!
Topics: Grammar, Intermediate | No Comments »