The Mansūbāt: Who Gets the Fatha?

In our journey through Nahw, we've seen the Damma (Marfūʿ) used for the main "pillars" of a sentence. But what about the details? What about the objects, the timings, the reasons, and the descriptions of how something happened?

This is where An-Nasb (النصب) comes in. In Arabic, most of the "extra" information in a sentence is Mansūb, typically ending in a Fatha.

Why are there so many Mansūbāt?

If the Marfūʿ state is for the "Subject," the Mansūb state is for the "Details." Because there are many types of details (where, when, why, how), there are many types of Mansūbāt. In fact, there are about 15 different roles!

1. Al-Mafʿūl Bihi (المفعول به) – The Direct Object

This is the most common member of the Mansūb family. It is the noun that receives the action of the verb.

شَرِبَ الوَلَدُ المَاءَ

Shariba al-waladu al-mā'a

The boy drank the water.

Because the water is what was drunk (the object), it must end with a Fatha.

Other Important Mansūbāt

While we will dive into each of these in future posts, here is a sneak peek at the "Fatha Family":

Adverbs of Time/Place (Al-Zarf): Telling us when or where.
Al-Hāl: Telling us the condition of the person (e.g., "He came laughing").
Al-Tamyīz: Clarifying an ambiguous number or measurement.
Khabar Kāni & Ism Inna: The roles we studied in the previous lessons!

The Mansūb Rule:

If a noun is describing the object of an action or providing extra details about the circumstances of the action, it is very likely Mansūb.

The Mansūbāt: Who Gets the Fatha?