Introduction to Definite Articles and حُرُوف الْجَرّ (ḥurūf al-jarr : letters of genitive)

Key Points

• 1حُرُوف الْجَرّ (ḥurūf al-jarr : letters of genitive) cause the following noun to take a كَسْرَة (kasrah), making it مَجْرُور (majrūr : genitive). Example: فِي الْمَسْجِدِ (fī l-masjidi : in the mosque).
• 2The five prepositions introduced: فِي (fī : in), عَلَى (ʿalā : on/upon), إِلَى (ilā : to/toward), مِنْ (min : from), لِـ (li- : for/belonging to).
• 3Vocabulary with prepositions: فِي الْبَيْتِ (fī l-bayti : in the house), عَلَى الْمَكْتَبِ (ʿalā l-maktabi : on the desk), مِنَ الْمَسْجِدِ (mina l-masjidi : from the mosque).
• 4حَمْزَةُ الْوَصْل (hamzat al-waṣl : connecting hamza) is silent in connected speech; اَلْ (al-) and تَنْوِين (tanwīn) never appear together on the same word.

Quiz

Discussion Questions

• [00:15:00] Q: Why does the noun change after حُرُوف الْجَرّ (ḥurūf al-jarr : letters of genitive)? — A: These particles assign a كَسْرَة (kasrah) to the following noun, marking it as مَجْرُور (majrūr : genitive).
• [00:25:00] Q: What is حَمْزَةُ الْوَصْل (hamzat al-waṣl : connecting hamza)? — A: A hamza that is pronounced at the start of speech but drops in connected speech, unlike حَمْزَةُ الْقَطْع (hamzat al-qaṭʿ : cutting hamza).

Quranic Examples