"المضاف والمضاف إليه" The Possessed and The Possessor In Arabic Language

 

"المضاف والمضاف إليه"

The Possessed and The Possessor In Arabic Language.

By: Yusuf Basirat Bolanle

Discussion

(المضاف) The Possessed Item

 (المضاف) in Arabic language means Possessed while al-mudhafu ilaihi (المضاف إليه) means the possessor or owner.

In English language, we say (my book) to indicate that the book belongs to me, we say (our book) to mean that the book belongs to us, Ahmad’s pen to mean that the pen belongs to Ahmad, and so on. Same way these words are expressed in Arabic language. However, an apostrophe can be used to show belongingness in English language like Ahamad’s pen, this perhaps is the same as possessed and possessor in Arabic language, Ahmad is the possessor or owner and pen is the possessed.

Possessed is the items which are mainly nouns and being own by someone as a properties.

(المضاف إليه) The Possessor or The Owner

Al-Mudhafu Ilaihi  (المضاف إليه)is the person or someone or something who owns another thing,  the owner or what we can called the possessor of an item  in a sentence. The relationship between (المضاف) and (المضاف إليه) can be expressed by the use of apostrophe as mention earlier. To show that this particular item is being owned by this particular owner, e.g Mahmud’s book.

Hence, the (المضاف والمضاف إليه) are just all about the owner of an item and the item he or she is owing.

There are two major ways in which the possessed items can be related to the possessors in a sentence. These are:

1- Nouns and Nouns relationship (both are nouns)

2- Nouns and Pronouns relationship (possessed noun and possessor pronoun)

1-  Nouns and Nouns relationship- This is when the possessed item (المضاف) is a noun and the possessor (المضاف إليه) is also a noun. In this case, the both nouns will be related together, while one of the nouns owns the other nouns. Examples are:

لعبنا فى ميدان المدرسة

We played in the school's field

اذهب مع صديق الصالح

Go with Solih’s friend

رأيتك فى بيت المدير

I saw you in Headmaster’s house

غسلت ثوب الطفل

I washed the baby’s clothes

اذهب الى حديقة المدرس

Go to the teacher’s garden

In the above examples, the words (ميدان), (صديق), (بيت), (ثوب), and (حديقة) are Nouns and  are the Mudhaaf because they are the items possessed in the sentences, while the words (المدرسة), (الصالح), (المدير), (الطفل) and (المدرس) are also Nouns and they are the  mudhaaf ilaihi, the owners of the items mentioned with them.

Note: the field in the first sentence is owned by the school, friend in the second sentence  is owned by Solih, In the third sentence, the house is owned by the headmaster and the clothes is owned by the baby in the forth sentence, while the garden is owned by the teacher in the last sentence.

2- Nouns and Pronouns relationship- In this case, the possessed item is the noun while the possessor is the pronoun. They both can be join together in a single word to form a sentence. Examples are:

رأيته فى فناء بيتك

I saw him in the veranda of your house

أخذت منه كتابه

I took his book from him

أبوه هو جدي

His father is my grandfather

قرأت من كتابهم القديم

I read from their old book

الأمهات يرضعن أولادهن

Mothers breastfeed their children

In the above examples, the words (بيت), (كتاب), (أبو), (كتاب), and (أولاد) are all Nouns and the  (مضاف) Mudhaaf because the are the items possessed in the sentences, while the words (ك), (ه), (ه), (هم) and (هن) are Pronouns and the (مضاف إليه) mudhaaf ilaihi because they are the owners of the items mentioned with them.

Note: the house in the first sentence is owned by you, book in the second sentence  is owned by him, In the third sentence, father is owned by him and book is owned by them in the forth sentence while children are owned by them (females) in the last sentence,

Note carefully- 

-  Al-Mudhaaf is a noun that is related with the noun or pronoun that follows it and it is known as a result of the relationship between them both. 

-  A noun that is to be related or known as a result of other noun will not take At-tanween, hence, the tanween on it will be changed  to ordinary harakah like fatha, kasrah and dammah. E.g كتابٌ  with At-tanween, while relating it with the owner will become كتابُ أحمد  with ordinary Ad-dammah

-  If the possessed item is dual or sound masculine plural which ends with alif and nun (ان) and or waw and nun (ون), then the nun will be erased while relating or joining it with the possessor. Examples: كتبان   (two books) will become كتابا أحمد  (Ahmad’s book) while joining it with the owner Ahmad, and مسلمون  (muslims) will become مسلمو نيجيريا    (Nigerian Muslims) while relating it with the owner. The nun (ن) in both examples were removed because of relating them with their owners

-  The possessor or the owner on the other hand is the noun or pronouns that come after the possessed item and it always takes Al-jarri sign which is Al-Kasrah. E.g حديقة المدرسِ, فناء المدرسةِ, كتاب الطالبِ  and so on. The possessors are all in al-jarri positions to take al-kasrah sign either it is clearly put or hidden.