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Intermediate

The Three Cases (إعراب)

Nominative, accusative, genitive

Three cases, three endings

Nouns take nominative (ـُ), accusative (ـَ) or genitive (ـِ) endings according to their role.

📊 Case endings (definite / indefinite)
Case Role Definite Indefinite
Nominative subject ـُ ـٌ
Accusative object ـَ ـً
Genitive after prep/idafa ـِ ـٍ
💬 Examples
الوَلَدُ
al-waladu
the boy (nominative)
📝 Subject role
الوَلَدَ
al-walada
the boy (accusative)
📝 Object role
Nominative for the subject

The subject of a sentence (and the predicate of a nominal sentence) is nominative.

💬 Examples
جاءَ الوَلَدُ
jaa'a al-waladu
The boy came
📝 Subject in nominative
هو طالِبٌ
huwa taalibun
He is a student
📝 Nominative predicate
Genitive after prepositions and in idafa

A noun after a preposition or as the possessor in idafa takes the genitive.

💬 Examples
في المَدرسةِ
fi al-madrasati
in the school
📝 Genitive after في
بابُ البَيتِ
baabu al-bayti
the door of the house
📝 البيت genitive in idafa