# Types of adjective in Arabic: صفة - نعت



## 5aleejia

MSA: COuld anyone please explain the difference between the صغة and the نعت is in Arabic Grammar (simply and kindly with examples)? Thank you in advance! Google wasn't very helpful.


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## إسكندراني

مرحبا بك في المنتدى

They are different words for the same thing, I think a result of the different classical schools of Arabic grammar. And I have reservations about calling them adjectives, for me they are nouns used in a descriptive sense.


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## 5aleejia

إسكندراني said:


> مرحبا بك في المنتدى
> 
> They are different words for the same thing, I think a result of the different classical schools of Arabic grammar. And I have reservations about calling them adjectives, for me they are nouns used in a descriptive sense.



Ah ok. Makes sense now. I was really confused in my class earlier and my teacher didn't help. Thanks!


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## Arabic Guru

إسكندراني said:


> for me they are nouns used in a descriptive sense.



What is your opinion in this sentence: جاء محمدٌ يحمل حاسوبه


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## إسكندراني

Arabic Guru said:


> What is your opinion in this sentence: جاء محمدٌ يحمل حاسوبه


I am not good at grammar, but I suspect يحمل حاسوبه is a جملة acting as another خبر, a بدل to محمد
Translating the sentence into English:
_Mohamed came carrying his computer_
I don't believe 'carrying his computer' is considered an adjective. To discuss this construction, where a sentence or a phrase elaborates on a complete sentence, I suggest starting a new thread.


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## cherine

How can there be "another khabar" in _verbal_ sentence that doesn't even have a first khabar? This sentence is a حال .
But, Arabic Guru, if you wanted to give an example of a جملة نعت/صفة , you should've chosen an indefinite noun: جاء ولد يحمل حاسوبه , because the rule says: الجمل بعد النكرات صفات وبعد المعارف أحوال.


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## Arabic Guru

cherine said:


> How can there be "another khabar" in _verbal_ sentence that doesn't even have a first khabar? This sentence is a حال .
> But, Arabic Guru, if you wanted to give an example of a جملة نعت/صفة , you should've chosen an indefinite noun: جاء ولد يحمل حاسوبه , because the rule says: الجمل بعد النكرات صفات وبعد المعارف أحوال.



السلام عليكم

كنت أعلّق على كلام الأخ اسكندراني بوصفه على الإطلاق للأسماء، ويبدو أنني قد أوقعته في متاهة بغير قصد

  بالنسبة للقاعدة التي تقول: الجمل بعد النكرات صفات وبعد المعارف أحوال

اتفق معك على ذلك ومثال ذلك:

جاء محمد يحمل حاسوبه
محمد هنا اسم معرفة  والجملة الفعلية قي محل نصب حال

جاء ولد يحمل حاسويه
الجملة الفعلية في محل رفع نعت

Good luck


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## إسكندراني

cherine said:


> How can there be "another khabar" in _verbal_ sentence that doesn't even have a first khabar? This sentence is a حال .
> But, Arabic Guru, if you wanted to give an example of a جملة نعت/صفة , you should've chosen an indefinite noun: جاء ولد يحمل حاسوبه , because the rule says: الجمل بعد النكرات صفات وبعد المعارف أحوال.


Because I was very tired and in my head saw a noun (مبتدأ) instead of the verb (جاء) - in any case يحمل حاسوبه is not a صفة. Am I wrong to say that a صفة can only be a noun?
أم أنك تميز بين المصطلحين الصفة والنعت بشكل ما؟


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## cherine

إسكندراني said:


> Because I was very tired and in my head saw a noun (مبتدأ) instead of the verb (جاء)


It's ok. It happens to all of us.


> - in any case يحمل حاسوبه is not a صفة.


True. It's a حال .


> Am I wrong to say that a صفة can only be a noun?
> أم أنك تميز بين المصطلحين الصفة والنعت بشكل ما؟


As far as I know, الصفة والنعت are the same thing. And no, it cannot only be a noun, a phrase can also be a Sifa, like جاء ولدٌ يحمل حاسوبه .


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## إسكندراني

So يحمل حاسوبه is a شبه جملة acting as a صفة/نعت?
Why is حاملا حاسوبه not both a حال and a نعت/صفة as well?


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## cherine

يحمل حاسوبه is a جملة with a verb, subject (ضمير مستتر تقديره هو) and an object.
It is a حال if/when it follows a definite noun, like الولد، الرجل، الطالب، محمد ...etc, and a صفة/نعت if or when if it follows an indefinite noun: ولد، رجل، طالب ...etc.

حاملاً is already a حال , so it's not confusing. It's an individual noun (vs. جملة - شبه جملة) and حاسوبه here is a مضاف إليه.

Here's a couple of examples for شبه جملة that works as an adjective (copied from my school grammar book):
للحق صوت فوق كل صوت
Here, the adjective is فوق كل صوت

تذاع ألحانٌ من روائع النغم
Here, it's من روائع النغم

Remember that a شبه جملة is either a ظرف or جار ومجرور .


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## abdulwahid

> حاملاً is already a حال , so it's not confusing. It's an individual noun (vs. جملة - شبه جملة) and حاسوبه here is a مضاف إليه.



Just a comment to the above. حاسوبه is not mudaf ilayh in this sentence. It's مفعول به


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## Lark-lover

abdulwahid said:


> Just a comment to the above. حاسوبه is not mudaf ilayh in this sentence. It's مفعول به


I think Cherine meant _hasub _is added to "_him_"--his computer. That is, حاسوب+هو. Of course, حاسوبه is an object in this case .


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## abdulwahid

If that is what she meant then it's all fine.



> Of course, حاسوبه is an object in this case .


 I don't think that it's clear for everyone that a noun (حاملا) can have an object and that's why I assumed that Cherine wrote mudaf ilayh instead of maf'ul bihi


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## cherine

No, I was mistaken. I forgot that اسم الفاعل يعمل عمل الفعل . Thanks for pointing out my mistake, Abdulwahid.


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## abdulwahid

You're welcome


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## إسكندراني

طيب ردا على المداخلة الأصلية
النعت أو الصفة مترادفان بالعربي وقد يكون في صيغة
اسم - هذا ولد مجتهد
حال - هذا ولد حاملا حاسبه
جملة - هذا ولد يحمل حاسبه
ظرف - هذا ولد فوق العادة 
جار ومجرور - هذا ولد من أحسن الأولاد

أما الجمل الآتية فلا تتضمن نعت/صفة فهي جمل اسمية لمبتدئها «هذا» بدل «الولد»ـ
هذا الولد مجتهد
هذا الولد يحمل حاسبه - الخبر هنا جملة
هذا الولد فوق العادة - الخبر هنا ظرف
هذا الولد من أحسن الأولاد - الخبر هنا جار ومجرور


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## cherine

إسكندراني said:


> طيب ردا على المداخلة الأصلية
> النعت أو الصفة مترادفان بالعربي


You already answered المداخلة الأصلية in the second post:


إسكندراني said:


> They are different words for the same thing


But if you like to repeat yourself, fine.


> وقد يكون في صيغة
> اسم - هذا ولد مجتهد


As far as I know, it's call مفرد or صفة مفردة , not اسم .


> حال - هذا ولد حاملا حاسبه


Are you saying that الحال is a form of نعت ?!  And I think this sentence is not right. Why is حاملاً manSuub? Because it's a حال ? Can a 7aal be used in a nominal sentence?


> أما الجمل الآتية فلا تتضمن نعت/صفة فهي جمل اسمية لمبتدئها «هذا» بدل «الولد»ـ
> هذا الولد مجتهد
> هذا الولد يحمل حاسبه - الخبر هنا جملة
> هذا الولد فوق العادة - الخبر هنا ظرف
> هذا الولد من أحسن الأولاد - الخبر هنا جار ومجرور


These sentence, while interesting, are irrelevant here, as the topic of the thread is about adjectives.


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## إسكندراني

Good lord, I do not, then, have any idea what to make of your responses so far. Please put forward a definition for what a نعت/صفة is (your responses really made them seem different, contrary to everything I have been taught, and by the way my teachers used the word اسم directly) and all the different kinds of صفة/نعت that can occur, so that we may answer the original poster...


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## cherine

We already answered the original poster! نعت and صفة are the same thing. Synonyms.
Here. I can't put it in any simpler way.


What I fail to understand is why you say that Arabic they are not adjectives. This is either means that other "things" work as adjectives in Arabic, or that Arabic does not have adjectives. Either ways, I cannot agree with you.


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## barkoosh

Guys... We all agree that in Arabic, what is called اسم consists of two things: اسم جامد (such as, كتاب-أسد) and اسم مشتق (such as صالح [which is اسم فاعل] and محبوب [which is اسم مفعول], among other things). A نعت in Arabic (which is also called صفة) can take many many forms. The most common form is the اسم مشتق, as in: رأيتُ رجلاً صالحًا - رأيتُ رجلاً محبوبًا. But it also can be, but not very often, اسم جامد, as in: رأيتُ رجلاً أسدًا (meaning شجاعاً). That's why we can say that a نعت can be, confusingly, an اسم. (Also, not to forget الاسم المنسوب إليه, such as مصريّ, as in رأيتُ رجلاً مصريًّا)

In addition to what is mentioned in the previous posts, the نعت can be also مصدر, as in رأيتُ رجلاً عدلاً (that is, عادلاً). Too much for the Arabic learners to handle? It is so even for the natives! What is important here is that the most common use of نعت in Arabic actually corresponds to adjectives in English. So why don't we keep things simple and say: نعت is the same as صفة and it generally corresponds to "adjective" or "attribute" in English?


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## إسكندراني

cherine said:


> We already answered the original poster! نعت and صفة are the same thing. Synonyms.
> Here. I can't put it in any simpler way.
> 
> 
> What I fail to understand is why you say that Arabic they are not adjectives. This is either means that other "things" work as adjectives in Arabic, or that Arabic does not have adjectives. Either ways, I cannot agree with you.



Because they operate totally differently from adjectives in other languages, which tend to have a different form.
The wall is green. Green is an adjective. We cannot say 'the green came', because adjectives in English are not considered nouns.
Why, in return, do you say that نعت/صفة in Arabic are not اسم?


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## cherine

Where did I say that a نعت is not an ism? 

And the fact that adjectives in English or other languages work in a different way, doesn't mean that Arabic صفات are not adjectives. They're just formed and work in a different way.


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