2. Brothers and sisters, we welcome you to our 4th session of
FOUNDATION 1
In this presentation we are going to be introducing concepts
relating to formation of words from their roots:
An introduction to Sorf (فْرَ)ص
الدرسابعرالThe Fourth Lesson
UQA 101 – Lesson 004 Learn Arabic for Allaah!
3. Introducing Sorf
Sorf (فْرَص ) - Its linguistic meaning:
changing something and/or turning it.
The istilaah (conventional) meaning is:
changing the source word (رَدْصَ)م into
different forms (اءَنِب) in order to express
different meanings that can only be
expressed through these forms (اءَنِب).
4. Introducing SorfWhat do we mean by “source (رَدْصَ”)م and “form (اءَنِب)”?
a)Source or Masdar (رَدْصَم) - In istilaah it means: the
name of the act done. In English grammar it is
called, “the verbal noun”. It does not have a tense.
E.g.: · Aklun ٌلْكَأ- the act of eating, Shurbun ٌبْرُش -
the act of drinking
b)Form or Binaa’ (َاءنِب) (pl. Abniyah ةَيِنْبَأ) Linguistically
it means: to put something on something else so
that it stays (i.e. like a building). In istilaah it refers
to the make up of a word, (i.e. the original and extra
letters in their positions, the number of letters, their
5. JAAMIDAH &MUSHTAQQAH
a)Jaamidah ( ةَدِامَ)ج – Linguistically it means: stiff or still. In
istilaah it means those words that mostly cannot take
different forms.
b)Mushtaqqah (ةَّقَـتْشُ)م – Linguistically it means: derived. In
istilaah it refers to those words that can be put into different
forms.
Most of al-asmaa’ are jaamidah – meaning they are not
changeable, i.e. they cannot be put into different forms. Most
of al-af`aal are mushtaqqah – that is, they can be changed and
put into different forms.
Huroof do not change so neither of these terms can be applied
to them.
Our focus is with those words that changes much – the f`il
Introducing Sorf
6. AL-MEEZAANUS-SARFIYY
To study the form of a word, the scholars of Sarf came up with something
called Al-Meezaanus-Sarfiyy (انٌالصريفزاملي.) -This is the scale/pattern used to
study the forms of the words. It differentiates between the original letter and
the extra letter in most words and allows the student to know the original
place of the letter in the scale/pattern.
The base of the scale/pattern consists of three letters: faa’ ,(ف) `ayn ,(ع)
and laam (ل)
Why were these letters chosen specifically? Because the verb fa`ala
(فعل) means: did and that can be an alternative for any other verb. That
is, any verb that is asked for can have fa`ala (فعل) as a reply, for
example:
If someone said: "Akalta?" (Did you eat?) You can say: "fa`altu" (I did.); or,
if someone said: "Sharibta?" (Did you drink?) You can say: "fa`altu.“
Why does the scale consist of three letters originally? The scale consists of
three letters because most of the words in the Arabic language consist of
Introducing Sorf
7. PUTTING WORDS ON A SCALE/PATTERN
The scale itself is called Al-Wazn ) (ن ْز َالو and the word that is weighed is called Al-
Mawzoon (ن ْوُز ْوَمْال) . When weighing a three letter word, we place the letters along with
their harakaat parallel to the faa’, `ayn and laam.
ََضَب َر
َفَل َع
The letters in the scale will take the same harakaat as the word being weighed. Each
letter of the original three letter word corresponds to one of the letters in the scale. The
first letter of the original three letter word is called faa’ul-kalimah - the faa of the word,
or simply: the faa, because it is placed in the scale over the faa. The second letter of
the original three letter word is called `aynul-kalimah - the `ayn of the word or: the`ayn
because it is placed in the scale over the `ayn. And the third letter of the original three
letter word is called laamul-kalimah - the laam of the word – or: the laam, because it is
placed in the scale over the laam. This is the case for the original letters of any three
letter verbs.
Introducing Sorf
8. Every scale/pattern is specific and has its own specific
implication. In other words, each specific form has a certain
specific implication. For example, the word dharaba (ََب َرَض) is a
certain form - its letters are on a particular scale which conveys
the past tense meaning (specifically): (ََب َرَض) he hit. This scale
expresses that the action took place in the past (so it is the past
tense).
There is not any other scale or pattern that can express the past
tense of this word. We cannot switch scales/patterns. We can
only use a scale/pattern for the meaning that it gives and
nothing else.
Introducing Sorf
