Parsing Verbal Sentences

الجُمْلَةُ الْفِعْلِيَّةُ

You parsed Nominal Sentences (اسمية) in Lesson 22.1. Now let's parse Verbal Sentences (فِعليَّة) — sentences that start with a verb. You've been building towards this since Lesson 12!

Nominal Sentence (اسمية)

الطَّالِبُ جَدِيدٌ

Starts with a Noun. Subject (Mubtada') comes first.

Verbal Sentence (فِعليَّة) ← NEW

ذَهَبَ الطَّالِبُ

Starts with a Verb. The verb comes first, subject (Fa'il) follows.

The Parts of a Verbal Sentence

A basic verbal sentence has 3 analysable parts:

فِعْلٌ — The Verb

ذَهَبَ

Dhahaba

(He) went — The action. No grammatical state (no Damma/Kasra/Fatha ending visible).

فَاعِلٌ — The Subject

الطَّالِبُ

At-talibu

The student. The doer of the action. Always Marfoo' (Damma) — just like Mubtada'.

مُتَعَلِّق — Attachments

إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ

Ila al-masjidi

To the mosque. A Jar wa Majroor phrase. Gives more information (where, with whom, etc).

The Tear-Down Lab

"The student went to the new mosque with the teacher."

ذَهَبَ الطَّالِبُ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْجَدِيدِ مَعَ الْمُعَلِّمِ

Word	Grammatical Role	State
ذَهَبَ	Fi'l (Verb) — The action word. Starts the sentence.	N/A (Verbs have no I'rab case)
الطَّالِبُ	Fa'il (Subject/Doer) — Who did the action?	Marfoo' (ـُ)
إِلَى	Harf Jarr (Preposition) — Connects, causes Majroor.	Harf (no state)
الْمَسْجِدِ	Majroor — Pulled to Kasra by إِلَى.	Majroor (ـِ)
الْجَدِيدِ	Na't/Sifa (Adjective) — Describes "mosque." Matches its state.	Majroor (ـِ)
مَعَ	Harf Jarr (Preposition) — "with"	Harf (no state)
الْمُعَلِّمِ	Majroor — Pulled to Kasra by مَعَ.	Majroor (ـِ)

The Iron Rule of Arabic Grammar

The Fa'il (Subject of a verb) is always Marfoo' (Damma). Without exception. Just like Mubtada'. This is one of the most important rules in Arabic I'rab.