Arabic Grammar

The Sentence

The Omission of the Mubtada/the Khabar:

The mubtada or the khabar may be omitting, e.g. in

reply to the question ‫ א ؟‬one may say . This

is the khabar and the mubtada has been omitted. The

full sentence is ‫א‬. Similarly, in answer to the

question ‫؟‬ú ‘who knows?’ one may say , which

is the mubtada; and the khabar has been omitted. The

complete sentence is ú ‘I know’.

Types of the Khabar E ْ ‫א‬F:

There are three types of the predicate/khabar E ْ ‫א‬F:

mufrad E‫ ْ د‬F, jumla E F and shibhu jumla E F:

1 The mufrad khabar is a word, not a sentence, e.g.

‫‘ א وא‬Allah is one’, EE ْ ‫א‬ ْ ‫א‬FF “the

believer is the mirror of the believer” [the Hadith].

2 The jumla E F is a sentence. It may be a nominal

or a verbal sentence, e.g. ‘Hashim’s

father is a trader’ literally, Hashim, his father is a

trader. Here is the mubtada and nominal

sentence is the khabar, and this sentence in

turn, is made up of the mubtada E F and the

khabar E F. Here is another example; ‫א‬

‫‘ א ؟‬what is the name of the doctor?’ literally it

means, the doctor, what is his name? Here ‫ א‬is

the mubtada, and the nominal sentence ‫ א‬is

the khabar. Another example, ‫ د א‬ª ‫‘ א‬the

students entered’. Here ª ‫ א‬is the mubtada and

the verbal sentence ‫‘ د א‬they entered’ is the

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