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31  The participle-like adjective

Warning

THIS BOOK IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT IS INCOMPLETE AND MAY HAVE TYPOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ERRORS. IT IS NOT YET READY FOR STUDY.

31.1 Introduction

The participle-like adjective is a deverbal noun. It is the quintessential adjectival noun signifying a relatively stable and unchanging meaning. حَسَن handsome, good is an example of a participle-like adjective.

The participle-like adjective is called such because it shares some characteristics with the doer participle. The doer participle is the closest of the deverbal nouns to the verb. We saw in chapter (ref) that it can govern in a verb-like manner and even be used in place of a verb.

The participle-like adjective, although not as close to the verb as the doer participle, can also govern in a manner which is similar (but not quite exactly the same) as the governing of the doer participle. In this chapter, we will explore its significance and its ability to govern in a verb-like manner.

31.2 The forms of the participle-like adjective

The participle-like adjective comes in various forms. We will list the most common of them1:

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فَعِل

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
فَرِحَ to be joyous فَرِح joyous
حَزِنَ to be sad حَزِن sad
حَذِرَ to be precautious حَذِر precautious
تَعِبَ to be tired تَعِب tired

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فَعْلَان

Feminine: usually فَعْلَى

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
عَطِشَ to be thirsty عَطْشَان thirsty
ظَمِئَ to be thirsty ظَمْآن thirsty
شَبِعِ to be sated شَبْعَان sated
يَقِظَ to be awake يَقْظَان awake

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern أَفْعَل

Feminine: فَعْلَاء

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
حَمِرَ to be red أَحْمَر red
خَضِرَ to be green أَخْضَر green
عَرِجَ to be lame أَعْرَج lame
حَوِرَ to be big-eyed أَحْوَر big-eyed

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فَعِيل

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
شَرُفَ to be noble شَرِيف noble
قَبُحَ to be ugly قَبِيح ugly
بَخِلَ to be stingy بَخِيل stingy

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فَعْل

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
صَعُبَ to be difficult صَعْب difficult
ضَخْمَ to be large ضَخْم large

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فَعَال

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
جَبُنَ to be cowardly جَبَان cowardly
حَصُنَ to be chaste حَصَان chaste

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فُعَال

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
شَجُعَ to be brave شُجَاع brave
فَرُتَ to be sweet فُرَات sweet

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فُعْل

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
صَلُبَ to be hard (rigid) صُلْب hard (rigid)

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فِعْل

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
مَلُحَ to be salty مِلْح salty

Participle-like adjective’s on the pattern فَيْعِل

verb meaning participle-like adjective meaning
مَاتَ to die مَيِّت dead, dying

31.3 The participle-like adjective as the governor of a latent doer pronoun

Just like the doer participle, the participle-like adjective will, by default, govern a latent doer pronoun.2 Consider the following examples:

  1. مررت بامرأة حسنة [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 161]
    I passed by a handsome woman.
    (حسنة has a latent doer pronoun implicated as هي.)

  2. مررت برجلين حسنين [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 161]
    I passed by two handsome men.
    (حسنين has a latent doer pronoun هما.)

31.4 The participle-like adjective as the governor of a sababi overt doer

TODO: sifah should be valid for both genders if mismatch. Also for ism_fail like murDi3. Add forward reference to ism_fail chapter. [النحو الوافي 3/303–304]

Similar to the doer participle the participle-like adjective can govern a overt doer. So we can say:

  1. مررت برجل حسن وجهه [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1077]

  2. مررت برجلين حسن أبواهما [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1077]

  3. مررت برجال حسن آباؤهم [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1077]

  4. الرجال كريمة أمهاتهم

  5. رأيت الرجالَ الكريمةَ أمهاتهم

Also similar to the doer participle, when participle-like adjective’s doer is a broken plural (as in example () above آباؤهم), then the participle-like adjective is permitted, and preferred, to also be a broken plural.3

So we can say:

  1. مررت برجال حسانٍ آباؤهم [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1077]

  2. هؤلاءِ زملاءُ كرامٌ آباؤهم [النحو الوافي 3/453]

But if the doer of the participle-like adjective is a sound plural, then it is preferred that the participle-like adjective remain singular. Examples:

  1. هؤلاء زملاءُ كريم والدوهم [النحو الوافي 3/454]

  2. هؤلاء زميلات كريمة والداتهن [النحو الوافي 3/454]

By the way, when the participle-like adjective is a attribute, then instead of using a sababi na3t (as in examples () above), we can use a sentence attribute. So instead of saying مررت برجل حسنٍ وجهه, we can say:

  1. مررت برجل حسنٌ وجهه [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1076]

Now the attribute is the sentence حسنٌ وجهُه handsome, his face is. حسن in this sentence is a fronted info.

The participle-like adjective cannot govern a non-sababi overt doer

In section (ref) above, we saw that an doer participle can govern a non-sababi overt doer. Unlike the doer participle the participle-like adjective can only govern a sababi overt doer. So we cannot say:

  1. ✗ مررت برجل حَسَنٍ عمرٌو في داره [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1075]
    I passed a man [whom] Ɛamr was handsome in his house.

31.5 The participle-like adjective in a superficial annexation

Like the doer participle, the participle-like adjective forms a superficial annexation with its governee. In section (ref), we learned that the doer participle forms a superficial annexation between the doer participle and its semantic direct doee. The participle-like adjective is typically from an intransitive verb. so it will not have a direct doee. Instead, it forms a superficial annexation in two ways:

  1. A superficial annexation between the participle-like adjective and its semantic doer.
  2. A superficial annexation between the participle-like adjective and its tamyīz.

31.5.1 Superficial annexation between the participle-like adjective and its semantic doer

The participle-like adjective can form a superficial annexation between the participle-like adjective and its semantic doer. It does this by first transforming its doer into a direct doee-like governee. Wil will explaing this process below:

Consider the sentence:

  1. مررت برجل حسنٍ وجهُه [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1077]

In this sentence, the participle-like adjective has a definite sababi doer وجهه. This sentence is transformed in the following manner4:

First step of the transformation

Firstly, the base noun pronoun ه in وجهه is transferred to being a latent doer pronoun of the participle-like adjective حسن.

Second step of the transformation

Secondly, وجه, with its base noun pronoun ه eliminated, is made into الوجه to keep it definite (to match وجهه which was also definite).

Now that the participle-like adjective حسن already has a doer (its latent doer pronoun هو), the noun الوجه cannot be its doer. So it is made into what we will call a direct doee-like governee. So it is put into the a-state thus: الْوَجْهَ.

We call الْوَجْهَ a direct doee-like governee, and not a true direct doee because, in meaning, it is still the doer of the participle-like adjective حسن. The participle-like adjective حسن is derived from an intransitive verb حَسُنَ which does not take a direct doee.

With this transformation, the sentence becomes:

  1. مررت برجل حسنٍ الوجهَ [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1080]

It is important to note that this transformation affects only the syntax of the sentence, but not its meaning. The participle-like adjective حسن is still describing a quality of الوجه, not رجل.

But now that الوجه is not syntactically the doer of the participle-like adjective, the participle-like adjective match its syntactic referent رجل in gender and number, not its semantic doer الوجه. So we will say:

  1. مررت برجلين حسنين الوجهين

  2. مررت برجالٍ حسانٍ الوجوهَ

  3. مررت بمرأة حسنة الوجهَ

  4. مررت بمرأتين حسنتين الوجهين

Remember, that it الوجه were syntactically the doer, then we would have said instead:

  1. مررت برجلين حسنين وجهاهما

  2. مررت بمرأة حَسَنٍ وجهُهَا

etc.

The transformation that we have described above works exactly the same for definite participle-like adjectives. So we will say:

  1. مررت بالرجل الحسن الوجهَ

  2. جاءت المرأتان الحسنتان الوجهين

etc.

Final step of the transformation

A sentence with a direct doee-like governee, like in example () مررت برجل حسنٍ الوجهَ above, while grammatically correct, is rarely used in practice.5 The main purpose of the direct doee-like governee is that it is used as a intermediate step for the final step of the transformation: and that is into a superficial annexation6 This is done by converting the direct doee-like governee into a syntactic base noun.

Lets start with participle-like adjectives with their direct doee-like governees:

  • Indefinite participle-like adjective: حَسَنٌ الْوَجْهَ
  • Definite participle-like adjective: الْحَسَنُ الْوَجْهَ

The a-state direct doee-like governees are converted into base nouns in the i-state:

  • Indefinite participle-like adjective: حَسَنُ الْوَجْهِ
  • Definite participle-like adjective: الْحَسَنُ الْوَجْهِ

Here are some examples using this superficial annexation:

  1. مررت برجل حسنِ الوجهِ [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1078, 1081]

  2. جاء الرجل الحسنُ الوجهِ

Note that, because الوجه is a a-state governee, and not the doer, of the participle-like adjective, therefore, the participle-like adjective is feminized, dualized, or pluralized to match its referent, not الوجه. Examples:

  1. هند حسنة الوجه [شرح الرضي على الكافية 3/439]

  2. الزيدان حسنا الوجهين [شرح الرضي على الكافية 3/439]

  3. الزيدون حسنو الوجوه [شرح الرضي على الكافية 3/439]

31.6 The participle-like adjective with a tamyīz

Remember from section (ref), that the tamyīz is a a-state governee that specifies the scope of its governor. As a verb-like noun, the participle-like adjective can govern a tamyīz. So we can say, for example:

  1. مررت برجل حسن وجهًا [البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1080]

  2. جاءت المرأة الحسنة وجهًا

  3. الزيدون حسنون وجوها [التذييل والتكميل لأبي حيان 9/241]

31.6.1 Superficial annexation of the participle-like adjective with a tamyīz

As with the participle-like adjective that has a direct doee-like governee, the participle-like adjective with a tamyīz also can also form a superficial annexation.

So حَسَنٌ وَجْهًا will become:

  1. حسنُ وجهٍ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 171]

Again, the participle-like adjective will match its referent in gender and number. So, for example, we will say:

  1. هم حسنو وجوه [التذييل والتكميل لأبي حيان 9/227]

Unlike, the participle-like adjective with a direct doee-like governee, a participle-like adjective prefixed by ال with a tamyīz does not form a superficial annexation This is because a definite annexe noun with an indefinite base noun is fundamentally inconsistent with an annexation construction.7{.citex} So الْحَسَنُ وَجْهًا, however, does not form a superficial annexation to become:

  1. ✗ الحسنُ وجهٍ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 169]

Finally, whereas the participle-like adjective with its direct doee-like governee (e.g. حَسَنُ الْوَجْهَ) is pretty much only used as an intermediate step to form a superficial annexation, such is not the case for the participle-like adjective with a tamyīz. The participle-like adjective with a tamyīz can be used, as is, without converting it into a superficial annexation.8

31.7 The word order of the participle-like adjective and its a-state governee

Recall from section (ref) above that the a-state governee of a doer participle is permitted to precede its governing doer participle in word order. So we can say:

  1. زيد عمرا ضارب [شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/143]

But this is not permitted for the participle-like adjective.^ [شرح كتاب سيبويه للسيرافي 1/259; شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/143] So we cannot say:

  1. ✗ زَيْدٌ الْوَجْهَ حَسَنٌ [شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/143]

Nor is the tamyīz allowed to precede its governing participle-like adjective (see section (ref)). So we cannot say:

  1. ✗ زيد وَجها حسن [المقتضب للمبرد 4/164]

31.8 Uncommon constructions of the participle-like adjective

There are some constructions of the participle-like adjective, that are uncommonly found. Some are disagreed upon with regard to their grammatical correctness. Some grammarians allow some of them unconditionally, others by poetic license only, while others would disallow them.9{.citex}

We list these constructions here for compleness:

Governing a doer

  1. حَسَنٌ الْوَجْهُ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 162]

  2. الْحَسَنُ الْوَجْهُ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 162]

  3. حَسَنٌ وَجْهٌ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 163]

  4. الْحَسَنُ وَجْهٌ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 163]

Governing a a-state governee

  1. حَسَنٌ وَجْهَهُ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 166]

  2. الْحَسَنُ وَجْهَهُ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 166]

In a superficial annexation

  1. حَسَنُ وَجْهِهِ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 169]

When the participle-like adjective is defined by أل and the semantic doer is not defined by أل, then a superficial annexation is disallowed.10{.citex} For example:

  1. ✗ الْحَسَنُ وَجْهِهِ [الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 169]

31.9 Superficial annexation to an annexation

It is possible for the doer of a participle-like adjective to itself be in an annexation. For example:

  1. زَيْدٌ حَسَنٌ وَجْهُ أَبِيهِ

  2. رَأَيْتُ الرَّجُلَ الطَّوِيلَةَ لِحْيَةُ أَبِيهِ

Superficial annexations can, in general, be formed from such constructions after, of course, first transforming the doers into a-state governees.

But when the participle-like adjective is defined by أل, then a superficial annexation is only permitted, if the base noun of semantic doer also is defined by أل.11 Compare this with section (ref) for the doer participle. Examples:

  1. ✓ زَيْدٌ حَسَنُ وَجْهِ الْأَبِ

  2. ✓ زَيْدٌ حَسَنُ وَجْهِ أَبٍ

  3. ✓ زَيْدٌ حَسَنُ وَجْهِ أَبِيهِ

  4. ✓ رَأَيْتُ الرَّجُلَ الطَّوِيلَ لِحْيَةِ الْأَبِ

  5. ✗ رَأَيْتُ الرَّجُلَ الطَّوِيلَ لِحْيَةِ أَبٍ

  6. ✗ رَأَيْتُ الرَّجُلَ الطَّوِيلَ لِحْيَةِ أَبِيهِ

31.10 Significance of the participle-like adjective

The participle-like adjective is typically derived from a stative verb. A stative verb is one which, rather than describing any process or action, signifies that its doer is in a particular state. Futhermore, its doer does not do any actual work or action that causes him to be in the state described by the participle-like adjective.

31.10.1 Permanence of the meaning of the participle-like adjective

Some participle-like adjectives have a very permanent meaning. For example:

participle-like adjective meaning
أَخْضَر green
أَعْرَج lame
شَرِيف noble, highborn
زَنِيم ignoble, baseborn

Others are fairly permanent but can change gradually. For example:

participle-like adjective meaning
جَمِيل beautiful
قَبِيح ugly

Others can change fairly quickly. For example

participle-like adjective meaning
جَوْعَان hungry
فَرِح joyous
تَعِب tired

31.10.2 Transitivity of the verb from which the doer participle is derived

The participle-like adjective is typically derived from intransitive verbs. Rarely, we find a participle-like adjective which is derived from a transitive verb. For example:

participle-like adjective meaning
ثَكْلَان [bereft (of child)

31.10.3 Participle-like adjectives whose meaning aligns with the doee

Most of the time, the participle-like adjective aligns in meaning with the doer of the verb from which it is derived. For example, حَسَن handsome aligns in meaning with the doer of the verb حَسُنَ to be handsome. Occasionally, however, the participle-like adjective aligns in meaning with the doee of its verb. Examples:

participle-like adjective meaning verb
حَمِيد praiseworthy حَمِدَ to praise (s.o.)
ذَمِيم blameworthy ذَمَّ to blame (s.o.)
مَنِيع inaccessible, impregnable مَنَعَ to prevent (s.o., s.th.)

31.11 The doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective

Whereas participle-like adjective are typically derived from stative verbs, doer participles are derived from both intransitive verbs (like قَائِم from قَامَ to stand), and transitive verbs (like ضَارِب from ضَرَبَ to beat). Furthermore, when a verb has a stative meaning, then, as we learned in section (ref) its doer participle is often not in common usage. Instead, a participle-like adjective will often exist for the stative verb and the participle-like adjective will be generally used instead. For example, the doer participle كَارِم of the stative verb كَرُمَ to be noble, generous is rarely used. Instead, the participle-like adjective كَرِيم noble, generous will generally be used instead. But, as we also learned, كَارِم could be used when temporary meaning is intended.

The above is the general rule for doer participles of stative verbs. However, there are some stative verbs, for which the doer participle is commonly used, but only after it crosses over to become a participle-like adjective. As with the doer participle-crossover-to-substantive there are two categories of doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjectives:

  1. The lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective
  2. The ad hoc doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective

31.11.1 The lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective

The lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective is one which is commonly used with its participle-like adjective meaning. It will typically have its own entry in a dictionary. Examples are:

verb meaning doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective
طَهُرَ to be clean طَاهِر clean
ضَمَرَ to be lean ضَامِر lean
صَلُحَ to be righteous صَالِح righteous
نَعُمَ to be soft نَاعِم soft
بَسُلَ to be courageous بَاسِل courageous

Sometimes, a true participle-like adjective with a similar meaning, can co-exist with the lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective, For example طَهِير clean.

Sometimes, lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective occurs for verbs which are not purely stative. In fact, it can even occur for transitive verbs. Here are some examples:

verb meaning doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective
عَدَلَ to act justly عَادِل just
رَبِحَ to gain a profit رَابِح profitable
ظَلَمَ to wrong (s.o.) ظَالِم unjust, tyrannical
رَحِمَ to have mercy (on s.o.) رَاحِم merciful
قَطَعَ to cut (s.th.) قَاطِع sharp, incisive

Occasionally, the meaning of the doer participle can change considerably when it crosses over to a participle-like adjective. For example:

verb meaning doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective
كَتَمَ to conceal (s.th) كَاتِم concealed
دَفَقَ to pour (s.th.) دَافِق poured forth

In the above examples, we can see that the lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjectives actually have the meaning of the doee participles. So سِرٌّ كَاتِمٌ [Lane’s Lexicon »دفق«] is a concealed secret, and مَاءٌ دَافِقٌ [Lane’s Lexicon »دفق«] is water that is poured forth.12 But the doer participle can still be used with its original meaning. For example:

  1. وَلَوْ كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ صلى الله عليه وسلم كَاتِمًا شَيْئًا مِمَّا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ لَكَتَمَ هَذِهِ الآيَةَ [صحيح مسلم :177b]
    And if Muḥammad were to conceal anything from what was revealed to him, he would have concealed this āyah.

When an doer participle crosses over to a participle-like adjective, then it will govern in the manner of a participle-like adjective. So, it can govern a doer, and the doer is transformed into a direct doee-like governee, which is then used in a superficial annexation. For example:

  1. طَاهِرُ الْقَلْبِ [شرح التصريح على التوضيح 2/41]
    clean of heart
    (The transformation is طَاهِرٌ قَلْبُهُ → طَاهِرٌ الْقَلْبَ → طَاهِرُ الْقَلْبِ.)

  2. ضَامِرُ الْكَشْحِ [التذييل والتكميل لأبي حيان 10/298]
    lean of flank
    (The transformation is ضَامِرٌ كَشْحُهُ → ضَامِرٌ الْكَشْحَ → ضَامِرُ الْكَشْحِ.)

The process above is normal and straightforward when it comes to doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjectives that are derived from intransitive verbs. But if a doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective is derived from a transitive verb, then there is more care required when using it in a superficial annexation. For example, consider the following two doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjectives that are derived from transitive verbs:

verb meaning doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective
ظَلَمَ to wrong (s.o.) ظَالِم unjust, tyrannical
رَحِمَ to have mercy (on s.o.) رَاحِم merciful

Now let’s say that we wish to use the doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective رَاحِم in a superficial annexation. Then, it is preferred that the actual direct doee of the doer participle not be mentioned. So, for example, we can say

  1. زَيْدٌ رَاحِمُ الْقَلْبِ
    Zayd is merciful of heart.

But we shouldn’t say:

  1. ✗ زَيْدٌ رَاحِمُ الْقَلْبِ النَّاسَ
    Zayd is merciful of heart to the people.

Sometimes, the meaning of the syntactic base noun can cause ambiguity. For example if we say:

  1. زَيْدٌ رَاحِمُ الْأَبْنَاءِ [modified from شرح التسهيل لابن مالك 3/104]

then there are two routes to end up with this construction:

  1. رَاحِم is a doer participle and الأَبْنَاء is its direct doee. The original sentence is:

    1. زَيْدٌ رَاحِمٌ الْأَبْنَاءَ
      Zayd is/will be having mercy on the sons.

  2. رَاحِم is a doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective and الأَبْنَاء is its semantic doer. The original sentence is:

    1. زَيْدٌ رَاحِمٌ أَبْنَاؤُهُ
      Zayd is merciful of sons.
      i.e. Zayd has merciful sons.

    This sentence gets transformed according to the transformation of participle-like adjectives. Even though رَاحِم is derived from a transitive verb, its governee أَبْنَاء is treated as a direct doee-like governee, not as a direct doee.13 So the transformation is زَيْدٌ رَاحِمٌ أَبْنَاؤُهُ → زَيْدٌ رَاحِمٌ الْأَبْنَاءَ → زَيْدٌ رَاحِمُ الْأَبْنَاءِ.

There is actually a third route as well, where رَاحِم is an ad hoc doer participle-crossover-to-substantive. In this case the meaning would be Zayd is the merciful-one of the sons. However, this meaning is a little less likely and not very relevant to our discussion here.

Coming back to the sentence زَيْدٌ رَاحِمُ الْأَبْنَاءِ, there is no problem with using رَاحِمُ الْأَبْنَاءِ as a doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective to mean merciful of sons. But only if context makes it clear that Zayd has merciful sons, not that he is having mercy on the sons.

Similarly, one can use ظَالِم as a doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective instead of as a doer participle. For example:

  1. زَيْدٌ ظَالِمُ الْعَبِيدِ [modified from شرح التسهيل لابن مالك 3/104]
    Zayd is unjust of slaves.

This meaning can be understood when context indicates that Zayd has unjust slaves.14

The lexical doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective is not as common for form 1 verbs as the true participle-like adjective. But for form 2+ verbs, the doer participle crossing over to a participle-like adjective is the default mechanism to derive a participle-like adjective from the verb. Examples:

verb meaning doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective
انْطَلَقَ to be let loose مْنْطَلِقُ اللِّسَانِ fluent of tongue [التذييل والتكميل لأبي حيان 3/308]
اطْمَأَنَّ to be tranquil مُطْمَئِنُّ الْقَلْبِ tranquil of heart [التذييل والتكميل لأبي حيان 3/308]
اسْتَقَامَ to be upright مُسْتَقِيم straight
اعْتَدَلَ to be moderate مُعْتَدِل moderate

31.11.2 The ad hoc doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective

The ad hoc doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective can be created from any doer participle, on the fly, when what is intended by the doer participle is a more permanent quality. So, for example, the doer participle قَائِم can cross over to a participle-like adjective if its referent is standing more constantly than the doer participle would signify. Now it can follow the same transformation of governing a direct doee-like governee and then into a superficial annexation.15 So we can say:

  1. زَيْدٌ قَائِمُ الْأَبِ [المساعد على تسهيل الفوائد لابن عقيل 2/222]
    Zayd’s father is a stander.
    (The process of transformation is زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ أَبُوهُ → زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ الْأَبَ → زَيْدٌ قَائِمُ الْأَبِ.)

But we should not use the superficial annexation زَيْدٌ قَائِمُ الْأَبِ with the temporary meaning of the doer participle Zayd’s father is standing. This is because then قَائِم is not a participle-like adjective and thus cannot govern a direct doee-like governee.16 And it is derived from a transitive verb, so it cannot govern a true direct doee either. So we can’t say (with a temporary meaning):

  1. ✗ زَيْدٌ قَائِمُ الْأَبِ غَدًا [شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/140] Zayd’s father will stand tomorrow.

We should only say, in this case:

  1. زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ أَبُوهُ غَدًا [شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/140] Zayd’s father will stand tomorrow.

An ad hoc doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective can be formed from a transitive doer participle using the same reasoning. So we can say:

  1. زَيْدٌ ضَارِبُ الْأَبِ [المساعد على تسهيل الفوائد لابن عقيل 2/222–223]
    Zayd’s father is a beater.

But one should only use such a construction when context makes it clear that Zayd’s father is the beater. Otherwise the apparent meaning, out of context, is Zayd is the beater of the father. By the way, we have already learned in section (ref) above that when a doer participle-crossover-to-participle-like adjective is derived from a transitive verb, then the true direct doee of the verb should not be used. So we shouldn’t say:

  1. ✗ زَيْدٌ ضَارِبُ الْأَبِ عَمْرًا [المساعد على تسهيل الفوائد لابن عقيل 2/223]
    Zayd’s father is a beater of Ɛamr.

31.12 The substantive that crosses over to a adjectival noun

It is possible for a substantive to cross over to a adjectival noun. Sometimes this crossing over is metaphorical, such that the substantive is used with an adjectival noun meaning. For example:

  1. مررت برجل أسد
    I passed by a lion man
    (lion is used metaphorical to mean courageous.)

Othertimes, the substantive is simply used descriptively. For example:

  1. مررت برجل عبد I passed by a slave man

When a substantive crosses over to a adjectival noun, then it will govern a latent doer pronoun. This doer can also be an overt sababi doer. For example:

  1. مررت برجل عبد أبوه [الكشاف للزمخشري for سورة النساء 4:172]

31.13 The lexical participle-like adjective-crossover-to-substantive

Very often, a participle-like adjective can cross over to a substantive.

Here are some examples:

participle-like adjective-crossover-to-substantive meaning
صَغِير a baby
كَبِير a elder person
صَغِيرَة a minor sin
كَبِيرَة a major sin
نَصِيحَة an advice
حَسَنَة a good deed

As with doer participle-crossover-to-substantives when an adjectival noun crosses over to a substantive, it loses its genderizability. For example, the feminine participle-like adjective حَسَنَة good crosses over to a substantive to mean a good deed. Let’s use it in a sentence:

  1. ٱلصِّيَامُ حَسَنَةٌ.
    Fasting is a good deed.

The subject in this sentence is the masculine noun ٱَلصِّيَام fasting. And the info is the feminine noun حَسَنَة a good deed. Note that the info does not match the subject in gender. This is because it lost its genderizability since it is no longer acting as an participle-like adjective good, but rather as the substantive a good deed.

What if we have the sentence:

  1. ٱَلصَّدَقَةُ حَسَنَةٌ.

The feminine gender of the subject ٱَلصَّدَقَة. charity now matches the gender of the info حَسَنَة. So now, technically, the info could be the participle-like adjective, meaning good. So the sentence could mean Charity is good.

Or the info could be the substantive meaning a good deed. Then the sentence would mean Charity is a good deed..

Context would be needed to tell us which meaning is intended.

Frequently, when a participle-like adjective can cross over to a substantive, then it uses a different plural from the original participle-like adjective. For example, كَبِيرَة as a participle-like adjective can use the broken plural كِبَار. So we can say:

  1. الْجَوَارِي كِبَارٌ The girls are big.
    (كَبِيرات could also have been used.)

But when كَبِيرَة crosses over to a substantive, then it will use the plural كَبَائِر. For example:

  1. هَذِهِ الْأَفْعَالُ كَبَائِرُ
    These acts are major sins.

The doer participle-crossover-to-substantive on the pattern فَعِيل

There is a special category of lexical doer participle-crossover-to-substantives and that is on the pattern فَعِيل, when it has the meaning of the doee participle. Examples are:

participle-like adjective-crossover-to-substantive meaning verb definition
قَتِيل a killed person قَتَلَ to kill (s.o.)
جَرِيح a wounded person جَرَحَ to wound (s.o.)
أَجِير a hired person أَجَرَ to hire (s.o.)

These doer participle-crossover-to-substantives are used under the following general guidelines:

  • They can be used as a attribute (by crossing back over to a adjectival noun as in section (ref) above)).

  • When with an (explicit or implicit) noun as its referent has been previously mentioned, then only the masculine noun is used, even for feminine referents.

  • When used without an (explicit or implicit) noun as its referent, then the feminine noun (with ة) may be used for a feminine referent.

Here are some examples:

  1. مررت بامرأة جريح [شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 4/94]
    I passed by a wounded-person woman.

  2. مررت برجل جريح أبوه [المساعد على تسهيل الفوائد لابن عقيل 2/209]
    I passed by a man whose father was a wounded-person.

  3. رَأَيْتُ قَتِيلًا وَقَتِيلَةً
    I saw a male killed person and a female killed person.

Not all participle-like adjectives with the meaning of the doee participle cross over (lexically) to substantives. Some remain as participle-like adjectives and then are feminized as usual. For example:

  1. رَجُلٌ حَمِيدٌ وَامْرأَةٌ حَمِيدَةٌ
    a praiseworthy man and a praiseworthy woman

  2. رَجُلٌ ذَمِيمٌ وَامْرأَةٌ ذَمِيمَةٌ
    a blameworthy man and a blameworthy woman

  3. حِصْنٌ مَنِيعٌ وَقَلْعَةٌ مَنِيعَةٌ
    an impregnable fort and an impregnable citadel

Another example od lexical doer participle-crossover-to-substantives that is on the pattern فَعِيل is:

participle-like adjective-crossover-to-substantive meaning verb definition
رَهِينَة a pledged-item رَهَنَ to pledge (s.th.)

In this case, the substantive has a ة and can be used for both masculine and feminine referents. For example:

  1. كُلُّ غُلاَمٍ رَهِينَةٌ بِعَقِيقَتِهِ [سنن أبي داود :2837]
    Every boy is a pledge by his Ɛaqīqah

The masculine رَهِين can also be used but it will generally retain its adjectival noun sense.17

31.14 Definiteness of a participle-like adjective in a superficial annexation

We learned in section (ref) that the annexe noun in a superficial annexation is not made definite by a definite base noun. We saw this in example (24) مررت برجل حسنِ الوجهِ, where حَسَن in the superficial annexation remains indefinite even though it is a annexe noun to a definite base noun الْوَجْهِ. Therefore, the indefinite حَسَن is a attribute to the indefinite attributee رَجُل.

If the attributee is definite, then the participle-like adjective annexe noun is prefixed by ال.

  1. مررت بالرجل الحسنِ الوجهِ [شرح ابن يعيش على المفصل 4/116]

  2. مررتُ بزيدٍ الحسنِ الوجهِ، وهندٍ الجائلةِ الوِشاح [شرح ابن يعيش على المفصل 2/132]

This rule of a participle-like adjective not becoming definite because of a definite base noun is followed more strictly than for the doer participle.18 In the case of an doer participle, we saw in section (ref) that it can cross over to a substantive in an ad hoc manner. When this happens, then it it becomes definite when it is a annexe noun to a definite base noun (section (ref)).

But the participle-like adjective, when it is a annexe noun to its semantic doer, cannot be understood as a real annexation. That is حَسَنُ الْوَجْهِ handsome of face can only be understood to mean that the face is handsome, never the face’s handsome-one. So we cannot, in general, say:

  1. ✗ مررت بزيد حسن الوجه [دراسات في النحو للزعبلاوي 496 citing الجامي]

We would have to say مررتُ بزيدٍ الحسنِ الوجهِ instead, as in example () above.

All this notwithstanding, some grammarians allow, on occasion, a participle-like adjective, when a annexe noun to its semantic doer, to become definite by a definite base noun. This is by reason of aligning to the form of a real annexation. For more discussion on this, see تفسير ابن عثيمين for سورة غافر 40:3:

  1. غَافِرِ ٱلذَّنۢبِ وَقَابِلِ ٱلتَّوۡبِ شَدِیدِ ٱلۡعِقَابِ ذِی ٱلطَّوۡلِۖ لَاۤ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَۖ إِلَیۡهِ ٱلۡمَصِیرُ [سورة غافر 40:3]
    The forgiver of sin, acceptor of repentance, severe in punishment, owner of abundance. There is no deity except Him; to Him is the destination.

31.15 Further reading

  1. الصفة المشبهة (قراءة جديدة في البنية الشكلية والدلالية لبعض الأوصاف المشتقة) د. فيصل إبراهيم صفا

  1. The following list is taken mostly from النحو الوافي 3/285ff↩︎

  2. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 161↩︎

  3. النحو الوافي 3/453–454; fawzan_sharh_qatr 248; شرح قطر الندى وبل الصدى 288↩︎

  4. البسيط لابن أبي الربيع 1080↩︎

  5. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 166↩︎

  6. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 167↩︎

  7. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 169↩︎

  8. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 167 citing شرح الرضي على الكافية 3/439↩︎

  9. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 162–170↩︎

  10. الضمير المستتر لسعود بن عبيد الله الصاعدي 166↩︎

  11. شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/145–146↩︎

  12. See also البحر المحيط لأبي حيان for سورة الحاقة 69:21 فَهُوَ فِی عِیشَةٍ رَّاضِیَةٍ↩︎

  13. شرح التسهيل لابن مالك 3/104↩︎

  14. المساعد على تسهيل الفوائد لابن عقيل 2/222; see also الدر المصون للسمين الحلبي for سورة إبراهيم 14:39↩︎

  15. المساعد على تسهيل الفوائد لابن عقيل 2/222; شرح الأشمونى لألفية ابن مالك 2/230↩︎

  16. شرح ابن عقيل على الألفية 3/140; شرح ألفية ابن مالك للشاطبي 4/393↩︎

  17. Lane’s Lexicon entry رَهْن↩︎

  18. دراسات في النحو للزعبلاوي 495↩︎