Lasting Qualities
The الصفة المشبهة (Adjective Resembling the Active Participle) is used to describe inherent, stable characteristics like personality traits, colors, or physical attributes. Unlike the active participle, which often describes a temporary action, this form describes a lasting state.
How It Works
The الصفة المشبهة is a vital part of Arabic morphology used for descriptions that are not tied to a specific time but are seen as fixed qualities.
1. Common Patterns and Gender:
- فَعِيل (fa‘īl): The most frequent pattern for general qualities, e.g., كَرِيم (generous), طَوِيل (tall), جَمِيل (beautiful).
- فَعِل (fa‘il): Used for temporary internal states or physical conditions, e.g., فَرِح (happy), تَعِب (tired). The feminine is فَعِلَة (e.g., فَرِحَة).
- فَعْلان (fa‘lān): Often used for internal states or feelings, e.g., عَطْشَان (thirsty), غَضْبَان (angry). The feminine form follows the pattern فَعْلَى (e.g., عَطْشَى).
- أَفْعَل (af‘al): Used for colors, physical defects, and physical beauty, e.g., أَحْمَر (red), أَعْرَج (lame). The feminine form follows the pattern فَعْلاء (e.g., حَمْرَاء).
- فَعَل (fa‘al): e.g., حَسَن (good/handsome), بَطَل (brave).
2. The 'Resemblance':
It is called 'resembling' the active participle because it acts like a verb. It can govern a following noun as its فاعل. In رجلٌ كريمٌ خلقُه, رجلٌ is the موصوف (the person described), while خلقُه is the governed subject of كريمٌ. These are different grammatical roles.
3. Grammatical Flexibility:
The noun following the adjective (the ma‘mūl) can appear in three cases:
- Nominative (المرفوع): As the subject (الفاعل). Example: كَرِيمٌ خُلُقُهُ (noble [is] his character).
- Accusative (المنصوب): As a specification (التمييز) if indefinite (حَسَنٌ وَجْهاً), or as 'resembling the object' if definite (الحَسَنُ الوَجْهَ).
- Genitive (المجرور): Through an الإضافة غير الحقيقية (false iḍāfa) construction. Crucially, the adjective must drop its tanwīn in this construction (e.g., changing from كَرِيمٌ to كَرِيمُ الوَجْهِ).
Longer Verb Forms: Some analyses also include stable qualities expressed with the active-participle shape of a longer verb, such as مُسْتَقِيمُ الرَّأْيِ (sound in judgement), from استقام. The formal shape is shared with اسم الفاعل; the stable-quality reading and the construction determine the analysis. This is not a separate automatic “permanent” conjugation for every Form II–X verb. “Stable” is a way of presenting a quality, not a claim that thirst or happiness literally lasts forever.
Examples (5)
- هذا رَجُلٌ كَرِيمٌ نَفْسُهُ.
This is a man whose soul is generous.
Word by Word: This man generous soul-his.
Here, 'karīmun' is the adjective, and 'nafsuhu' is its subject in the nominative case.
- البِنْتُ جَمِيلَةُ الوَجْهِ.
The girl is beautiful of face.
Word by Word: The girl beautiful (of) the face.
جميلةُ is in a descriptive iḍāfa with الوجهِ, the aspect in which the girl is beautiful. البنت remains the person described; الوجه is the governed complement.
- أنا عَطْشَانُ جِدّاً.
I am very thirsty.
Word by Word: I thirsty very.
The pattern 'fa‘lān' is used here for a temporary but intense internal state.
- السَّمَاءُ زَرْقَاءُ.
The sky is blue.
Word by Word: The sky [is] blue.
زرقاء is the feminine of أزرق and agrees with السماء. It serves as the nominative predicate in this sentence.
- الولدُ حَسَنٌ وَجْهاً.
The boy is handsome in face.
Word by Word: The boy handsome face.
This demonstrates the accusative case for the noun following the adjective, acting as a clarifying noun (التمييز).
Common Mistakes
Treating a quality pattern as grammatically permanent in real time.
عَطْشَان means someone can never stop being thirsty.أنا عَطْشَانُ الآنَ. = I am thirsty now.The adjective presents a state or quality, even when the state is temporary. Active participles can also be used for habits or lasting roles, so real-world duration alone does not determine the morphological label.
Using the wrong case for the following noun in a 'false iḍāfa'.
هو حَسَنُ الوَجْهَ.هو حَسَنُ الوَجْهِ.In the 'false iḍāfa' construction (adjective + noun), the second noun must be in the genitive case (al-majrūr).
How It Connects
Learn This First
To understand 'الصفة المشبهة' (Lasting Qualities), a learner needs a solid grasp of the Arabic root and pattern system, as these adjectives follow specific morphological shapes like 'fa'īl' or 'fa'lān'. Additionally, since these words function as adjectives, knowledge of basic adjective-noun agreement is required, along with the ability to distinguish them from standard active participles which describe temporary actions.
- Adjectives Follow the Noun
Since the 'lasting quality' functions as an adjective, the learner must understand how adjectives behave syntactically in Arabic sentences.
Level 1 - The Doer Word
It is important to distinguish the 'lasting quality' (permanent state) from the active participle (temporary or occurring action).
Level 3
Related Patterns
- Words for Doing Something a Lot
Both can share the 'fa‘īl' pattern, but the intensive form comes from transitive verbs while the ṣifa mushabbaha comes from intransitive ones.
Level 4 - Adjective Phrases That Look Like Possession
This is the specific grammatical construction often used to link the ṣifa mushabbaha to the noun it clarifies.
Level 4 - The Clarifying Noun
The noun following a ṣifa mushabbaha can be placed in the accusative case to act as a specification.
Level 3 - Roots and Patterns
Understanding the root and pattern system is essential to identifying the various forms of these adjectives.
Foundations - Quality Adjectives That Take a Following Noun
This refers to the functional grammar of how these adjectives act like verbs in a sentence.
Level 6
Practice Lasting Qualities in Bubblegum
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