الأسماء الخمسة — The Five Special Nouns
The five special nouns are a group of nouns that decline using letters (long vowels) instead of short vowel marks, when they are the first term of an iḍāfa (muḍāf).
The Five Nouns
| Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|
| أَبٌ | father |
| أَخٌ | brother |
| حَمٌ | father-in-law (husband's relative) |
| فُوهٌ (with meem dropped: فَم) | mouth |
| ذُو | possessor of / owner of |
Declension When in Iḍāfa
| Case | Sign | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| مرفوع (nominative) | وَاو | أَبُو / أَخُو / فُو / ذُو | أَبُو بَكرٍ جَاءَ |
| منصوب (accusative) | أَلِف | أَبَا / أَخَا / فَا / ذَا | رَأَيتُ أَبَا بَكرٍ |
| مجرور (genitive) | يَاء | أَبِي / أَخِي / فِي / ذِي | مَرَرتُ بِـأَبِي بَكرٍ |
When not in iḍāfa: they take regular short vowel endings like any other noun (أَبٌ، أَبًا، أَبٍ).
The Special Case of فَم (Mouth)
فَم has two forms:
- With meem retained: فَمٌ → declines normally with short vowels: فَمٌ، فَمًا، فَمٍ
- With meem dropped: فُوهٌ → becomes فُو (nominative), فَا (accusative), فِي (genitive) when in iḍāfa
The five-noun declension only applies when the meem is dropped.
Why This Matters in the Hadith Text
رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنهُمَا — when referring to ابن عبَّاس, the dual is used because the chain of narration mentions both Abdullah ibn Abbas and his father Abbas — two sahabis. The noun أَب (as in عَن أَبِيهِ) appears in the genitive, correctly showing يَاء as the genitive marker.
Quick reference
| Case | Marker | Mnemonic |
|---|---|---|
| رفع | وَاو | أَبُو عَبداللهِ |
| نصب | أَلِف | رَأَيتُ أَبَا عَبداللهِ |
| جرّ | يَاء | مَرَرتُ بِأَبِي عَبداللهِ |
From Surah Yusuf Session 9 — أَبِينَا and أَبَانَا
Sūrat Yūsuf 12:8 shows two of the three states of أَب in a single āyah:
إِذْ قَالُوا لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ أَحَبُّ إِلَىٰ أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ
| Occurrence | Governor | Case | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| أَبِينَا | after إِلَىٰ | مَجرُور | يَاء |
| أَبَانَا | اِسْم إِنَّ | مَنصُوب | أَلِف |
(The marfūʿ form would be أَبُونَا.) The same āyah also opens with وَأَخُوهُ — أَخ, another of the five, marfūʿ with a وَاو, and singular: his brother, Binyāmīn, not "brothers."
From Surah Yusuf Session 11 — Primary vs. Secondary Signs, and Ibn Mālik
Primary and Secondary Signs of Iʿrāb
- Primary (الأَصلِيَّة) signs: ḍammah, fatḥah, kasrah — the default, "true" signs.
- Secondary (الفَرعِيَّة) signs: the وَاو، أَلِف، يَاء of these nouns — and many others, e.g. the kasrah marking naṣb in a sound feminine plural (رَأَيْتُ مُسْلِمَاتٍ).
Muḍāf to يَاء المُتَكَلِّم — Implied Primary Signs
The Condition Fails
The letters only appear when the noun is muḍāf to something other than يَاء المُتَكَلِّم: أَبُوهَا, but أَبِي.
Before يَاء المُتَكَلِّم, the nouns take primary signs, but implied (مُقَدَّرَة), because the yāʾ always forces a kasrah onto the letter before it. (For verbs, that kasrah could distort the verb, which is why نُون الوِقَايَة is inserted — عَلَّمَنِي — but no such nūn appears in أَبِي.)
جَاءَ أَبِي
أَبُ is the fāʿil, marfūʿ by a ḍammah muqaddarah — the kasrah under the بَاء is phonetic, caused by the yāʾ, not a sign of jarr. The book puts حَمِي, أَبِي and أَخِي in one sentence — fāʿil, mafʿūl, and so on — to show they look identical whatever their case.
Ibn Mālik's Lines
وَارْفَعْ بِوَاوٍ وَانْصِبَنَّ بِالأَلِفْ ⁂ وَاجْرُرْ بِيَاءٍ مَا مِنَ الأَسْمَا أَصِفْ
مِنْ ذَاكَ ذُو إِنْ صُحْبَةً أَبَانَا ⁂ وَالفَمُ حَيْثُ المِيمُ مِنْهُ بَانَا
أَبٌ أَخٌ حَمٌ كَذَاكَ وَهَنُ ⁂ وَالنَّقْصُ فِي هَذَا الأَخِيرِ أَحْسَنُ
وَشَرْطُ ذَا الإِعْرَابِ أَنْ يُضَفْنَ لَا ⁂ لِليَا كَجَا أَخُو أَبِيكَ ذَا اعْتِلَا
| Point | Explanation |
|---|---|
| ذُو | Only when it means possession (صُحْبَة) — so always muḍāf |
| فَم | Only when the mīm is dropped (فُوكَ); with the mīm, ordinary ḥarakāt (فَمُكَ) |
| هَن | A placeholder word, like so-and-so; treating it as an ordinary noun (النَّقْص) is considered better |
| Condition | Muḍāf — but not to the yāʾ: جَا أَخُو أَبِيكَ ذَا اعْتِلَا your father's brother came, the honourable one |
Session References
- Surah Yusuf Session 11: Primary vs. secondary signs of iʿrāb; implied ḍammah in جَاءَ أَبِي; حَمِي/أَبِي/أَخِي identical in every case; Ibn Mālik's lines on ذُو، فَم، هَن and the condition لَا لِليَا.
- Surah Yusuf Session 9: أَبِينَا (majrūr after إِلَىٰ) and أَبَانَا (ism inna) in Āyah 8, with أَخُوهُ marfūʿ alongside them.
- From Esfahaan to Madinah Session 1: five special nouns introduced; فَم and its two forms; dual example with ابن عباس