The Accusative case
The Accusative case
The Accusative is the most complex of cases. It is rendered the more so by the fact that a noun in the Accusative will end in ـًا if it is indefinite, which is quite often. The ا at the end should be written even in unvowelled Arabic, and if it is omitted, that's a mistake and can even change the intended meaning. This is different for the two other cases (save for dual & sound masc. plural), i.e the reader will most probably not know if the writer used the word in the wrong case.
This case is indicated by a:
- ــًا or ــَـ
- ينَ for sound masculine plural
- ينِ for dual
There are 11 instances which govern a noun into the Accusative case, but we shall deal with only 5 of them here, and leave the rest for another tutorial:
- Direct object
- The noun following إِنَّ (and its sisters)
- The second part of what comes after كانَ (and its sisters)
- Nouns expressing condition
- Nouns after vocative particles that are in the possessive case
Examples follow in respective order:
- أُحْسِنُ اللغةَ العربيةَ
- إن السماءَ صافية
- كانت السماءُ صافيةً
- رأيته نائِمًا
- يا عبدَ الله، يا ربَّ العالمين