Arabic adverbs are referred to as (ظُروف) which directly translates to “vessel” or “container,” indicating the span of time and/or location in which a verb’s action is carried out. They are nouns that are generally declined in the accusative case and, when followed by nouns, serve as 1st term of annexation (مُضاف) while the noun following them is 2nd term (مُضاف إِليه). They are usually divided into two categories (even though other adverbs exist like adverbs of manner, degree, reason, restriction, etc.):
- Adverbs of place / ظُروف المَكان
- Adverbs of time / ظُروف الزَمان
Note: Adverbs can be preceded by a preposition such as مِنْ/ لِـ/ بِـ then adopt the genitive case structure (مَجْرور).
Note 2: Several adverbs can act as adverbs of time and place at the same time.
Note 3: Certain adverbs can be found in the definite nominative case (مَرفوع مَعْرِفة) without complement, either preceded or not by the preposition مِنْ. This applies to these following adverbs when they are to be found at the end of a sentence with nothing following them.
Ahead أَمامَ Behind وَراءَ Over فَوْقَ Below تَحْتَ After بَعْدَ Before قَبْلَ Examples:
He doesn’t know yet لا يَعْرِفُ بَعْدُ I’ve seen him before رَأَيْتُهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ
Adverbs of place / ظُروف المَكان
There are several adverbs of place (ظُروف المَكان) which can be divided into two categories: declinable (مُعْرَب) and indeclinable (مَبْنِيّ). Declinable adverbs of place will take the ḍamma, fatḥa, or kasra depending on their position in the sentence. On the other hand, undeclinable adverbs of place have only one ending and remain the same regardless of their positions they are not subjects to noun cases (الإعْراب).
Declinable adverbs of place / ظُروف المَكان المُعْرَبة
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of declinable adverbs of place (ظُروف المَكان المُعْرَبة):
Ahead | أَمامَ |
Behind | خَلْفَ |
Below | تَحْتَ |
Above | فَوْقَ |
with | مَعَ |
At | عِنْدَ |
In middle of | وَسْطَ |
Through | عَبْرَ |
Between | بَيْنَ |
Around | حَوْلَ |
Indeclinable adverbs of place / ظُروف المَكان المَبْنِيّة
at | لَدى |
from | لَدُنْ |
where | حَيْثُ |
where | أَيْنَ |
here | هنا |
there | هُناك |
there | ثَمَّ |
Adverbs of time / ظُروف الزَمان
There are several adverbs of time (ظُروف الزَمان) which can be divided into two categories: declinable (مُعْرَب) and undeclinable (مَبْنِيّ). Declinable adverbs of time will take the ḍamma, fatḥa, or kasra depending on their position in the sentence. On the other hand, undeclinable adverbs of place have only one ending and remain the same regardless of their positions they are not subjects to noun cases (الإعْراب).
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