The exclamation / التَعَجّب

There are two ways to convey exclamation in Arabic that express astonishment toward a person or an object:
- The standard exclamation / التَعَجُّب القِياسِي: is the expression of two reference verb patterns conveying exclamation under specific conditions.
- The oral exclamation / التَعَجُّب السَماعِي: corresponds to all the many other ways of expressing wonder that don’t abide by the same constraints as the ‘standard exclamation’.
The standard exclamation / التَعَجّب القِياسي
The two verbal patterns ما أَفْعَلَ and أَفْعَلْ بِـ
The Arabs use two forms of exclamation in standard use which are:
أَفْعَلْ بِـ (rarely used) | ما أَفْعَلَ (most used 🔥) |
- The most common form is constructed from the pattern أَفْعَلَ (considered here as a verb of form IV in the perfect tense which remains fixed as such) preceded by the particle ما and followed by the subject which is a noun (in the accusative case defined by the article ال) or a suffix pronoun (َضَمِير مُتّصِل):
ما أَجْمَلَها How beautiful she/it is! | ما أَجْمَلَ المَدِينةَ How beautiful this city is! |
- The second form of construction of the exclamation, a little less used, is also constructed from the pattern أَفْعِلْ (considered here as a verb of form IV in the imperative which remains fixed as such) and followed by the preposition بـ fixed to l ‘object representing the cause of astonishment which is a noun (in the genitive case defined by the article) or a suffix pronoun.
أَجْمِلْ بِها How beautiful she/it is! | أَجْمِلْ بِالمَدِينةِ How beautiful this city is! |
Note: When two verbs of wonder relate to the same noun, they are positioned following the noun and take a suffix pronoun.
ما أَسْرَعَ السَّيّارةَ وما أَطْوَلَ السَيّارةَ ❌ ما أَسْرَعَ السَّيّارةَ وما أَطْوَلَها ✔️ How fast and how long this car is!
The conditions
Nonetheless, in order for a verb to adopt one of these two patterns that express the exclamation, it must be:
- Triliteral verb of form I (فِعْل ثُلاثي مُجَرَّد), like فَتَحَ (not like اِسْتَقْبَلَ).
- A verb on the pattern أَفْعَلَ that won’t be confused with the pattern of colors and deformity أَفْعَلَ that has the feminine form فَعْلاء (like أَحْمَر / حَمْراء).
If the verb does not respect those conditions then we will put it in the form of a maṣdar after a verb respecting precisely those conditions such as these:
…ما أضعف How weak… | …ما أقوى How strong… | …ما أقبح How bad/ugly… | …ما أحسن How good/ beautiful… | …ما أشدّ How intense… |
الوَزْن Pattern | |
أَفْعِلْ بـ | ما أَفْعَلَ |
أَشْدِد بِسَوادِ قَهْوَتِكَ How black your coffee is! | ما أَكْثَر اِبْتِسامَهُ How smiling he his! |
أصْعِبْ بكونِهِ أعْمى How difficult it is for him to be blind! | ما أَقْوَى إِيمانَكُم بِاللهِ How strong your faith in God is! |
The oral exclamation / التَعَجّب السَماعيّ
There is an extensive list of other exclamation structures in Arabic, but we’ll only cover here the most important ones:
- A regularly used structure consists of يا لَـ (with fatḥa on the lām لَ) followed by a pronoun agreeing with the indefinite noun that follows it, with the preposition مِن in between.
يا لَـ + ضَمِير مُتَّصِل + مِنْ + اِسْم
يا لَهُ مِنْ جُنْديّ what a soldier! | يا لَها مِنْ حَياة what a life! |
- When the noun is mentioned with the article of definition (أَداة التَعْرِيف), we don’t need to resort to the pronoun suffix.
يا لَلحَظَّ what luck! | يا لَلجُرْأةَ what audacity! |
- The particle كَمْ can also be used in an exclamatory sense in addition to being an interrogative particle. It is then followed by a noun in the genitive case (preceded or not by the preposition مِنْ) or by a sentence:
كَمْ أُحِبُّكَ How much I love you! (I love you so much) | كَمْ مِنْ مَرَّات قُلْتُ لَكَ ذَلِكَ How many times did I tell you that! |
The exclamation

Learn about the different types of exclamatory expressions in Arabic, how to form them and where to place them in a sentence. Master the art of expressing strong emotions and feelings with clarity and impact.
Course Provider: Organization
Course Provider Name: ArabiKey
Course Provider URL: https://arabikey.com
5
Responses