Inna and its sisters (إِنّ وَأَخَواتُها) are accusative particles that can only be followed by a noun, attached pronouns (ضَمائِر مُتَّصِلة), demonstrative or relative (except ما or مَنْ). Thus, they necessarily introduce a nominal sentence (جُمْلة اِسْميّة).
When preceded by one of these particles:
- The subject (المُبْتَدأ) changes to an اِسْم (ism), and becomes accusative (مَنْصُوب).
- The predicate’s nominative case doesn’t change (if it is a noun or adjective).
| إِنَّ وأَخَواتُها (Inna and its sisters) | |
|---|---|
| certainly / does not translate (a matter of style or a simple syntactic device used to highlight the starting term) | إنَّ |
| that/to | أنَّ |
| as if | كَأَنَّ |
| but | لَكِنَّ |
| if only | لَيْتَ |
| maybe / perharps (probability sometimes mixed with a wish) | لَعَلَّ |
Examples:
| The sun is indeed hot | إِنَّ الشَمْسَ حارّةٌ |
| He declared to be the poet of the tribe | صَرَّحَ أَنّه شاعِرُ القَبِيلةِ |
| She slapped me as if her hand was iron | صَفَعَتْنِي كَأَنَّ يَدَها حَدِيدٌ |
| I am a student but I work | أَنا طالِبٌ وَلَكِنِّي أَعْمَلُ |
| If only we were rich | يا لَيْتَنا كُنا أَغْنياء |
| Perhaps victory is near | لَعَلَّ النَصْرَ قَريبٌ |
Note: The word لَكِنَّ is often preceded by و, while لَيْتَ is usually followed by the vocative particle يـا.
Note 2: إِنَّ can only be used meaning ‘that’ ‘to’ with only two verbs which are قالَ (to say) and أَقْسَمَ (to swear)
He said that the food was delicious قالَ لي إِنَّ الطَّعامَ لَذِيذٌ They swore to God that they’re innocent أَقْسَمُوا بِاللهِ إِنَّهُم أبرياءٌ
Note 3: أَنَّ can follow several prepositions (حُرُوف الجَرّ) to give a new meaning.
because لأَِنَّ despite مَعَ أَنَّ however عَلى أَنَّ / إِلاّ أَنَّ / غَيْرَ أَنَّ given that عِلْمًا بِأَنَّ
They (fem.) drink water because they are thirsty يَشْرَبْنَ الماءَ لأَنَّهُنَّ عَطْشاناتُ He likes his job even though his salary is low يُحِبُّ عَمَلَهُ مَعَ أَنَّ راتِبَهُ مُنْخَفِضٌ He is strong, however, he is not steadfast هُوَ قَويّ إِلا أَنّه ليس صامدًا Knowing that he is diligent, I think he will succeed, God willing. عِلمًا بأَنّهُ مُجْتَهِدًا أَظُنُّهُ سَيَنْجَحُ إنْ شاءَ الله
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