Examples of Al-Mafʿul bih
daraba al-muʿallim-u al-tilmidh-a
— The teacher struck the pupil.
qasad-tu al-nahr-a
— I headed for the river.
akrama al-ustadh-u al-talabat-a
— The professor honored the students.
We notice that these sentences consist of a verb and a subject, with a noun added that indicates the one upon whom the subject's action fell.
Al-tilmidh is the one struck in the first sentence; al-nahr is the one headed for in the second; al-talaba are those honored in the third.
Thus the noun in a verbal sentence that conveys this meaning is called al-mafʿul bih (the direct object).
Iʿrab of Al-Mafʿul bih
Al-mafʿul bih is always in the accusative case (mansub). Its accusative marker is as follows:
1 — The manifest fatha — when the direct object ends in a sound consonant, or has a final weak letter waw or yaʾ. E.g.:
daraba al-muʿallim-u al-tilmidh-a
— The teacher struck the pupil.
daraba: a past-tense verb fixed on the manifest fatha at its end. al-muʿallim: the subject (faʿil) in the nominative, marked by the manifest damma at its end. al-tilmidh: the direct object in the accusative, marked by the manifest fatha at its end.
raʾay-tu al-muhamiy-a
— I saw the lawyer.
raʾaytu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is a connected pronoun fixed on damma, in the position of nominative as the subject. al-muhami: the direct object in the accusative, marked by the manifest fatha at its end.
2 — An estimated fatha (because of taʿadhdhur) — when the direct object's final letter is alif. E.g.:
saʿad-tu al-fata
— I helped the youth.
saʿadtu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is a connected pronoun fixed on damma, in the position of nominative as the subject. al-fata: the direct object in the accusative, marked by an estimated fatha on the alif maqsura, prevented from appearing because of taʿadhdhur.
3 — Al-mafʿul bih takes the accusative with yaʾ + nun in the dual and the sound masculine plural. E.g.:
lamah-tu ʿusfurayn
— I caught a glimpse of two sparrows. (dual)
lamahtu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is the subject. ʿusfurayn: the direct object in the accusative, marked by yaʾ + nun because it is dual.
ihtaram-tu al-qadiyin
— I respected the judges. (plural)
ihtaramtu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is the subject. al-qadiyin: the direct object in the accusative, marked by yaʾ because it is a sound masculine plural.
4 — Al-mafʿul bih takes the accusative with alif in the Five Nouns. E.g.:
ahbab-tu akha-ka
— I loved your brother.
ahbabtu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is the subject. akha-ka: the direct object in the accusative, marked by alif because it is one of the Five Nouns; the kaf is a connected pronoun fixed on fatha, in the position of genitive as a mudaf ilayh.
5 — Al-mafʿul bih takes the accusative with kasra in the sound feminine plural. E.g.:
raʾay-tu talibat-in
— I saw [some] female students.
raʾaytu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is the subject. talibat: the direct object in the accusative, marked by kasra because it is a sound feminine plural.
Types of Al-Mafʿul bih
Al-mafʿul bih is of two kinds:
1 — An inflected (muʿrab) noun — and it can only be manifest, e.g.:
akala al-qitt-u al-faʾr-a
— The cat ate the mouse.
2 — An indeclinable (mabni) noun — appearing as either a separate or a connected pronoun, e.g.:
al-muʿallim-u nasaha-ni
— The teacher counseled me.
Here al-mafʿul bih is a connected pronoun — the speaker's yaʾ in 'nasaha-ni'.
— "You alone we worship." (iyya-ka naʿbud) — Quran 1:5 (Sahih International)
Here al-mafʿul bih is a separate pronoun — 'iyya-ka' ('You alone').
Al-mafʿul bih may be a demonstrative pronoun, e.g.:
darab-tu hadha al-ghulam-a
— I struck this boy.
Al-mafʿul bih may be a relative pronoun, e.g.:
akram-tu alladhi zara-ni
— I honored the one who visited me.
Al-mafʿul bih may be an interpreted infinitive (masdar muʾawwal — formed from 'an + verb' or 'anna + nominal sentence'), e.g.:
talab-tu min al-tilmidh-i an yurajiʿa duruswa-hu
— I asked the pupil to review his lessons.
ʿalim-tu anna-ka mujtahid-un
— I knew that you are diligent.
Al-mafʿul bih may be a prepositional phrase, e.g.:
amsak-tu bi-yad-i-ka
— I held your hand. (lit. 'I grasped by your hand')
Exercises on Al-Mafʿul bih
qaraʾ-tu al-kitab-a
— I read the book.
qaraʾtu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is a connected pronoun fixed on damma, in the position of nominative as the subject. al-kitab: the direct object in the accusative, marked by the manifest fatha at its end.
What if we said: qaraʾtu al-kitab-u?
Not permissible — because al-mafʿul bih is always in the accusative.
iyya-huma akram-tu
— Those two I honored.
iyya-huma: 'iyya' is a separate pronoun fixed on sukun, in the position of accusative as the direct object; 'huma' is a particle indicating the dual. akramtu: a past-tense verb fixed on sukun; the taʾ is a connected pronoun fixed on damma, in the position of nominative as the subject.
iyya-ki aʿni
— You [fem.] I mean.
iyya-ki: 'iyya' is a separate pronoun fixed on sukun, in the position of accusative as the direct object; the kaf is a particle indicating feminine address. aʿni: a present-tense verb in the nominative, marked by an estimated damma on the yaʾ, prevented from appearing because of phonetic heaviness; the subject is an obligatorily concealed pronoun, implied as 'anti' ('you — fem.').