The causal adjective, النعت السببي, is a compact construction of formal Arabic. It describes a noun indirectly by attributing a property to something associated with that noun: الموظف المجتهد أخوه means “the employee whose brother is diligent.” The employee is the antecedent being identified, but the brother is the person who is actually diligent.
Its signature is split agreement. The adjective takes case and definiteness from the antecedent that precedes it, but takes gender from the raised noun that follows it. It is normally singular, while that following noun is nominative and normally carries a pronoun suffix that resumes the antecedent. Ordinary direct adjective agreement is introduced on Adjective Agreement; the split described here is deliberately different.
Direct, causal, and relative descriptions
Compare a direct adjective with a causal one. In the first sentence, المجتهدة describes الموظفة itself and therefore matches it directly. In the second, masculine المجتهد describes the following masculine noun أخوها, while the suffix ـها connects that brother back to the employee.
قابلت الموظفة المجتهدة بعد الاجتماع.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafata l-mujtahidata baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.
I met the diligent employee after the meeting. (The employee is diligent.)
قابلت الموظفة المجتهد أخوها بعد الاجتماع.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafata l-mujtahida ʾakhūhā baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.
I met the employee whose brother is diligent after the meeting. (Her brother is diligent.)
The same causal meaning can be expanded as a relative clause. This is often clearer in contemporary administrative and journalistic prose, especially when the compact construction would make the reader pause.
قابلت الموظفة التي يجتهد أخوها في عمله بعد الاجتماع.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafata llatī yajtahidu ʾakhūhā fī ʿamalihi baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.
I met the employee whose brother works diligently after the meeting.
The causal adjective is (formal) and can sound elevated or (literary) when heavily stacked. The relative clause is not less grammatical; it is usually the more transparent contemporary option. Use the compact pattern when its agreement relations remain easy to recover.
The two directions of agreement
The construction can be represented as three linked pieces:
| Piece | Its job | What it controls or receives |
|---|---|---|
| antecedent: الْمُوَظَّفَةَ | the entity being described | gives the adjective accusative case and definiteness |
| causal adjective: الْمُجْتَهِدَ | the property | stays singular; takes masculine gender from the next noun |
| raised noun: أَخُوهَا | the adjective's semantic subject | is nominative; ـهَا resumes the antecedent |
This explains an otherwise surprising gender contrast. A masculine antecedent can be followed by a feminine causal adjective when the following subject is feminine.
وصل المهندس الجديدة سيارته إلى الموقع مبكرا.
waṣala l-muhandisu l-jadīdatu sayyāratuhu ʾilā l-mawqiʿi mubakkiran.
The engineer whose car is new arrived at the site early.
Here الجديدة is nominative and definite because المهندس is nominative and definite. Its feminine gender comes from سيارة, and سيارتُه remains nominative because it is what is new.
The reverse is equally possible:
وصلت المهندسة الجديد حاسوبها إلى المكتب.
waṣalati l-muhandisatu l-jadīdu ḥāsūbuhā ʾilā l-maktab.
The engineer whose computer is new arrived at the office.
Masculine الجديد points forward to حاسوبها, not backward to feminine المهندسة.
Case points backward; the raised noun stays nominative
The following set holds the vocabulary constant. Only the antecedent's role changes. Full endings are pronounced here because case is the point being demonstrated.
حضر الموظف المجتهد أخوه.
ḥaḍara l-muwaẓẓafu l-mujtahidu ʾakhūhu.
The employee whose brother is diligent attended. (Nominative antecedent and adjective; nominative raised noun.)
قابلت الموظف المجتهد أخوه.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafa l-mujtahida ʾakhūhu.
I met the employee whose brother is diligent. (Accusative antecedent and adjective; raised noun still nominative.)
تحدثت مع الموظف المجتهد أخوه.
taḥaddathtu maʿa l-muwaẓẓafi l-mujtahidi ʾakhūhu.
I spoke with the employee whose brother is diligent. (Genitive antecedent and adjective; raised noun still nominative.)
English has no adjective ending corresponding to this three-way contrast. In unvocalized Arabic, الموظف المجتهد أخوه looks the same in all three examples, so syntax must recover the case: subject position, direct-object position, or position after مع. The adjective copies that case. It does not take nominative merely because its own semantic subject follows.
The raised noun behaves differently. أخوه is not a second adjective or a genitive noun dependent on المجتهد. It is the raised grammatical element that supplies the adjective's semantic subject, so it is nominative in all three sentences.
Singularity and plural antecedents
An ordinary direct adjective normally reflects the number of a human plural. A causal adjective is normally singular, because its number does not copy the antecedent. In this example the antecedent الموظفين is plural, but singular masculine المجتهد agrees in gender with singular مديرهم.
قابلت الموظفين المجتهد مديرهم في تطوير نظام العمل.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafīna l-mujtahida mudīruhum fī taṭwīri niẓāmi l-ʿamal.
I met the employees whose manager is diligent in improving the work system.
The number contrast is visible in a direct counterpart:
قابلت الموظفين المجتهدين في تطوير نظام العمل.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafīna l-mujtahidīna fī taṭwīri niẓāmi l-ʿamal.
I met the employees who are diligent in improving the work system.
Do not confuse this singularity with the feminine-singular agreement of nonhuman plurals. The next pair separates them. Direct الموثوقة is feminine singular because التقارير is a nonhuman plural. Causal masculine الموثوق instead takes gender from مصدرها “their source.”
راجعت التقارير الموثوقة قبل نشر النتائج.
rājaʿtu t-taqārīra l-mawthūqata qabla nashri n-natāʾij.
I reviewed the reliable reports before publishing the results. (The reports are reliable.)
راجعت التقارير الموثوق مصدرها قبل نشر النتائج.
rājaʿtu t-taqārīra l-mawthūqa maṣdaruhā qabla nashri n-natāʾij.
I reviewed the reports whose source is reliable before publishing the results.
The relative rewrite التقارير التي كان مصدرها موثوقا is generally easier to process in current prose:
راجعت التقارير التي كان مصدرها موثوقا قبل نشر النتائج.
rājaʿtu t-taqārīra llatī kāna maṣdaruhā mawthūqan qabla nashri n-natāʾij.
I reviewed the reports whose source was reliable before publishing the results.
A nonhuman plural can also be the following controller. Direct masculine الواضح describes singular masculine البحث itself. In the causal version, feminine-singular الواضحة points forward to nonhuman plural نتائجه, while remaining accusative and definite like البحث.
قرأت البحث الواضح قبل الاجتماع.
qaraʾtu l-baḥtha l-wāḍiḥa qabla l-ijtimāʿ.
I read the clear study before the meeting. (The study itself is clear.)
قرأت البحث الواضحة نتائجه قبل الاجتماع.
qaraʾtu l-baḥtha l-wāḍiḥata natāʾijuhu qabla l-ijtimāʿ.
I read the study whose results are clear before the meeting.
The resumptive suffix closes the relationship
The suffix on أخوه، سيارتها، مصدرها، مديرهم identifies whose relative, property, or part is being described. With a human or rational antecedent, it follows that antecedent's ordinary gender and number: ـه “his,” ـها “her,” and ـهم “their” in the examples above. A nonhuman plural is normally resumed by feminine-singular ـها, as in التقارير الموثوق مصدرها. Without that resumptive link, the following noun may look like unrelated new information.
The relation is not limited to kinship or ownership. Body parts, qualities, management, results, and other salient associations can participate, provided the meaning is natural. Still, Arabic does not promise that every English “with a …” phrase will sound elegant as a causal adjective. Lexical choice and processing weight matter.
Common Mistakes
Copying full direct agreement from a plural antecedent
❌ قابلت الموظفين المجتهدين مديرهم.
Incorrect for the causal reading — the adjective is normally singular; plural المجتهدين instead looks like a direct adjective describing the employees.
✅ قابلت الموظفين المجتهد مديرهم.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafīna l-mujtahida mudīruhum.
I met the employees whose manager is diligent.
Making the following noun genitive from adjacency
❌ قابلت الموظف المجتهد أخيه.
Incorrect — أخوه is the adjective's raised subject and must be nominative, not genitive.
✅ قابلت الموظف المجتهد أخوه عند المدخل.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafa l-mujtahida ʾakhūhu ʿinda l-madkhal.
I met the employee whose brother is diligent at the entrance.
Omitting the resumptive suffix
❌ حضرت الموظفة المجتهد أخو.
Incorrect — the following noun needs a resumptive suffix connecting the brother to the employee.
✅ وصلت الموظفة المجتهد أخوها قبل الظهر.
waṣalati l-muwaẓẓafatu l-mujtahidu ʾakhūhā qabla ẓ-ẓuhr.
The employee whose brother is diligent arrived before noon.
Copying English premodifier order
❌ المجتهد أخوها الموظفة حضرت.
Incorrect — Arabic places the antecedent first, then the causal adjective, then its raised noun.
✅ حضرت الموظفة المجتهد أخوها.
ḥaḍarati l-muwaẓẓafatu l-mujtahidu ʾakhūhā.
The employee whose brother is diligent attended.
Using an opaque elevated construction where clarity matters
❌ اعتمدنا الخطة المتشعبة تفاصيلها والمتعددة مراحلها.
Grammatically styled but needlessly dense for a contemporary operational notice; two causal adjectives overload the phrase.
✅ اعتمدنا الخطة التي تتشعب تفاصيلها وتتعدد مراحلها.
ʾiʿtamadnā l-khuṭṭata llatī tatashaʿʿabu tafāṣīluhā wa-tataʿaddadu marāḥiluhā.
We adopted the plan whose details branch out and whose stages are numerous.
Key Takeaways
- A direct adjective describes its antecedent; a causal adjective describes a following noun related to that antecedent.
- The causal adjective takes case and definiteness from the antecedent, normally stays singular, and takes gender from the following raised noun.
- The following noun is nominative and normally contains a pronoun suffix that resumes the antecedent.
- A plural or nonhuman-plural antecedent does not override the split-agreement diagnostic.
- The construction is formal and compact; a relative clause is often the clearest contemporary rewrite.
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