A manqūṣ noun ends in a stable ي yāʾ preceded by kasra, as in the definite form القاضي “the judge.” Its final ī creates a conflict with some short case endings. In an indefinite nominative or genitive form, Arabic resolves that conflict by deleting ي in both spelling and speech: قاضٍ qāḍin.
The yāʾ returns in the indefinite accusative, with the definite article, in construct state, and before the dual suffix. A sound masculine plural follows a different rule and deletes the stem yāʾ. These alternations are grammatical; writing قاضي or قاض is not a free spelling preference.
The indefinite singular paradigm
The nominative and genitive look identical: final yāʾ is deleted and tanwīn kasr is written under the preceding consonant. The accusative keeps yāʾ and takes -an.
| Case | Form | Romanization | What happens to ي |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | قَاضٍ | qāḍin | deleted |
| accusative | قَاضِيًا | qāḍiyan | retained |
| genitive | قَاضٍ | qāḍin | deleted |
جاء قاض إلى المحكمة
jāʾa qāḍin ʾilā l-maḥkama(h)
A judge came to the court. — nominative
قابلت قاضيا جديدا
qābaltu qāḍiyan jadīdā
I met a new judge. — accusative
تحدثت مع قاض في المحكمة
taḥaddathtu maʿa qāḍin fī l-maḥkama(h)
I spoke with a judge in the court. — genitive
English spelling does not change judge according to case, so the deletion feels lexical at first. It is predictable once three questions are answered: Is the noun indefinite? Is it non-construct? Is its case nominative or genitive? Only when all three answers are yes does the yāʾ disappear.
Definiteness restores yāʾ
With الـ, the yāʾ remains in all three cases. Nominative and genitive case vowels are estimated because adding them after ī is phonologically difficult; accusative fatḥa is overt on the yāʾ in a fully inflected reading.
جاء القاضي
jāʾa l-qāḍī
The judge came. — nominative with retained yāʾ
قابلت القاضي
qābaltu l-qāḍiya
I met the judge. — overt accusative fatḥa
تحدثت مع القاضي
taḥaddathtu maʿa l-qāḍī
I spoke with the judge. — genitive is estimated
The target القاضي is identical in ordinary writing, but the accusative can be audible as -iya in iʿrāb-rich delivery. At natural pause it returns to -ī.
Construct state also restores yāʾ
A manqūṣ noun that is the first term of iḍāfa keeps its yāʾ because it is no longer an indefinite, free-standing form. Attached possessive suffixes create construct state too.
وصل قاضي المحكمة
waṣala qāḍī l-maḥkama(h)
The court judge arrived.
قابلت قاضي المحكمة
qābaltu qāḍiya l-maḥkama(h)
I met the court judge.
هذا قاضيها الجديد
hādhā qāḍīhā l-jadīd
This is its new judge.
In the first and third examples, nominative case is estimated; in the second, accusative -a is pronounced before the following article.
Pause preserves the spelling contrast
An indefinite nominative/genitive form that has already lost yāʾ normally pauses without restoring it: قاضٍ qāḍin becomes pausal قاضْ qāḍ. A definite or construct form retains long ī in pause.
هذا قاض
hādhā qāḍ
This is a judge. — indefinite pause
هذا هو القاضي
hādhā huwa l-qāḍī
This is the judge. — definite pause retains ī
This differs from a maqṣūr noun, whose final ى spells long ā and does not alternate by simple yāʾ deletion.
Dual and plural forms
The dual restores yāʾ before -āni/-ayni. The common occupational broken plural of قاضٍ is قضاة, but the accepted sound masculine forms قاضون qāḍūna and قاضين qāḍīna also occur. In those sound forms, the stem yāʾ is deleted; the visible yāʾ of قاضين belongs to the plural ending. Other manqūṣ forms select their own plural patterns.
قاض، قاضيان، قضاة
qāḍ, qāḍiyān, quḍāh
judge, two judges, judges
وصل قاضيان جديدان
waṣala qāḍiyāni jadīdān
Two new judges arrived.
The plural قضاة is human and masculine in reference, so it takes masculine plural agreement:
القضاة الجدد حاضرون
al-quḍātu l-jududu ḥāḍirūn
The new judges are present.
Manqūṣ forms also occur as nonhuman broken plurals. مبانٍ “buildings,” the plural of مبنى, deletes yāʾ when indefinite nominative or genitive and restores it in definite المباني.
ظهرت مبان جديدة
ẓaharat mabānin jadīda(h)
New buildings appeared.
المباني الجديدة مرتفعة
al-mabānī l-jadīdatu murtafiʿa(h)
The new buildings are tall.
The plural noun's manqūṣ morphology determines whether yāʾ appears. Its nonhuman reference independently triggers feminine singular الجديدة، مرتفعة.
Gender is lexical
The final ي of a definite manqūṣ form is not a gender marker. القاضي and الوادي are masculine. A female judge is قاضية, with tāʾ marbūṭa, while feminine gender can also occur elsewhere in the vocabulary. Learn gender from the lexeme and its agreement, not from the presence or absence of yāʾ.
A contemporary informational sentence
عينت الوزارة قاضيا جديدا في محكمة المدينة
ʿayyanati l-wizāratu qāḍiyan jadīdan fī maḥkamati l-madīna(h)
The ministry appointed a new judge in the city court.
The indefinite accusative قاضيًا retains yāʾ and is followed by matching جديدًا. Construct محكمة المدينة exposes the t of tāʾ marbūṭa.
Common Mistakes
Keeping ي in an indefinite nominative
❌ جاء قاضي
Incorrect spelling in fully inflected MSA — indefinite nominative requires deletion of ي.
✅ جاء قاض
jāʾa qāḍin
A judge came.
Guessing feminine gender from final ي
❌ هذه قاض
Incorrect — the unmarked noun قاض refers to a male judge and is masculine.
✅ هذا قاض
hādhā qāḍ
This is a male judge.
Regularizing the lexical plural
❌ قاضيون
Incorrect sound-plural formation — the stem yāʾ must be deleted.
✅ قاضون، قضاة
qāḍūn, quḍāh
judges — accepted sound and common broken plurals
Combining two with a plural noun
❌ اثنان قضاة
Incorrect basic expression — use the dual form.
✅ قاضيان
qāḍiyān
two judges
Giving a nonhuman plural full plural agreement
❌ المباني مرتفعات
Incorrect — nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular agreement.
✅ المباني مرتفعة
al-mabānī murtafiʿa(h)
The buildings are tall.
Key Takeaways
- Indefinite nominative and genitive manqūṣ nouns delete final ي and use tanwīn kasr: قاضٍ.
- Indefinite accusative, definite state, construct state, and the dual restore ي; a sound masculine plural deletes the stem yāʾ.
- In pause, indefinite قاضٍ becomes qāḍ, while definite القاضي retains qāḍī.
- Dual formation is predictable, but plural class, gender, and human-versus-nonhuman agreement remain independent lexical or syntactic properties.
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