Passive Participle Governance (عمل اسم المفعول)
In Arabic, passive participles (اسم المفعول) describe the recipient of an action, such as "used", "guaranteed", or "cracked".
Just as active participles behave syntactically like active verbs, passive participles behave like passive verbs. Since a passive verb takes a "proxy subject" (نائب فاعل) rather than a standard subject or direct object, any noun governed by a passive participle takes the nominative case.
This structure is highly practical when reviewing products and describing the condition of their specific components, translating to phrases like "a device whose packaging is torn." Notice how the passive participle ممزقا (torn) governs the proxy subject تغليف (packaging), which takes the nominative case ending.
| I received a returned device whose packaging is torn. | استلمت جهازا مرتجعا ممزقا تغليفه.istalamtu jihâzan murtaja'an mumazzaqan taghlîfuhu. |
Adjective Agreement with a Proxy Subject
When a passive participle is used as an adjective to describe a component or feature of an item, it follows a specific pattern of agreement:
- It matches the preceding noun (the main item) in case and definiteness.
- It matches the proxy subject (the component) in gender.
- The proxy subject takes the nominative case and attaches a suffix pronoun pointing back to the main item.
In the following example, the passive participle مشقوقة (cracked) is feminine because it matches the gender of its proxy subject شاشة (screen).
| I read a review about a computer whose screen is cracked. | قرأت تقييما عن حاسوب مشقوقة شاشته.qara'tu taqyîman 'an hâsûbin mashqûqatin shâshatuhu |
Conversely, if the main item is feminine but the component is masculine, the passive participle will be masculine. Here, مضمون (guaranteed) is masculine to match the nominative proxy subject محرك (engine).
| The customer said that the used car's engine is guaranteed. | قال الزبون إن السيارة المستعملة مضمون محركها.qâla az-zabûnu inna as-sayyârata al-musta'malata madmûnun muharrikuhâ |
This governance pattern remains consistent even when dealing with plural nouns, different case endings for the main noun, or definite articles.
| The engineers rejected the machines whose engines are broken. | رفض المهندسون الآلات المكسورة محركاتها.rafada al-muhandisoona al-âlâti al-maksoorata muharrikâtuhâ |
| The user can get a refund if the product's packaging is opened. | يمكن للمستخدمة استرجاع المال إذا كان المنتج مفتوحا تغليفه.yumkinu lilmustakhdimati istirjâu almâli idhâ kâna almuntaju maftûhan taghlîfuhu |
Seeing the endings
This course writes Arabic the way books and newspapers print it, without the short-vowel marks, so the ending this lesson is about is usually something you hear in the audio but cannot see in the drills. Here are some of them with every vowel written out:
| as written | fully vocalized | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| استلمت جهازا مرتجعا ممزقا تغليفه. | اِسْتَلَمْتُ جِهَازًا مُرْتَجَعًا مُمَزَّقًا تَغْلِيفُهُ. | I received a returned device whose packaging is torn. |
| قرأت تقييما عن حاسوب مشقوقة شاشته. | قَرَأْتُ تَقْيِيمًا عَنْ حَاسُوبٍ مَشْقُوقَةٍ شَاشَتُهُ. | I read a review about a computer whose screen is cracked. |
| حصلت هذه الزبونة على تعويض عن حاسوب مشقوق غطاؤه. | حَصَلَتْ هَذِهِ الزَّبُونَةُ عَلَى تَعْوِيضٍ عَنْ حَاسُوبٍ مَشْقُوقٍ غِطَاؤُهُ. | This customer got compensation for a computer whose cover is cracked. |
The participle copies the case of the noun before it: مُمَزَّقًا after the object جِهَازًا, مَشْقُوقَةٍ and مَشْقُوقٍ after عَنْ حَاسُوبٍ. The noun after it is always nominative: تَغْلِيفُهُ, شَاشَتُهُ. Usually you only hear that damma, but in غِطَاؤُهُ you can see it: the hamza is written on a و.
