Questions & Answers about هذا هو العدل.
Why is the word هو (he/it) in this sentence? Doesn't it literally mean "This he the justice"?
Yes, literally it looks like that! Here, هو acts as a "pronoun of separation". Because both هذا (this) and العدل (justice) are definite, just saying هذا العدل would form the incomplete phrase "This justice...". Inserting هو separates them and acts like the missing "is", creating the full sentence "This is justice."
Why does العدل have the definite article الـ if the English translation is just "justice" and not "the justice"?
In Arabic, abstract concepts and general ideas (like justice, peace, or beauty) must always take the definite article الـ. While English leaves it off, Arabic requires you to say "the justice" to refer to the concept as a whole.
Is العدل a verbal noun (masdar)? What verb does it come from?
Yes, العدل is a verbal noun (المصدر). It represents the concept or action itself as a noun. It comes from the basic Form I verb عَدَلَ (to act justly / to be fair). Recognizing this basic three-letter root pattern will help you spot many other Form I verbal nouns.
Since "justice" is an abstract concept, how do we know whether to use هذا or هذه?
In Arabic, every noun has a gender, even abstract concepts. العدل does not have a feminine ending (like the taa marbuuta ة), so it is treated as grammatically masculine. That is why the masculine demonstrative هذا (this) and masculine pronoun هو are used to match it.
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