Breakdown of استلمت جهازا مرتجعا ممزقا تغليفه.
هhu
his / him (object) / it (dummy pronoun after لأن)
استلمistalama
to receive
جهازjihâz
device
ممزقmumazzaq
torn
مرتجعmurtaja
returned
تغليفtaghlîf
packaging
Questions & Answers about استلمت جهازا مرتجعا ممزقا تغليفه.
Why does تغليفه take the nominative case (ending with a damma) if it directly follows the accusative word ممزقا?
This is the syntactic governance of the passive participle in action. The word ممزقا (torn) acts grammatically like a passive verb. Just as a passive verb requires a proxy subject (نائب فاعل) in the nominative case, the passive participle ممزقا governs تغليفه (its packaging) as its proxy subject. Because the packaging is the thing that was torn, it takes the nominative case.
If تغليفه is the proxy subject, why is ممزقا in the accusative case like جهازا?
Because ممزقا is functioning as a causative adjective (نعت سببي) for the device (جهازا). In this specific Arabic structure, the adjective agrees with the preceding noun in case (here, accusative) and definiteness (indefinite), but it agrees in gender with the word that comes after it. It describes a quality of something related to the device rather than the device itself.
Why must the word تغليفه have the pronoun suffix ـه at the end?
The suffix ـه translates to "its" and refers back to the device (جهازا). In a causative adjective structure, the proxy subject following the participle must always carry a pronoun suffix that links it back to the original noun being described. This pronoun is what logically connects the torn packaging to the returned device.
Both مرتجعا (returned) and ممزقا (torn) start with a "mu-" prefix. Is this a standard pattern for passive participles?
Yes, both are passive participles (اسم مفعول) derived from advanced verb forms. For any verb beyond Form I, the passive participle is predictably formed by adding a مُـ (mu-) prefix and placing a fatha on the second-to-last root letter. مرتجع is built from the Form VIII verb ارتجع, and ممزق comes from the Form II verb مزّق.
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