Learn Arabic Cases

رَفْع (Rafʿ) – نَصْب (Nasb) – جَرّ (Jarr)

1. What are Rafʿ, Nasb, and Jarr?

In Arabic, nouns and adjectives change their ending according to their case. The main three are:

  • رَفْع (Rafʿ): usually the subject of the sentence or what is doing the action.
  • نَصْب (Nasb): often the object, words after certain particles, or adverbs.
  • جَرّ (Jarr): after prepositions (حروف الجرّ) and as the second part of an iḍāfa (construct phrase).

2. Main Signs of Each Case (for simple nouns)

رَفْع (Rafʿ)
  • Singular: مُفْرَد – usually ends with ـُ / ـٌ (ḍamma or ḍammatān).
  • Dual: مُثَنّى – ends with ـانِ / ـَيْنِ, rafʿ uses ـانِ (e.g. مُسْلِمانِ).
  • Sound masculine plural: ends with ـونَ (e.g. مُسْلِمُونَ).
نَصْب (Nasb)
  • Singular: usually ends with ـَ / ـً (fatḥa or fatḥatān).
  • Dual: uses ـيْنِ (مُسْلِمَيْنِ).
  • Sound masculine plural: uses ـينَ (مُسْلِمِينَ).
جَرّ (Jarr)
  • Singular: usually ends with ـِ / ـٍ (kasra or kasratān).
  • Dual: uses ـيْنِ (same as nasb for dual).
  • Sound masculine plural: uses ـينَ (same as nasb for plural).
Remember:
  • Cases show the job of the word in the sentence.
  • Same root word can appear as marfūʿ, manṣūb or majrūr depending on grammar.
  • This page focuses on simple, clear examples to build intuition.

3. Common Nasb Particles (حروف النصب)

These often cause the verb after them to be manṣūb, but here we show them just so you recognise the idea of “nasb-causing” particles.

Particle Transliteration Meaning / Use Example (Arabic)
إِنَّ inna “Indeed / truly” إِنَّ اللهَ غَفُورٌ
أَنَّ anna “that …” (statement) عَلِمْتُ أَنَّ الْحَقَّ ظاهِرٌ
لَنْ lan “will not” لَنْ أَذْهَبَ
كَيْ / لِكَيْ kay / likay “so that / in order to” أَدْرُسُ لِكَيْ أَنْجَحَ

4. Common Prepositions (حروف الجرّ)

These make the noun after them majrūr (جَرّ).

Preposition Transliteration Meaning Example
فِي fī in فِي الْبَيْتِ (in the house)
مِنْ min from مِنَ الْمَدْرَسَةِ (from the school)
إِلَى ilā to / towards إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ (to the mosque)
عَلَى ʿalā on / upon عَلَى الْكُرْسِيِّ (on the chair)
بِـ bi- by / with بِالْقَلَمِ (with the pen)

5. Examples Table (Click to learn)

Click on any row to highlight it and see a short explanation under the table.

Arabic Transliteration Meaning Case Usage
Tip: Click any row to see details here.