Possessive Construction (Idafa)
Possessive construction linking two nouns
I can form possessive constructions using Idafa
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
كِتابُ الطّالِبِ
The student's book
بابُ البَيتِ
The door of the house
مُدَرِّسُ اللُّغَةِ العَرَبِيَّةِ
The Arabic language teacher
غُرفَةُ نَومٍ
A bedroom
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
الإضافة (Idafa — Possessive Construction)
Idafa joins two nouns to show possession. The first noun (مُضاف) loses its ال and tanwin. The second noun (مُضاف إليه) takes مجرور (genitive) case.
Pattern: noun₁ (no ال) + noun₂ → "noun₁ of noun₂"
كِتابُ الطّالِبِ = the student's book. Note: كتاب has NO ال here. Adding ال to the first noun breaks the Idafa.
Chain Idafa: بابُ بيتِ المُدَرِّسِ = the teacher's house's door (3-noun chain).
Common Error Patterns
Adding ال to the first noun of Idafa
The مُضاف never takes ال: كتاب الطالب (not الكتاب الطالب)
Reversing the noun order in Idafa
Possessed noun comes first: كتاب الطالب = student's book
كِتابُ الطّالِبِ
The student's book
kitābu ṭ-ṭālibi — كتاب has no ال because it's the مُضاف.
بابُ البَيتِ
The door of the house
bābu l-bayti — two-noun Idafa: door + the-house.
مُدَرِّسُ اللُّغَةِ العَرَبِيَّةِ
The Arabic language teacher
mudarrisu l-luġati l-ʿarabiyyati — chain Idafa with adjective on last noun.
غُرفَةُ نَومٍ
A bedroom
ġurfatu nawmin — indefinite Idafa (no ال on either noun, tanwin on second).
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises