Lesson 12 excercise 2

Lesson 12
excercise 2 - change the pronoun in the following sentence to feminine

question 3

أ هذا الدفتر لكَ يا عليّ ؟

my answer was :-
أ هذه الدفترة لكِ يا فاطمة ؟
but my ans is incorrect why is that...since we are talkin to a feminine shld we use a feminine ismul isharaah...

whereas in question 6
أأنت مريض يا خالي ؟

The answer is
أأنتِ مريضة يا خالتي ؟
The pronoun got changed to feminine and khabar got changed to feminine too

cld some plz explain why

Give me till tonight or early tomorrow to answer insha'allah.

BTW, are you using the videos from www.lqtoronto.com to go through the series? If not, I highly recommend that you do.

I found some time here at work and so I will try to quickly answer your question (insha'allah).

naznutty wrote:Lesson 12
excercise 2 - change the pronoun in the following sentence to feminine

question 3

أ هذا الدفتر لكَ يا عليّ ؟

my answer was :-
أ هذه الدفترة لكِ يا فاطمة ؟
but my ans is incorrect why is that...since we are talkin to a feminine shld we use a feminine ismul isharaah...

As per your post, given that you were addressing a female (i.e. "Fatimah"), you reasoned that the Ismul Ishaarah and what it refers to should also become feminine, in addition to the personal pronoun. However, if you had only changed the personal pronoun " کَ " (with a fathah) to " کِ ", your answer would have been right.

naznutty wrote:
whereas in question 6
أأنت مريض يا خالي ؟

The answer is
أأنتِ مريضة يا خالتي ؟
The pronoun got changed to feminine and khabar got changed to feminine too

cld some plz explain why

I will try to provide a short answer below. If it doesn't make sense or you're still confused, perhaps someone else will step up to answer or I might write out a longer answer (though I fear that it might confuse you hence why I haven't opted to do so for now).

SHORT ANSWER:

In your second example, the gender of the Khabar changed to match the Mubtada because that is the rule, i.e. the the Mubtada and Khabar match in terms of gender. In the first example that you quoted where you answered the question incorrectly, you do not have to create this kind of agreement, or, in other words, there is no rule in Arabic that says that every element of a sentence must match the gender of the person you are addressing or talking about.

Furthermore, what determines the gender of the "Ismul Ishaarah" is the gender of what it is "pointing out." In this case, it is "pointing out" or referring to a "Daftar", which has a "gender" (in an abstract sense since a folder, truthfully speaking, is not a male or female) of male/masculine and this gender does not change! "Concrete" nouns/ISMs, like "man", "woman", "car", "food", "boat", etc. do not change. Meaning that whatever abstract "gender" is assigned to a "boat", for instance, remains its "gender" no matter who is steering it, sitting on it, etc.

So basically in this instance, the gender of the "Ismul Ishaarah" was not determined by who was being addressed in the sentence but what the Ismul Ishaarah was indicating towards, namely the "daftar." As regards the gender of "daftar" it is permanently FIXED as masculine and its being masculine is not based on any rule but is simple the "gender" that it was assigned by the earliest speakers of Arabic who happened to coin the word. Thus if you understand this, you'll understand that in the first sentence, the one that you were asked to modify, i.e.

" أ هذا الدفتر لكَ يا عليّ "

the gender of "daftar" being masculine has nothing to do with the fact that a man is being addressed in the sentence but is, again, due to the fact that the earliest speakers of Arabic who coined a word for folder/notebook happened to assign it a masculine gender.

Does this make sense?

I would also like to say that thus far, in the Madinah books, if I'm not mistaken, you've learned that "Na'ats" must agree with their "Man'oots", "Khabars" with their Mubtadas, and that there must be agreement between the Ismul Ishaarah and what it refers to, nothing else. As such, to avoid confusion, its best to refer to the rules that you've learned thus far when approaching a question.

I hope that the above made sense. If not, perhaps reading this longer answer may help (but it may confuse you as well). Either way, if you're still confused, just say so and I or someone else will, insha'allah, try to answer more clearly.

aha!

I just thought of another way to answer your question but I don't have the time to type it up as I'm at work. Perhaps you can do it on your own (until I get home later tonight)?

Look at the sentence that has confused you. Instead of the word "daftar", put the word " الغُلَامُ ", meaning "boy" in the first sentence addressed to "Ali." Then, rewrite the sentence, as per the instructions, by "change(ing) the pronoun in the following sentence to feminine." In your attempt to do that, I'm pretty sure that you'll better understand the point that I was trying to make in my previous reply to your question insha'allah.

Jazak-Allaah for ur reply

i am using the videos..when the teacher explained in the video it made sense but when i tried to do the questions on my own...it didnt make sense to me...but it makes sense now jazak-Allaah...

naznutty wrote:Jazak-Allaah for ur reply

i am using the videos..when the teacher explained in the video it made sense but when i tried to do the questions on my own...it didnt make sense to me...but it makes sense now jazak-Allaah...

I'm glad that it makes sense.

I am equally glad that you are ACTUALLY DOING QUESTIONS ON YOUR OWN! That is how it ought to be done to extract maximum benefit from the lessons. Though it might seem cliche, it is true that you learn A LOT from your own mistakes so keep doing the questions on your own in addition to following the lessons with the instructor.

May Allah make it easy for us all to learn the language of His Book and Messenger.

Wa'salaam.

as-Salaamu 'Alaykum Broithers and Sisters,

Sister nearly made me confused for a second lol Jazak-Allah Khayra Br Sunni for your answer

there is no rule in Arabic that says that every element of a sentence must match the gender

Makes much sense.