The accusative case (النصب) is used for words that receive the action of a verb, serve as adverbs, or are governed by specific particles. A word in the accusative case is called منصوب. The primary marker is the فتحة (َ), with variations for special noun categories.
Accusative Case Markers
- فتحة (َ): Default for singular and broken plural nouns. Example: الكِتَابَ (the book, as object).
- الياء: For sound masculine plurals and dual nouns. Example: المُعَلِّمِينَ (the teachers, as object).
- الكسرة: For sound feminine plurals. Example: المُعَلِّمَاتِ (the female teachers, as object).
- الألف: For the five special nouns. Example: رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ (I saw his father).
When Is a Word Accusative?
- المفعول به (Direct object): قَرَأَ الطَّالِبُ الكِتَابَ (The student read the book).
- خبر إنَّ (Predicate of إنَّ and sisters): إنَّ الامْتِحَانَ سَهْلٌ — here the خبر is marfoo but the ism of inna is mansoob: الامتحانَ.
- خبر كان (Predicate of كان and sisters): كَانَ الجَوُّ جَمِيلًا (The weather was beautiful).
- الحال (State/condition): جَاءَ الوَلَدُ ضَاحِكًا (The boy came laughing).
- المفعول المطلق (Absolute object): ضَرَبَ ضَرْبًا (He hit a hitting/He hit hard).
- المفعول فيه (Adverb of time/place): سَافَرْتُ يَوْمَ الجُمُعَةِ (I traveled on Friday).
The accusative case covers a wide range of grammatical situations in Arabic, making it arguably the most versatile of the three cases. Our course covers each accusative role with dedicated lessons and plenty of practice exercises to help you internalize when the accusative is used.