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Idafa

An idafa consists of at least two nouns drawn together into a relation of possession or affiliation. To understand the idafa, one should think of such English constructions as:

the history professor أسْتاذُ التَّاريخِ

the company manager مُديرُ الشَّرِكَةِ

the office of the secretary مكْتَبُ السِّكْرِتيرِ

There are four basic points to remember about the idafa:

1. Only the final noun of the idafa string can take the definite article (أَلْ) or a possessive pronoun suffix (يَ , كَ , كِ , ها, etc). The first noun of the idafa (ألْمُضافُ) is always definite by virtue of its relation to the second noun (ألْمُضافُ إلَيْهِ):

   ألْمُضافُ إلَيْه	ألْمُضافُ	Noun II, Noun I
   الشَّرِكَةِ	مُديرُ	the company director
   الْمَكْتَبِ	رَئيسُ	the office manager
   أسْتاذُ	التاريخِ	the history professor

2. The final noun of the idafa may or may not take a definite article or a possessive pronoun, thus making the whole construction either definite or indefinite, as follows:

   ألْمُضافُ إلَيْه	ألْمُضافُ	Noun II, Noun I
   شَرِكَةٍ	مُديرُ	a company director
   مَكْتَبٍ	رَئيسُ	an office manager
   تاريخٍ	أسْتاذ	a history professor
   أسْتاذٍ	سَيّارةُ	a professor's car
   الأسْتاذِ	سَيّارَةُ	the professor's car
   أسْتاذي	سَيّارَةُ	my professor's car

3. The idafa becomes more complex when it indicates a relationship among three nouns. It is then like the English expression 'the friend of my sister's husband'. In such a case, all non-final nouns act like the first noun, and can never take the definite article.

   Examples:

   3	2	1	Noun III, Noun II, Noun I
   إبْنُ	عَمِّ	الأسْتاذِ	the professor's uncle's son
   سَيّارةُ	أسْتاذِ	التاريخِ	history professor's car
   أَخي	زَوْجَةِ	صَديقَةُ	my brother's wife's friend

4. An idafa may be followed by an adjective or two to modify any of the nouns in the idafa.

   Examples:

   صِفَةُ	ألْمُضافُ إلَيْهِ	ألْمُضافُ	Adjective, Noun II, Noun I
   الْجَديدِ	التاريخِ	أسْتاذُ	The new history professor
   الْجَديدَةُ	الْقِسْمِ	مَديرَةُ	The new chairwomen of the department
   اللَّطيفُ	أَخي	صَديقُ	My brother's nice friend OR
   اللَّطيفِ	أَخي	صَديقُ	My nice brother's friend

   In the last example, the relationship between the adjective and the two nouns of the idafa is ambiguous. The adjective could be modifying either noun, as demonstrated above. Case endings, gender agreement, and context help speakers deal with such ambiguity.

   The second or last noun in the idafa string (الْمُضافُ إلَيْهِ) must always be in the genitive case, as shown in the above examples. The first noun (الْمُضافُ) may be in any case, depending on the grammatical function of the whole idafa construction in the sentence.

See also:

• Nouns and Adjectives
• Subject and Predicate