Understand Quran and Reflect › Lesson 1

Lesson 1: Three Kinds of Words

Every word in the Qur’an belongs to one of three families: ism, fi’l or harf. An ism names something (a person, place, thing, idea or quality, and also pronouns and words for when or where) and has no tense. A fi’l is a verb: it has a tense, past, present or future, and in Arabic the doer is built into the word, so na‘budu alone means “we worship”. A harf is a particle that is incomplete until an ism or a fi’l comes after it, like inna (indeed), illā (except) or lam (did not). Of the 29 words of Surah Al-Fatihah, four are a fi’l.

A free interactive lesson of about 25 minutes, built around Al-Fatihah 1:2. Learn in English, Bengali or Hindi.

What You Will Learn

• Name the three kinds of words: ism, fi’l and harf
• Use two quick tests to tell them apart
• Label every one of the 29 words of Al-Fatihah

Lesson Steps

1. Meet the Three Families: Tap each one. Every word you will ever read in the Qur’an is one of these.
2. Where Is the Doer?: English names the doer with a separate word. Arabic packs the doer into the fi’l itself. Tap to find it.
3. Warm Up in English: The three families exist in English too. Pick each word, give it a family, then check.
4. Explore Al-Fatihah Word by Word: Tap “Show Word Families” to colour every word by its family. Tap any word to see its parts, its root and its grammar, and to hear it.
5. Word Sort: Words from the Qur’an fly in. Send each one to its family. Three in a row starts a streak bonus.
6. Why It Matters: Praise Without a Clock: Grammar is not just labels. Here is what one label shows us.
7. Words You Now Own: Ten words from this lesson that come back again and again across the Qur’an. Tap a card to reveal its meaning.
8. Check Yourself: Seven quick questions. Each answer comes with a short explanation.
9. Lesson Complete

High-Frequency Words in This Lesson

• Lord (rabb): 970 times in the Qur'an
• Day (yawm): 393 times in the Qur'an
• Religion; judgement (dīn): 92 times in the Qur'an
• Compassionate (raḥmān): 57 times in the Qur'an
• Praise (ḥamd): 43 times in the Qur'an

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three kinds of words in Arabic?

Ism, fi’l and harf. An ism names a person, place, thing, idea or quality, and includes pronouns and words for when or where. A fi’l is a verb with a tense. A harf is a particle that only makes sense with the word after it. Every word of the Qur’an is one of these three.

What is an ism in Arabic grammar?

An ism is any word that names something and has no tense: a name like Allah, a thing like yawm (day), a quality like ar-raḥmān (the Compassionate), an idea like al-ḥamd (praise), and also pronouns and adverbs of time or place. It is wider than the English noun, because Arabic adjectives, pronouns and adverbs are ism too.

What is a fi’l in Arabic?

A fi’l is a verb: a word tied to a time, past, present or future. In Arabic the doer is part of the word itself. Na‘budu in Al-Fatihah 1:5 means “we worship”: the “we” is the letter at its start, so no separate word is needed.

What is a harf in Arabic?

A harf is a particle that is incomplete on its own and needs an ism or a fi’l after it, like “from”, “in” or “indeed” in English. Many harfs are a single letter joined to the next word, such as bi (in, with) at the start of Bismillah.

How do you tell ism, fi’l and harf apart?

Ask two questions. Does it have a tense? Put “I” in front of its meaning: if “I came” makes sense, it is a fi’l. Is it unfinished on its own, like “I came from…”? Then it is a harf. If it is neither, it is an ism, which makes ism the easiest family to spot.

How many verbs are in Surah Al-Fatihah?

Four of its 29 words are a fi’l: na‘budu (we worship) and nasta‘īn (we ask for help) in 1:5, ihdinā (guide us) in 1:6, and an‘amta (You blessed) in 1:7. Almost all the rest are ism, with a few harfs.

Why does Al-Fatihah begin with al-ḥamdu, an ism?

The surah could have opened with a fi’l like “I praise” or “we praised”, but a fi’l is tied to a time. Al-ḥamdu is an ism, which has no tense, so the praise is not stuck in any moment: it belongs to Allah always. The “al-” at its start makes it all praise, of every kind.

Sources

Ayahs, word meanings and audio: quran.com (King Fahd Complex text). Word parts, roots and grammar: Quranic Arabic Corpus.

Next: Lesson 2, Status, Number & Gender. See all 18 lessons · QAWE Arabic Course · Quran Tafsir