Originally posted by: RuwaydaAtH https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/32977948
So as suggested by a few people on here, we'll be doing 4 lessons on cases- today we will do an intro to cases. ^-^
Let's.....................
First, what are case endings in Arabic? They are little markings/vowels حركات Harakaat[plural of Harakah]that are attached to the ends of words to indicate the words' grammatical function. That is, if a word is the subject of a sentence, you use a case ending to indicate that; if a word is the object of a verb, you use another case ending to indicate that. So clearly, using case endings correctly requires a solid knowledge of grammar. If you're a native English speaker who hasn't studied a language with a case system, like Latin or Russian, getting used to this may be difficult but don't be easily scared off. It's okay. ^-^
Case endings are usually not written in Arabic[with one exception. We'll be talking about that soon ^-^] outside the Qur'an/ Bible[in Arabic of course ;p] and children's books. However you'll hear news reporters pronounce case endings[because they're the posh kind of people like the BBC XD] and if you wanna sound like one of the elites and speak MSA then you'll have to have a firm understanding on case endings. ^-^
So there are three cases:
nominative مرفوع marfuu3
genitive مجرور majruur
accusative منصوب manSuub
For each of these cases, there is a Harakah/vowel/little marking[call it what you wish ^-^] associated with them.
On the left is the ضمة (Damma). It resembles a tiny و, goes above the end of a word, and is pronounced as a short \"u.\" It marks words in the nominative case. In the middle is the كسرة kasra, which goes below the end of a word and is pronounced as a short \"i.\" It marks words in the genitive case. On the right is the فتحة fatHa, which goes above the end of a word and is pronounced as a short \"a.\" It marks words in the accusative case.
Note: If the word you're marking is an indefinite adjective or noun, the case marker will be nunated[nunation (Arabic: تَنوِين tanwiin) is the addition of one of three vowel diacritics (Arabic: حَرَكَات Harakaat) to a noun or adjective to indicate that the word ends in an alveolar nasal without the addition of the letter nuun]. That is, the Damma will be pronounced \"-un\" instead of \"-u,\" the kasra will be pronounced \"-in\" instead of \"-i,\" and the fatHa will be pronounced \"-an\" instead of \"-a.\" And the markings will look like this:
We'll stop there today. Tomorrow[or Sunday we'll see 
] we'll be doing the nominative case.
I actually hope this lesson made sense. If you got a question, ask. I'm open for any questions[relating to the topic of course XD].
Until next time.................................
Peace be upon you all and have great Friday/ يوم الجمعة yawm ul-jum3ah !