Lesson 40: The Echo | Fusha Path

Step 1 of 5: Learn

Lesson 39 gave you إِنَّ before a noun. In speech the particle is far more often followed by a pronoun: indeed you, because he, that she. This lesson shows those forms and adds three high-frequency words: إِلَّا, ظَنَّ and جَاءَ. Learn them well; you will meet them in every story from now on.

Rule 1: 1. إِلَّا 'except', and لَا … إِلَّا 'only'

إِلَّا means except. Its most useful pattern is after a negative verb, where not … except amounts to English only: مَا سَمِعْتُ إِلَّا صَوْتًا I heard only a voice. The perfect is negated with مَا, the imperfect with لَا. The noun after إِلَّا takes the case it would have had without the negative, here the accusative of the object.

مَا رَأَيْتُ فِي الْجِبَالِ إِلَّا الصُّخُورَ.
mā raʾaytu fi-l-jibāli illa-ṣ-ṣukhūra
I saw nothing in the mountains except the rocks.
لَا يَسْمَعُ الْوَلَدُ إِلَّا صَدَى صَوْتِهِ.
lā yasmaʿu-l-waladu illā ṣadā ṣawtihi
The boy hears only the echo of his voice.
مَا جَاءَ إِلَّا عَمِّي.
mā jāʾa illā ʿammī
Only my uncle came.
The subject after إِلَّا is nominative.
لَا أَعْرِفُ هُنَا إِلَّا هٰذَا الطَّرِيقَ.
lā aʿrifu hunā illā hādha-ṭ-ṭarīqa
I know only this road here.

Rule 2: 2. ظَنَّ 'to think, to suppose'

ظَنَّ is a doubled verb: its second and third root letters are the same ن and are written with shadda whenever a vowel follows (ظَنَّ, ظَنَّتْ, ظَنُّوا, imperfect يَظُنُّ). Before an ending that begins with a consonant the two letters separate: ظَنَنْتُ I thought, ظَنَنْتَ you thought, ظَنَنَّا we thought. What is thought follows with أَنَّ and the accusative.

ظَنَّ الْوَلَدُ أَنَّ خَلْفَ الصَّخْرَةِ وَلَدًا.
ẓanna-l-waladu anna khalfa-ṣ-ṣakhrati waladan
The boy thought that there was a boy behind the rock.
ظَنَّتِ الْبِنْتُ أَنَّ الصَّوْتَ صَوْتُ أُخْتِهَا.
ẓannati-l-bintu anna-ṣ-ṣawta ṣawtu ukhtihā
The girl thought that the voice was her sister's voice.
ظَنَنْتُ أَنَّ الْجَبَلَ قَرِيبٌ.
ẓanantu anna-l-jabala qarībun
I thought that the mountain was near.
مَاذَا تَظُنُّ؟
mādhā taẓunnu
What do you think?

إِنَّ, أَنَّ and لِأَنَّ with pronoun suffixes

The suffixes are the same as on nouns. With 'me' the particle takes ـِي directly (إِنِّي), or the longer إِنَّنِي.
Person	إِنَّ (indeed)	أَنَّ (that)	لِأَنَّ (because)
I	إِنِّي	أَنِّي	لِأَنِّي
you (m.)	إِنَّكَ	أَنَّكَ	لِأَنَّكَ
you (f.)	إِنَّكِ	أَنَّكِ	لِأَنَّكِ
he / it	إِنَّهُ	أَنَّهُ	لِأَنَّهُ
she / it	إِنَّهَا	أَنَّهَا	لِأَنَّهَا
we	إِنَّنَا	أَنَّنَا	لِأَنَّنَا
you (pl.)	إِنَّكُمْ	أَنَّكُمْ	لِأَنَّكُمْ
they (m.)	إِنَّهُمْ	أَنَّهُمْ	لِأَنَّهُمْ

Rule 3: 3. Using the suffixed forms

The suffix is the subject of the clause, standing in for the accusative noun. لِأَنَّ because (lesson 34) is simply لِ + أَنَّ and behaves in the same way.

إِنَّكَ لَا تَسْمَعُ إِلَّا صَدَى صَوْتِكَ.
innaka lā tasmaʿu illā ṣadā ṣawtika
You hear only the echo of your voice.
إِنَّهَا تَعْرِفُ الطَّرِيقَ إِلَى الْقَرْيَةِ.
innahā taʿrifu-ṭ-ṭarīqa ila-l-qaryati
She does know the way to the village.
ظَنَّ سَعِيدٌ أَنَّهُ يَسْمَعُ وَلَدًا آخَرَ.
ẓanna saʿīdun annahu yasmaʿu waladan ākhara
Saʿīd thought that he heard another boy.
غَضِبَ لِأَنَّهُ مَا عَرَفَ الصَّدَى.
ghaḍiba li-annahu mā ʿarafa-ṣ-ṣadā
He got angry because he did not know the echo.
رَجَعْنَا لِأَنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا صَوْتَ أُمِّنَا.
rajaʿnā li-annanā samiʿnā ṣawta umminā
We went back because we heard our mother's voice.

Rule 4: 4. جَاءَ 'to come'

جَاءَ he came has a long ā in its middle, so its forms differ a little from كَتَبَ: جَاءَ, جَاءَتْ, جَاؤُوا, but with a consonant ending the ā shortens to i: جِئْتُ I came, جِئْتَ, جِئْنَا. The imperfect is يَجِيءُ. جَاءَ بِـ means to bring (literally to come with).

جَاءَ الْعَمُّ مِنَ الْقَرْيَةِ.
jāʾa-l-ʿammu mina-l-qaryati
The uncle came from the village.
جَاءَتْ أُمُّهُ وَسَمِعَتْ صَوْتَهُ.
jāʾat ummuhu wa-samiʿat ṣawtahu
His mother came and heard his voice.
جِئْتُ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ قَبْلَ الظُّهْرِ.
jiʾtu ila-l-jabali qabla-ẓ-ẓuhri
I came to the mountain before noon.
جَاءَ الْوَلَدُ بِالْمَاءِ.
jāʾa-l-waladu bi-l-māʾi
The boy brought the water.

Vocabulary

Why do words end with “-un”?

The -un ending is called tanween (nunation). It marks indefinite nouns — similar to “a/an” in English.

كِتَابٌ (kitaabun) = a bookvsكِتَاب (kitaab) = book (base word)

To find the base word, simply remove the final “-un” sound (the double-stacked damma بٌ on the last letter).

صَدًى

ṣadan

echo

إِلَّا

illā

except; (after a negative) only

ظَنَّ / يَظُنُّ

ẓanna / yaẓunnu

he thought, he supposed

جَاءَ / يَجِيءُ

jāʾa / yajīʾu

he came

رَدَّ / يَرُدُّ

radda / yaruddu

he returned (something); answered back

غَضِبَ / يَغْضَبُ

ghaḍiba / yaghḍabu

he became angry

ضَحِكَ / يَضْحَكُ

ḍaḥika / yaḍḥaku

he laughed

فَهِمَ / يَفْهَمُ

fahima / yafhamu

he understood

صَاحَ / يَصِيحُ

ṣāḥa / yaṣīḥu

he shouted, cried out

صَخْرَةٌ

ṣakhratun

rock, boulder

عَمٌّ

ʿammun

paternal uncle

صَدِيقٌ

ṣadīqun

friend

جَاهِلٌ

jāhilun

ignorant, foolish

قَبِيحٌ

qabīḥun

ugly, bad

آخَرُ

ākharu

other, another

مَرَّةً

marratan

once, one time

يَوْمًا

yawman

one day, once

Step 2 of 5: Read

The echo

اَلصَّدَى

Tap any word to look it up.

Notes

Comprehension

1.Where did Saʿīd go with his uncle?
2.What did Saʿīd think when he heard the voice?
3.Why did Saʿīd hear his own words again?
4.What did the uncle tell him to say?

In the Quran

إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ
Surah Al-'Asr · 103:3
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا: the exception إِلَّا 'except' following the negative statement of the previous ayah, 'man is in loss, except those who believe'.
- إِلَّاillāExcept
- ٱلَّذِينَalladhīnathose who
Read in context
يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ رَبِّهِمْ
Surah Al-Baqarah · 2:46
يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُو رَبِّهِمْ: ظَنَّ in the imperfect plural, followed by أَنَّ with the suffix ـهُمْ; and مُلَاقُو is a sound plural whose nūn is dropped before the genitive رَبِّهِمْ.
- يَظُنُّونَyaẓunnūnabelieve
- أَنَّهُمannahumthat they
- مُّلَـٰقُوا۟mulāqūwill meet
- رَبِّهِمْrabbihimtheir Lord
Read in context
إِذَا جَآءَ نَصْرُ
Surah An-Nasr · 110:1
إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللّٰهِ: the verb جَاءَ 'came' with its subject in an iḍāfa, after إِذَا 'when' from lesson 36.
- إِذَاidhāWhen
- جَآءَjāacomes
- نَصْرُnaṣru(the) Help
Read in context

Step 3 of 5: Practice

Exercises

Strict harakat

Exercise 1 of 60/0 correct

Fill in the blank

Complete to mean 'I saw only the rocks':

Step 4 of 5: Quiz

Translate from Arabic to English

Type your translation, then check it. Spelling and vowel marks are graded leniently.

1.

مَا سَمِعْتُ فِي الْجِبَالِ إِلَّا صَدَى صَوْتِي.

2.

ظَنَّ الْوَلَدُ أَنَّ وَلَدًا آخَرَ خَلْفَ الصَّخْرَةِ.

3.

جَاءَ عَمِّي مِنَ الْقَرْيَةِ وَضَحِكَ.

4.

غَضِبَ سَعِيدٌ لِأَنَّهُ مَا فَهِمَ الصَّدَى.

5.

إِنَّكِ تَعْرِفِينَ الطَّرِيقَ يَا فَاطِمَةُ.

6.

لَا يَرُدُّ الْجَبَلُ إِلَّا كَلِمَاتِكَ.

Translate from English to Arabic

Type your translation, then check it. Spelling and vowel marks are graded leniently.

1.

Only the uncle came.

2.

I thought that the voice was the voice of a friend.

3.

We came to the mountain in the morning.

4.

He laughed because he understood.

5.

You (m.) hear only the echo.

6.

The boy shouted once more.

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