Sharh Ibn Aqil on Alfiyyat Ibn Malik — Volume 1 (شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك) — Page 299

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

إِذَا جُزِمَ الْفِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعُ مِنْ « كَانَ » ، قِيلَ : لَمْ يَكُنْ ، وَالْأَصْلُ يَكُونُ ، فَحَذَفَ الْجَازِمُ الضَّمَّةَ الَّتِي عَلَى النُّونِ ، فَالْتَقَى سَاكِنَانِ : الْوَاوُ ، وَالنُّونُ ؛ فَحُذِفَتِ الْوَاوُ لِالْتِقَاءِ السَّاكِنَيْنِ ؛ فَصَارَ اللَّفْظُ « لَمْ يَكُنْ » وَالْقِيَاسُ يَقْتَضِي أَنْ لَا يُحْذَفَ مِنْهُ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ شَيْءٌ آخَرُ ، لَكِنَّهُمْ حَذَفُوا النُّونَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ تَخْفِيفًا لِكَثْرَةِ الِاسْتِعْمَالِ ؛ فَقَالُوا : « لَمْ يَكُ » وَهُوَ حَذْفٌ جَائِزٌ ، لَا لَازِمٌ ، وَمَذْهَبُ سِيبَوَيْهِ وَمَنْ تَابَعَهُ أَنَّ هَذِهِ جَارٌ وَمَجْرُورٌ مُتَعَلِّقٌ بِمَحْذُوفٍ صِفَةٌ لِمُضَارِعٍ مُنْجَزِمٍ ، صِفَةٌ ثَانِيَةٌ لِمُضَارِعٍ « تُحْذَفُ » فِعْلٌ مُضَارِعٌ مَبْنِيٌّ لِلْمَجْهُولِ ، نُونٌ ، نَائِبُ فَاعِلٍ تُحْذَفُ « وَهُوَ » ، مُبْتَدَأٌ « حَذْفٌ » ، خَبَرُ الْمُبْتَدَأِ « مَا » ، نَافِيَةٌ « الْتُزِمَ » ، فِعْلٌ مَاضٍ مَبْنِيٌّ لِلْمَجْهُولِ ، وَنَائِبُ فَاعِلِهِ ضَمِيرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ فِيهِ جَوَازًا تَقْدِيرُهُ هُوَ يَعُودُ إِلَى حَذْفٍ ، وَالْجُمْلَةُ مِنَ الْتُزِمَ الْمَنْفِيِّ وَنَائِبِ الْفَاعِلِ فِي مَحَلِّ رَفْعٍ صِفَةُ الْحَذْفِ

When the present tense of 'kana' is in the jussive mood, it becomes 'lam yakun'. Originally it was 'yakunu', but the jussive particle dropped the damma from the nun, causing two quiescent letters, the waw and the nun, to meet. The waw was then dropped to avoid this collision, resulting in 'lam yakun'. Grammatical analogy dictates that nothing else should be dropped, yet speakers later dropped the nun as well to lighten the pronunciation due to frequent use, resulting in 'lam yaku'. This is a permissible, not mandatory, omission. Sibawayh and his followers hold that this phrase is a prepositional construction linked to an implied adjective for a jussive verb. 'Tuhdhafu' is a passive verb, 'nun' is its deputy subject, 'wa huwa' is a subject, 'hadhf' is its predicate, 'ma' is a negative particle, and 'ultuzima' is a passive verb with an implied subject referring back to 'hadhf'. The clause containing the negated 'ultuzima' and its deputy subject serves as an adjective for the omission.

وَتَقْدِيرُ الْبَيْتِ : وَتُحْذَفُ نُونٌ مِنْ مُضَارِعٍ مُنْجَزِمٍ آتٍ مِنْ مَصْدَرِ كَانَ ، وَهُوَ حَذْفٌ لَمْ تَلْتَزِمْهُ الْعَرَبُ ، يُرِيدُ أَنَّهُ جَائِزٌ لَا وَاجِبٌ

The verse implies that a nun is dropped from a jussive verb derived from 'kana', an omission the Arabs did not treat as mandatory, meaning it is optional rather than required.

لَوْ قَالَ « لِلتَّخَلُّصِ مِنَ الْتِقَاءِ السَّاكِنَيْنِ » ، لَكَانَ أَحْسَنَ

It would have been better had he said 'to avoid the meeting of two quiescent letters'.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (27 verbs · 65 nouns)

• جَزَمَ — to make jussive
• كَانَ — to be
• قَالَ — to say
• فِعْلٌ — verb
• مُضَارِعٌ — present tense
• أَصْلٌ — origin