Arabic is a language which is known for its brevity and comprehensiveness. As an example, look at the word given below which means: ‘they sought help’. Right away you can see that three English words are required to translate this one Arabic word. However, there is more to it than meets the eye. This one Arabic word conveys seven pieces of information to us. Let us see how:
اِستَنصَرُوا
- نَصَرَ : to help
- ست : seek
- The absence of one of the 4 prefixes اَ تَ ی نَ (which makes a future tense verb) plus the fathah on صَ which renders this word in the past tense.
- the fathah on صَ and ت and kasra on ا conveys the meaning of active voice ; changing this to a damma on ا and ت and a kasra صَ will change this to a passive voice i.e اُستُنصِرُوا will mean help was sought from them
- و at the end conveys the meaning of masculine gender
- و at the end conveys the meaning of a group of more than 2 persons
- و at the end conveys the meaning of third person
