Lesson 49
The Circumstantial Phrase Ḥāl
الحال
The ḥāl is an accusative noun or phrase describing the state of the subject or object at the moment of the action. It answers the question "in what state?" and adds richness to Arabic description.
The Ḥāl Construction
The ḥāl is an accusative noun (or adjective/participle) that describes the state of the فَاعِل or مَفْعُول at the time of the action. The word whose state it describes is called ذُو الْحَال (dhū l-ḥāl) and must be definite.
Type of ḥālArabicNote
Single adjectiveجَاءَ فَرِحاًAccusative adjective
Active participleرَجَعَ مُسْرِعاًParticiple in accusative
Verbal sentence ḥālجَاءَ وَهُوَ يَبْكِيWith wāw al-ḥāl
Nominal sentence ḥālجَاءَ وَالشَّمْسُ سَاطِعَةState of the scene
جَاءَ الطَّالِبُ فَرِحاً رَجَعَ مِنَ الْحَجِّ سَالِماً
Jāʾa ṭ-ṭālibu fariḥan Rajaʿa min al-ḥajji sāliman
The student came (while) happy. He returned from Ḥajj safe and sound.
وَجَاءُوا أَبَاهُمْ عِشَاءً يَبْكُون دَخَلَ الْفَصْلَ وَهُوَ مُسْرِع
Wa-jāʾū abāhum ʿishāʾan yabkūn Dakhala l-faṣla wa-huwa musriʿ
"They came to their father at night, weeping." (12:16) He entered the classroom while in a hurry.
- Single-word ḥāl: accusative (فَرِحاً, سَالِماً).
- Sentence ḥāl (جُمْلَة حَالِيَّة): must begin with a wāw of ḥāl or be a present-tense verbal sentence.
- ذُو الْحَال must be definite you cannot describe the state of an indefinite noun.
- The ḥāl can describe the subject (فَاعِل) or the object (مَفْعُول) context determines which it refers to.
- Quranic ḥāl is extremely frequent يَبْكُون (12:16), مُسْلِمِينَ (3:52), خَاشِعِين (2:45) recognising it unlocks complex Quranic sentences.