Lesson 72
Exclusion Part 1 (Complete Positive Sentence)
الاستثناء الجزء الأول
In a complete positive sentence, the noun excluded by إِلَّا is always accusative, regardless of the case of the preceding noun.
Exclusion: Three Sentence Types
Sentence typeComplete?Positive?مُسْتَثْنَى case
Complete positiveYesYesAlways accusative
Complete negativeYesNoAccusative OR positional (lesson 73)
Incomplete (فَارِغ)NoUsually negativePositional (lesson 73)
Complete Positive Examples
Group noun (مُسْتَثْنَى مِنْه)Exclusion particleمُسْتَثْنَىFull example
الطُّلَّابُإِلَّازَيْداً (acc.)حَضَرَ الطُّلَّابُ إِلَّا زَيْداً
الأَوْلَادُإِلَّاوَلَداً (acc.)أَكَلَ الأَوْلَادُ إِلَّا وَلَداً
الطُّلَّابِ (gen.)إِلَّازَيْداً (acc.!)مَرَرْتُ بِالطُّلَّابِ إِلَّا زَيْداً
حَضَرَ الطُّلَّابُ كُلُّهُمْ إِلَّا زَيْداً
Ḥaḍara ṭ-ṭullābu kulluhum illā Zaydan
All the students attended except Zayd. (زَيْداً = accusative مُسْتَثْنَى complete positive sentence)
أَكَلَ الأَوْلَادُ كُلُّهُمْ إِلَّا وَلَداً وَاحِداً
Akala l-awlādu kulluhum illā waladan wāḥidan
All the children ate except one child. (وَلَداً = accusative note: wāḥidan is a naʿt agreeing with وَلَداً)
- In a complete positive sentence: مُسْتَثْنَى is ALWAYS accusative after إِلَّا regardless of the case of the group noun.
- Complete = the group being excluded from (مُسْتَثْنَى مِنْه) is explicitly mentioned before إِلَّا.
- Even when the group noun is genitive (مَرَرْتُ بِالطُّلَّابِ إِلَّا زَيْداً), the مُسْتَثْنَى remains accusative.
- This is the foundational rule memorise it before tackling the variations in lessons 73 (negative/incomplete) and 74 (غَيْر / سِوَى).
- The مُسْتَثْنَى is entirely outside the scope of the predicate the action applies to all in the group EXCEPT this one.