Fixed-Form Passive Participles with Prepositions

شَرْح

root: ش-ر-ح / form I verbal noun / definition: explanation

One of my classmates, a while back, asked me if I could clarify the grammar of the phrase غير المُبلَغ عنه, which translates as “unreported”.

We’ve talked before about the different meanings of غَير—here, it gives the word its un- prefix in English, so no confusion there.

But then we have the passive participle مُبلَغ and the preposition with a pronoun suffix, عنهُ. Why are these three components needed to give the meaning of “reported”? Isn’t the passive participle itself enough?

You see, مُبلَغ is the passive participle of the form IV verb أَبلَغَ / يُبلِغُ, meaning “to report, inform”.

When we’re using this verb, we need the preposition عن to introduce the indirect object. For example, أبلغتُهُ عن الخبر, “I informed him about the news”. So, the thing being reported needs to be introduced by the preposition.

Thus, when we derive the passive participle from this verb, we still have to use the preposition عن to introduce that object (i.e. what is—or isn’t, in this case—being reported).

Let’s go back to our example and zoom out just a tiny bit to see one more word’s-worth of context:

الصَيد غير المُبلَغ عنه

unreported fishing

الصيد is our noun.

غير means un-.

المبلغ is the passive participle. It’s definite to match the definiteness of the noun, الصيد, in this noun-adjective phrase.

عن is what we need to introduce the understood object, the thing that isn’t being reported (i.e. الصيد). And we need the singular, masculine pronoun suffix ـه to refer back to it.

Note that, in structures like this, the passive participle itself can only match the noun in definiteness and case. It otherwise remains fixed, in a singular, masculine form.

On the other hand, the pronoun suffix after the preposition has to match the noun in gender and number.

Let’s look at some more examples:

تَجارِب مَسكوت عنها

unspoken experiences

سَكَتَ / يَسكُتُ عن = “to pass over something in silence”
مسكوت = its passive participle, it must remain in its singular, masculine state
عنها = the pronoun suffix ـها is added to the preposition to refer back to تجارب (the understood object, i.e. what is being passed over in silence)—ـها is used because تجارب is a non-human plural, and non-human plurals are always treated grammatically as the feminine singular

أَصبَحَ الأَمرُ مَيؤوساً مِنه

the matter had become a lost cause

يَئِسَ / يَيأَسُ من = “to give up all hope of something”
ميؤوس = its passive participle, in its singular, masculine state—here it’s منصوب (in the accusative state) because it’s the object of the verb أصبح
منه = the pronoun suffix ـه is added to the preposition to refer back to الأمر
ميؤؤس منه was our phrase for Wehr Wednesdays #166!

الرجال المَغضوب عليهم

the men who were the objects of anger

غَضِبَ / يَغضَب على = “to be angry with someone”
مَغضوب = its passive participle, in its singular, masculine state
عليهم = the pronoun suffix ـهم is added to the preposition to refer back to الرجال

كَأَنَّ هؤلاء النساء مُستَغنى عَنهُنَّ

as though these women were dispensable

اِستَغنى / يَستَغني عن = “to have no need for something/someone”
مُستَغنىً = its passive participle, in its singular, masculine state
عنهنّ = the pronoun suffix ـهُنَّ is added to the preposition to refer back to هؤلاء النساء

المُدَرِّسان المَسموح لهُما بِالعَمَل

the two teachers who were permitted to work

سَمَحَ / يَسمَحُ لِـ = “to permit someone (to do something, بِـ)”
مَسموح = its passive participle, in its singular, masculine state
لهما = the dual pronoun suffix ـهُما is added to the preposition to refer back to المدرّسان

The concept’s quite simple when you get used to it! And you can work out the passive participle for any verb by taking a look at the verb form table.

Feel free to leave any questions below, I’ll see you on my next post!

!مع السلامة