Tasgheer

Tasgheer comes from the word

صغَّر يُصَّغِر التَّصْغِيْر
meaning to belittle or decrease. Its opposite is كَبَّر and comes under study of Sarf.

Oops did I hurl a technical Jargon at you !!! :/
Don't worry lemme take a step back and refresh the definition of

Sarf

In Sarf, we study the word itself NOT the word in the sentence

i.e. how the word changes without looking at the sentence.

And since we are at it let me introduce its cousin, i.e.

Nahw

In Nahw, we study the word in the sentence.

i.e. How this word is affected OR affected other words in the sentence. Example how the use of انّ changes the sentence and so on ...

But a burning question that we all want an answer of is ...

Why do we use Tasgheer?

Case 1 عندما نتكلم عن شيء صغير
Suppose we want to say small book, we can either say, كتابٌ صغير Or its Tasgheer form كُتيّب.

But how we came up with this construction.
Have patience I will add details :)

Reason 2 التحقير
When we want to insult someone/something, we can use Tasgheer.

So in place of addressing a man by رجُل we say رُجيل meaning you are a small man ... lol

Reason 3 التَّحَبُّب
When we are addressing someone we like/love e.g. our son, spouse etc, we can use Tasgheer.

So in place of addressing a kid by طِفْل we say طُفيل

Reason 4 تقريب الزمان والمكان
Sometimes we use it for showing the nearness of time Or place.
For example to show that its just right before Asr i.e. a few moments before Asr we will say قُبَيْل العصر instead of قَبل العصر. As قَبل العصر may be used for 2 hours before Asr

Similarly, to mean right before Masjid we say قُبَيْل المسجد instead of قبل المسجد.

Reason 5 التعظيم
Rarely we use Tasgheer for التعظيم.
For exammple addressing a man (رجُل) but calling him رُجيل out of respect.

That covers all the reasons I guess.

Moving on !!! Lets look into

Conditions required by an Ism to make it's Tasgheer

• أن يكون الاسم معرباً
  We use Tasgheer with Mo'rab Ism only (Not Fail or Harf)
  Exception
  • ذا has Tasgheer i.e. ذَيَّا even though it is اسم إشارة مبني
  • الذي has Tasgheer i.e. اللَّذَيَّا even though it is مبني
  • التي has Tasgheer i.e. اللَّتَيَّا even though it is مبني

• أن يكون الاسم قابلاً للتصغير
  Ism should accept Tasgheer. There are certain Ism's for which we can't make Tasgheer for e.g.
  • Names of Allah (أسماء الله)
  • Names of prophet (أسماء الأنبياء)
  • Names of Angels (أسماء الملائكة)

Above are the two major rules. Now we will learn

How to make Tasgheer

To make Tasgheer, there are multiple forms (صيغ) in Arabic language. Let's look into it one by one beginning with

فُعَيْل

This form is used in following categories,
Category 1 Three letters Ism (الاسم الثلاثي)
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter.
For example فلس has three letters, its tasgheer is فُليس

Category 2 Three letters feminine Ism
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + add تاء التأنيث.
For example Tasgheer of

• عَين is عُيينة
• أُذُن is أُذُينة
• قدر is قُدَيْرَة
• نار is نُويرة (here ا is changed to و)

  إذا كان الاسم المُصَغَّر مؤنثاً يجب أن نزيد تاء التأنيث

Category 3 Three letters Ism with second letter as Alif
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Change ا to its original letter

For example, in باب we need to figure out whether ا is in place of و or ي i.e what is Asl of ا, for that we will look into plural of باب which is أبواب. So through plural we know ا in باب is in place of و (i.e. باب is originally بوب). Hence, the tasgheer of باب will be بُوَيْب.

Similarly, in ناب its plural is أنياب. So we know ا in ناب is in place of ي (i.e. ناب is originally نيب). Hence, the tasgheer of ناب will be نُيَيْب

Category 4 Three letter Isms ending with ة
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + add letter which Arabs have dropped.

For example in شفة its originally شَفْهَ , its tasgheer is شُفَيْهَة (we have added ة in the end as it is originally feminine).

Similarly, from شاة we have شُوَيهة (Here, ا in شاة is originally و)

Category 5 Four letters Ism where second letter is Alif (اسم رباعي ثاني حرف فيه ألف)
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Change ا to و.

For example راجل has four letters and second letter is ا, its tasgheer is رُويجل.

Similarly, tasgheer of فارس is فُويرس.

Category 6 Four letters Ism where third letter is Alif
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Change ا to ي.

For example كتاب has four letters and third letter is ا, its tasgheer is كُتَييب Or كُتَيّب (after Idhgham).

Similarly, tasgheer of غزال is غُزييل Or غُزيِّل (after Idhgham).

Category 7 Five letters Ism where fourth letter is Alif
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Change ا to ي.

For example دينار has five letters and fourth letter is ا, its tasgheer is دنينير

If you are wondering from where that extra ن came, let me assure you, you are not alone. If we look at plural of دينار, which is دنانير it also has an extra ن. Actually دينار was originally written as دنَّار. Now we can easily apply tasgheer rules to دنَّار and make it دنينير

Category 8 Five letters Isms
Category 8a If it has extra letters
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + ٍٍRemove extra letter.

For example منطلق has ن as extra letter its tasgheer is مُطيلِق. Similarly,

• In مرتزق we have ت as extra letter its tasgheer is مُرَيْزِق
• In مستخرج we have ت and س as extra letter its tasgheer is مُخَيرِج

Category 8b If all letters are Original/Asl letters
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Remove last letter.

For example سَفَرْجَل has all Asl letters its tasgheer is سُفَيْرِج after removing ل at the end.

Side Note By extra letters I mean the letters that we add in three lettered verb to make form II, from III ... form X etc (verb forms).
For e.g. خرج is three lettered verb and all its letters are original. To make it form IV we add extra أ in front i.e. أخرج and for form X we add ا س ت i.e. استخرج.
There are only 10 extra letters, which are all letters of the word سألتمونيها

Category 9 Five letters Isms of form فعلان
Category 9a If it is Munsarif e.g. سِرْحانٌ
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Change ا to ي.

For example سِرْحانٌ will become سُرَيْحِين

Category 9b If it is NOT Munsarif e.g. عثمانُ
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter.

For example عثمانُ will become عُثيمان. Similarly, سكرانُ will become سُكيران.

Category 10 Six letter Isms
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter.

For example زعفران has six letters, its tasgheer is زُعيفران

Category 11 Two letter Isms
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter and ي after second letter) + Add what is dropped by Arabs.

For example

• دم is originally دَمَيٌ so its tasgheer is دُميي OR دُمَيَّ.
• أخ is originally أخو so its tasgheer is أُخيو which is difficult to pronounce so we will convert و to ي i.e. أُخيو to أُخيي OR أُخَيَّ.
• أب is originally أبو so its tasgheer is أُبيو which is difficult to pronounce so we will convert و to ي again i.e. أُبيو to أُبيي OR أُبَيَّ

فُعَيعِل

This form is used in following category,
Category 1 Five letters Isms
Category 1a If it has extra letters
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter + ي after second and third letter) + remove extra letter.

For example

• منطلق has ن as extra letter its tasgheer is مُطيليق
• مرتزق we have ت as extra letter its tasgheer is مُرَيْزِيق
• مستخرج we have ت and س as extra letter its tasgheer is مُخَيرِيج

Category 1b If all letters are Original/Asl letters
Transformation Rule of Tasgheer: (Add Damma on first letter + ي after second and third letter) + remove last letter.

For example سَفَرْجَل has all Asl letters its tasgheer is سُفَيْرِيج after removing ل at the end

Exceptional Tasgheer

• Tasgheer of إنسان is أُنَيْسِيَان instead of أُنَيسِين
• Tasgheer of مغرب is مُغَيْرِبَان instead of مُغيرب

Conclusion

That's all folks I tried to organise the rules of Tasgheer to the best of my capabilites with proper explanations. But if you think that you are not convinced with the reasoning provided above, then it is what it is because That is how Arabs said it !!!.

Reference

• Qutoof Academy