حال معرفة

[HotIcyDonut]

I know حال can be definite, but under which circumstances? I know about nouns وحد or ذو/ذات (and dual/plural versions respectively) serving as حال while being مضاف. What other instances of definite حال do exist?

شكراً مقدماً

 

[elroy]

I know about nouns وحد or ذو/ذات (and dual/plural versions respectively) serving as حال while being مضاف.

Could you please give examples of what you mean?

 

[HotIcyDonut]

Could you please give examples of what you mean?

For example, in a sentence بُني الحصن ذا البابين "the fortress was built with 2 gates". Or "don't think knowledge is useful on its own" لا تحسبن العلم ينفع وحده. Here we have definite حال, that is ذا and وحد, both being مضاف. I wonder when exactly can definite حال occur, what are grammatical rules for that.

 

[Sadda7]

Originally الحال is always indefinite and if it comes definite you would interpret it as being indefinite according to what the grammarians say. Some examples are shown in grammar books of when الحال can come in a definite form, but they mention that these examples should not be followed.
It can come as مضاف as you've shown in your examples or definite with أل:

- ادخلوا الأوّلَ فالأولَ
- جاء الوافدون الجمَّاءَ الغفير

From النحو الوافي.

 

[elroy]

بُني الحصن ذا البابين "the fortress was built with 2 gates"

That doesn't sound right to me if that's the intended meaning.
If anything, I would expect ذا بابين, but even that doesn't sound great. ببابين would sound much better to me.

 

[Sadda7]

I agree with elroy, the construction sounds weak and is a little bit confusing, where did you take it from?