سَعْيًاexertion

Example sentences

• الْمَثَلُ الثَّانِيُ الظَّبْيُ أَشَدُّ سَعْيًا مِنَ الْكَلْبِ،

  The second example: the gazelle exerts itself more than the dog.

  سَعْيًا — exertion. A bare-accusative verbal noun answering 'greater in what?': in running/exertion. Arabic drops a specifying accusative right after the elative to fix the respect of the comparison. So 'greater in exertion', the ending itself signalling 'as regards...'.

  From: Choosing Good Companions →

• وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَسْعَى سَعْيًا،

  And among them are those who run swiftly,

  سَعْيًا — running swiftly. An action-noun ('running') in the accusative, placed right after its own verb to drive the manner home, 'runs a running'. Arabic uses this echoing accusative to intensify how the action is done, where English would add 'swiftly' or 'hard'. The accusative ending is what marks it as that adverbial reinforcement.

  From: The Bridge to Paradise →