مَرَّة once in Arabic
مَرَّة is how you say “once” in Arabic.
Root م ر ر m-r-r. noun (noun of instance / ism al-marrah, from the verb مَرَّ). marrah.
Arabic
English
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Meaning of once in Arabic
- once; a single time Used adverbially, denoting a single occurrence of an action.
- a time, an instance, an occurrence As a countable noun formed from مَرَّ 'to pass' — literally 'one passing'.
Example sentence
فقال رسول الله والذي نفسي بيده لو تدومون على ما تكونون عندي وفي الذكر لصافحتكم الملائكة على فرشكم وفي طرقكم، ولكن يا حنظلة ساعة وساعة ثلاث مرات،
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: 'By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, if you remained in the state that you are with me and in remembrance, the angels would shake hands with you in your beds and on your paths. But, O Hanzala, a time and a time.' He repeated this three times.
مَرَّاتٍ times
This is the counted noun after 'three', and by the rule for the small numbers 3 to 10 it comes as a PLURAL in the genitive — 'three TIMES'. That plural-genitive shape after 3-10 is the opposite of the singular forms used with larger numbers.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
Distinct from مِرَّة (mirrah, with kasr on the mīm) meaning 'bile, gall' — some copyists' texts confuse the two spellings, but they are separate words differing only in the root vowel, not in root letters.
Words from the same root
- مَرَّ to pass, pass by, go on, elapse (root verb, form I)
- مَرٌّ passing; the act of going by (verbal noun of مَرَّ)
- مارّهُ he passed by, or went along, together with him (form III)
- امرّهُ he made it pass, go by; also, he twisted it tightly, as a rope (form IV)
- مُرٌّ bitter (same root letters, a distinct sense-branch)
- مِرَّةٌ bile, gall — a bodily humor (spelled like مَرَّة but with kasr)
More example sentences
ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
It returns repeatedly, meaning it grants it time after time.
مَرَّةً time
A noun 'one time/once' in the accusative as an adverb of frequency, paired with the next word in 'time after time'. The accusative ending casts it into this counting-of-occasions role.
ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
It returns repeatedly, meaning it grants it time after time.
مَرَّةٍ time
The second 'time' in the idiom 'time after time', held in the genitive by the preceding 'after'. Its indefinite shape keeps the sense of one occasion following another without limit.
ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
And the sky's return is the provision of good which comes from it continuously over time, returning repeatedly, meaning it gives repeatedly over and over.
مَرَّةً repeatedly
A noun 'one time/once' in the accusative as an adverb of frequency, paired with the next words in 'time after time'. The accusative casts it into the counting-of-occasions role.
ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
And the sky's return is the provision of good which comes from it continuously over time, returning repeatedly, meaning it gives repeatedly over and over.
مَرَّةٍ and over
The second 'time' in 'time after time', held in the genitive by the preceding 'after'. Its indefinite shape keeps the sense of one occasion following another without limit.
ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
The return of the sky is the giving of good that comes from it, time after time, as it keeps returning — meaning it gives again and again.
مَرَّةً once
This noun in the object-style ending works adverbially as a count, 'one time/once', marking how often the giving happens. Arabic puts such a counting noun in the object ending to express frequency, pairing with the phrase that follows to mean 'time after time'.
ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
The return of the sky is the giving of good that comes from it, time after time, as it keeps returning — meaning it gives again and again.
مَرَّةٍ again
This is the owner noun 'time/occurrence' completing 'time after time', genitive after the preposition and indefinite. Repeating the count noun across 'after' is the Arabic way of saying 'again and again'.
ثم يقول مرة هكذا ومرة هكذا
Then he would say, 'Sometimes like this and sometimes like that.'
مَرَّةً sometimes
This noun literally names a single occurrence, 'one time', and is used adverbially to mean 'sometimes, on one occasion'. The accusative ending is what lets a noun act as this kind of time-adverb in Arabic. Paired with its twin later, it sets up an 'on one occasion... on another' contrast.
ثم يقول مرة هكذا ومرة هكذا
Then he would say, 'Sometimes like this and sometimes like that.'
وَمَرَّةً and sometimes
The 'wa-' joins this to its earlier twin, completing the 'one time... and another time' contrast. Like the first, this noun is an adverb of time in the accusative, the ending that lets it function as 'and at another time' rather than as a plain noun.
من استعاذ بِاللَّه فِي الْيَوْم عشر مَرَّات من الشَّيْطَان الرَّجِيم
Whoever seeks refuge with Allah ten times a day from the accursed Satan,
مَرَّاتٍ times
This is the plural noun being counted, in the form numbers govern, marking repeated occasions. Its ending shows it as the indefinite counted item paired with 'ten'.
سَبْعَ عَشْرَةَ مَرَّةً فِي سَبْعِ عَشْرَةِ رَكْعَةٍ
Seventeen times in seventeen rak'ahs.
مَرَّةً time
The counted noun after a teen numeral, kept SINGULAR ('time / instance') even though seventeen are meant, exactly as the teen-number rule requires. Its object ending is the special form a teen numeral imposes on the thing it counts.
Common questions
- How do you say "once" in Arabic?
- مَرَّة (marrah).
- What is the root of مَرَّة and what does it mean?
- It comes from the root م ر ر (m-r-r), whose core verb مَرَّ (marra) means 'to pass, go by, elapse' — مَرَّة literally denotes a single 'passing', i.e. one time or occurrence.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).