رَاعٍshepherd

Example sentences

• كَالرَّاعِي يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى يُوشِكُ أَنْ يَرْتَعَ فِيهِ،

  Like the shepherd who grazes around a sanctuary, nearly falling into it.

  كَالرَّاعِي — like the shepherd. 'Ka-' means 'like' and governs the noun in the genitive, opening a simile. The noun is a doer-noun from 'to tend/graze', 'the herdsman', its weak final root-letter showing as a long vowel.

  From: The Lawful, the Forbidden, and the Grey →

• كَالرَّاعِي يرْعَى حول الْحمى يُوشك أَن يَقع فِيهِ

  Like a shepherd grazing around a sanctuary, he is likely to fall into it.

  الرَّاعِي — a shepherd. Definite noun, 'the shepherd', marked by the attached 'the'. Though English says 'a shepherd', Arabic uses the definite here for the generic type, the shepherd as a known figure standing for any such person.

  From: Patience in Hard Times →

• فَإِذَا أَنَا بِرَاعٍ مُقْبِلٍ بِغَنَمِهِ إِلَى الصَّخْرَةِ

  Then I came upon a shepherd approaching the rock with his flock.

  بِرَاعٍ — with a shepherd. Preposition 'with/at' fused onto an indefinite noun, a shepherd, here doing the special job of presenting what the narrator suddenly faced, 'there was a shepherd'. The preposition puts that noun into the 'of'-style ending; its trailing '-in' marks it indefinite. This 'bi-' is an introducer of the surprise-scene's content, not literal accompaniment.

  From: A Night with the Prophet →

• قَالَ الرَّاعِيُ

  The shepherd said.

  الرَّاعِيُ — the shepherd. The doer of 'said', made definite by al- ('the shepherd') and wearing the bare subject (nominative) ending. It names retroactively who the verb's built-in 'he' refers to.

  From: Those Who Spoke in the Cradle →