Arabic vocabulary
شَيْءthing
How to say “thing” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
Example sentences
فَكلما أثمر مِنْهَا شَيْء جنيت ثمره وغرست نَوَاه
So whenever something from it bears fruit, you harvest its fruit and plant its seeds.
شَيْءٌ — something. shay means 'a thing'; the '-un' ending marks it indefinite — the subject 'something'.
From: Seeds and Streams of Deeds →وَهُوَ أَن يعبد الله وَحده لايشرك بِهِ شَيْئا
And it means to worship Allah alone, associating nothing with Him.
شَيْئًا — anything. 'anything', accusative (note the ending), the thing one must not associate. Placed after a negation it sweeps out to 'nothing whatsoever'.
From: Worship God Alone →الاسمُ المجرّدُ لا يبني شيئًا؛ أمّا الجملةُ المشروعةُ فتبني قلبًا وسلوكًا
A mere name builds nothing; but a prescribed sentence builds both heart and conduct.
شَيْئًا — anything. 'anything', accusative, the object. Placed under the negation it sweeps to 'nothing at all'.
From: Remembrance That Reshapes the Heart →وَقَوله أفضل كلمة قَالَهَا الشَّاعِر كلمة لبيد أَلا كل شَيْء مَا خلا الله بَاطِل
And his saying: "The best word said by a poet is the word of Labid: Behold, everything other than Allah is futile."
شَيْءٍ — thing. Genitive owner of 'every' — 'thing'. Indefinite; 'every single thing'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →أفضل كلمة قَالَهَا الشَّاعِر كلمة لبيد أَلا كل شَيْء مَا خلا الله بَاطِل
"The best phrase the poet Labid said: 'Indeed, everything besides Allah is false.'"
شَيْءٍ — thing. Genitive owner of 'every' — 'thing'. Indefinite; 'every single thing'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وَذَلِكَ شَيْء لَا تَعب عَلَيْك فِيهِ وَلَا نصب وَلَا معاناة
And this is something that does not burden you with effort, nor toil, nor hardship.
شَيْءٌ — something. The indefinite predicate, 'a thing', closing 'this [is] a thing...'. Its '-un' ending marks it indefinite, and the clause that follows narrows down what kind of thing.
From: Repentance and Resolve →وَإِن سَقَطت على شَيْء لم تكسره وَلم تخدشه
And if it lands on something, it does not break it or scratch it.
شَيْءٍ — something. Indefinite 'a thing', in the genitive the preposition forces. It leaves open whatever the bee might settle on, the point being its gentleness toward all of it.
From: Contentment with What God Wills →وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الْأُمَّةَ لَوْ اجْتَمَعَتْ عَلَى أَنْ يَنْفَعُوك بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَنْفَعُوك إلَّا بِشَيْءٍ قَدْ كَتَبَهُ اللَّهُ لَك،
Know that if the nation gathered to benefit you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what Allah has decreed for you.
بِشَيْءٍ — with anything. 'With something', the 'bi-' of means with an indefinite noun, 'anything at all'. It names the instrument of the hoped-for benefit, in the after-preposition ending.
From: Patience and Trust in God →وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الْأُمَّةَ لَوْ اجْتَمَعَتْ عَلَى أَنْ يَنْفَعُوك بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَنْفَعُوك إلَّا بِشَيْءٍ قَدْ كَتَبَهُ اللَّهُ لَك،
Know that if the nation gathered to benefit you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what Allah has decreed for you.
بِشَيْءٍ — with what. 'With something', the same 'bi-' of means, now naming the sole exception: only by something already decreed. It governs the indefinite noun in the after-preposition ending.
From: Patience and Trust in God →وَإِنْ اجْتَمَعُوا عَلَى أَنْ يَضُرُّوك بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَضُرُّوك إلَّا بِشَيْءٍ قَدْ كَتَبَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْك؛
And if they gathered to harm you with anything, they would not harm you except with what Allah has decreed against you.
بِشَيْءٍ — with anything. 'With something', the 'bi-' of means with an indefinite noun, 'anything at all', the supposed instrument of harm. Governed in the after-preposition ending.
From: Patience and Trust in God →وَإِنْ اجْتَمَعُوا عَلَى أَنْ يَضُرُّوك بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَضُرُّوك إلَّا بِشَيْءٍ قَدْ كَتَبَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْك؛
And if they gathered to harm you with anything, they would not harm you except with what Allah has decreed against you.
بِشَيْءٍ — with what. 'With something', the same 'bi-' of means naming the sole exception, harm only by what was decreed. Governed in the after-preposition ending.
From: Patience and Trust in God →يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ إنَّك لَوْ أتَيْتنِي بِقُرَابِ الْأَرْضِ خَطَايَا ثُمَّ لَقِيتنِي لَا تُشْرِكُ بِي شَيْئًا لَأَتَيْتُك بِقُرَابِهَا مَغْفِرَةً
O son of Adam! Were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, not associating anything with Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.
شَيْئًا — anything. The '-an' ending marks this as the thing not associated, and as an indefinite under a negation it sweeps out to 'anything at all.' Nothing, however small, is to be set beside God.
From: The Vastness of God's Mercy →لا يشبهه شئ من كلام الخلق ولا يقدر على مثله الخلق بأسرهم
Nothing from the speech of creation resembles it, nor can the entire creation produce anything like it.
شَيْءٌ — anything. The doer (closing on -un, indefinite) of 'resembles.' Standing after a negation, an indefinite like this means 'nothing at all' — no created speech is its equal.
From: Devotion to the Quran →وقال بعضهم فلعلهم الذين ولدوا في الإسلام، فلم يشركوا بالله شيئاً وذكروا أشياء
and some of them said: Perhaps they are those born in Islam who never associated anything with Allah – and they mentioned other things –
شَيْئًا — anything. This is the object 'anything', in the accusative and indefinite — and the indefiniteness is the point: 'not anything at all'. After a negative, an indefinite object like this sweeps the field, stressing total purity of belief.
From: Those Who Enter Without Account →وقال بعضهم فلعلهم الذين ولدوا في الإسلام، فلم يشركوا بالله شيئاً وذكروا أشياء
and some of them said: Perhaps they are those born in Islam who never associated anything with Allah – and they mentioned other things –
أَشْيَاءَ — other things. This is the object of 'mentioned', in the accusative — 'other things'. It is a broken plural belonging to the no-nunation 'diptote' class, so its ending stays bare. It stands for further qualities left unspecified.
From: Those Who Enter Without Account →فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لا يقدمن أحد منكم إلى شيء حتى أكون أنا دونه
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: 'None of you should advance towards anything until I am ahead of him.'
شَيْءٍ — anything. This indefinite noun, 'anything', is the object of 'toward', taking the preposition's object form. Its indefinite shape keeps it open, any object at all.
From: A Handful of Dates and Paradise →العاشر أنه سبحانه نبه بقوله ﴿إِنْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ لَمَّا عَلَيْهَا حَافِظٌ﴾ على أنه قد وكل عليه من يحفظ عليه عمله ويحصيه فلا يضيع منه شيء
The tenth point is that He, glorified be He, emphasized by saying, ‘Indeed, every soul will have a guardian over it,’ indicating that He has appointed someone to safeguard and account for its deeds, and nothing will be lost from them.
شَيْءٌ — anything. This noun lacks 'the' and ends in the indefinite mark, so it means 'a thing', anything, and is the delayed subject of the losing verb. Under the negation it gives 'not a single thing is lost', the indefiniteness shown by the ending.
From: Ten Proofs of Resurrection →فَبِضِدِّهَا تَتَبَيَّنُ الْأَشْيَاءُ، وَالضِّدُّ يُظْهِرُ حُسْنَهُ الضِّدُّ، فَمَعْرِفَةُ أَدِلَّةِ الْبَاطِلِ وَشُبَهِهِ مِنْ أَنْوَاعِ أَدِلَّةِ الْحَقِّ وَبَرَاهِينِهِ
For by their opposites things become clear, and the opposite shows the beauty of its opposite; so knowing the evidence of falsehood and its doubts is itself a type of evidence for truth and its proofs.
الْأَشْيَاءُ — things. This noun carries 'the' and is plural, 'the things', and is the delayed subject of the clarifying verb. Arabic places the subject after its verb, so 'things' arrives last though it is what becomes clear.
From: Signs of the Messenger in Medina →وقال الكلبي تبصرون من شيء ومالا تبصرون من شيء
Al-Kalbi said: you see one thing and do not see another thing.
شَيْءٍ — a thing. An indefinite noun 'a thing', in the form the preposition governs and with no 'the'. Its indefiniteness gives the 'some thing / one thing' sense; Arabic keeps it bare to leave it general.
From: Proof in All Creation →وقال الكلبي تبصرون من شيء ومالا تبصرون من شيء
Al-Kalbi said: you see one thing and do not see another thing.
شَيْءٍ — a thing. An indefinite noun 'a thing', in the governed form and without 'the', repeated to mirror the first half, giving 'and do not see another thing'. Its bare form keeps it open-ended.
From: Proof in All Creation →وقد قال بعض العارفين نفسك التي بين جنبيك هي عدوك الأكبر، فإذا غلبتها فقد غلبت كل شيء
And some of the knowers have said: 'Your self, which is between your sides, is your greatest enemy, and if you conquer it, you have conquered everything.'
شَيْءٍ — thing. The completing half of 'every thing', so it carries the possessive case ending, and being without 'the' it stays indefinite as the 'every X' frame requires. The two words sit side by side with no word for 'of'.
From: Struggling Against the Self →فقال وهل يصلح أن أدعو بأن تهوي إليَّ وأنا لست بشيء؟
He said: Is it appropriate for me to pray that they be directed to me while I am nothing?
بِشَيْءٍ — with anything. This is bi- 'with' plus an indefinite 'a thing'; the bi- forces the genitive. With the 'am not' verb it forms an emphatic 'I am not anything at all', the bi- adding force to the negation.
From: Bedouin Manners →وَقَوْلُهُمْ مَنْ جَهِلَ شَيْئًا عَادَاهُ، مَذْكُورٌ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى بَلْ كَذَّبُوا بِمَا لَمْ يُحِيطُوا بِعِلْمِهِ وَإِذْ لَمْ يَهْتَدُوا بِهِ فَسَيَقُولُونَ هَذَا إِفْكٌ قَدِيمٌ
And their saying: 'Whoever is ignorant of something, opposes it' is mentioned in His saying: 'But they denied that which they did not encompass in knowledge, and when they have not been guided by it, they will say: This is an ancient falsehood.'
شَيْئًا — a thing. This is 'a thing, something', indefinite, the object of 'was ignorant of', so it takes the accusative ending that marks the thing acted upon. It names what the person did not know. It is what the condition turns on.
From: When Scripture Answers Proverbs →فقد ذكر فيه أسماء جماعة ثم لم ينقل عنهم شيئًا من ذلك،
Yet it mentioned the names of a group, then reported nothing of that from them.
شَيْئًا — anything. An indefinite noun, 'a thing / anything', the object of the verb, carrying the object ending. Under the earlier negation it strengthens the 'not a single thing' reading, emphasising total absence.
From: Gaps in a Collection of Pious Lives →
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