Inside vs Outside Doer/Done-to


So far we have discussed the inside doer(ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ) and inside done-to (نَائِبُالفَاعِلِ). In this lesson we will discuss the outside doer and outside done-to.
Inside Doer vs Outside Doer
We have already learned that every active فِعْلٌ has a doer (فَاعِلٌ) which is a built in pronoun. This is why a فِعْلٌ is different than an English verb. If the doer of the فِعْلٌ is a pronoun, then it is an inside doer (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ). For example ‘he wrote’ would be كَتَبَ .
However, what if we want to name the doer of the act instead of using a pronoun? For example, instead of saying ‘He wrote’ we want to say ‘Muhammad wrote’. In this case, we have to sue an outside doer.
Rules for outside doer:
- The فِعْلٌ should be in the singular form (هُوَ or هِيَ form) only.
- The outside doer must be:
- After the فِعْلٌ (it doesn’t have to be directly after)
- in the رَفْعٌ state.
Let us do a few examples:
| Meaning | |
|---|---|
| A Muslim (male) said | قَالَ مُسْلِمٌ |
| Two Muslim (male) said | قَالَ مُسْلِمانِ |
| Muslims (male) said | قَالَ مُسْلِمُوْنَ |
| A Muslim (female) said | قَالَتْ مُسْلِمَةٌ |
| Two Muslim (female) said | قَالَتْ مُسْلِمَتَانِ |
| Muslims (female) said | قَالَتْ مُسْلِمَاتٌ |
Did you notice that in the above examples the فِعْلٌ is in the singular (هُوَ or هِيَ form) only.
Inside Done-to vs Outside Done-to
We have already learned that every passive فِعْلٌ has a done-to (نَائِبُالفَاعِلِ) which is a built in pronoun.

A passive فِعْلٌ does not have a doer. But we do know who the action was done-to. Therefore instead of an inside pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ), we have an inside pronoun done-to, which is called the نَائِبُالفَاعِلِ.
The rules for the outside done-to (نَائِبُالفَاعِلِ) are exactly the same as the rules for the outside doer (فَاعِلٌ) we learned previously:
- The فِعْلٌ should be in the singular form (هُوَ or هِيَ form) only.
- The outside doer must be:
- After the فِعْلٌ (it doesn’t have to be directly after)
- in the رَفْعٌ state.
Let us do a few examples:
| Meaning | |
|---|---|
| The Muslim (male) was helped | نُصِرَ مُسْلِمٌ |
| Two Muslim (male) said | نُصِرَ مُسْلِمانِ |
| Muslims (male) said | نُصِرَ مُسْلِمُوْنَ |
| A Muslim (female) said | نُصِرَتْ مُسْلِمَةٌ |
| Two Muslim (female) said | نُصِرَتْ مُسْلِمَتَانِ |
| Muslims (female) said | نُصِرَتْ مُسْلِمَاتٌ |
Did you notice that in the above examples the فِعْلٌ is in the singular (هُوَ or هِيَ form) only.
