08-13-2003, 12:29 PM
OK akhi raafi here is a rule for ما و ماذا
so the agent of istifhaam...maa..is for asking clarification of nouns...like if you dont understand the clear meaning of a word...u ask using maa...e.g. maa al-kummathraa...waht's a kummathraa??...it means a pear (the fruit)..
it is also used when someone is sure of the existence of an object or action...but is not sure of exactly what it is..this is also when you couple it with ..haadha or dha or dhalika....well there u go....maadha is actually ...the same maa...coupled with 'dha' ....dha is a demonstrative pronoun (ism ishaara) just like haadha and dhalika...the difference is haadha is for near and dha...is irrespective and dhalika is for far...the irrespective one is usually left untranslated in this case. In english we don't have an irrespective one...they only have 'this' and that'.
maadha 'ala al-kurisiyyi...means 'what is on the chair'...but more specifically the litteral translation would be 'what is that on the chair...
so 'maadha' basically means the same as just maa...except that theres an added elemant of ishaarah (pointing or referring to something visible or known to the listener)...in maadha which is not in just 'maa'...the element is subtle and not usually translated.