Iḍāfah  Iḍāfah () is an Arabic grammatical structure, mostly used to indicate possession. "Idāfa" basically entails putting one noun after another: the second noun specifies more precisely the nature of the first noun. In forms of Arabic which mark grammatical case, this second noun must be in the genitive case. The construction is typically equivalent to the English construction "(noun) of (noun)". It is a very widespread way of forming possessive constructions in Arabic, and is typical of a Semitic language. Simple examples include:  The Arabic grammatical terminology for this construction derives from the verb "ʼaḍāfa" "he added, attached", verb form IV from the hollow root "ḍ y f". The range of relationships between the first and second elements of the "idafah" construction is very varied, though usually consists of some relationship of possession or belonging. In the case of words for containers, the "iḍāfah" may express what is contained: ' "a cup of coffee". The "iḍāfah" may indicate the material something is made of: ' "a wooden ring, ring made of wood". In many cases the two members become a fixed coined phrase, the "idafah" being used as the equivalent of a compound noun used in some Indo-European languages such as English. Thus "" can mean "house of the (certain, known) students", but is also the normal term for "the student hostel". The first term in "iḍāfah" has the following characteristics:  The second term in "iḍāfah" has the following characteristics when it is a noun:  "iḍāfah" constructions of multiple terms are possible, and in such cases, all but the final term are in the construct state, and all but the first member are in the genitive case. For example: "" "the theft of the passport [literally "license of journey"] of one of the athletes". The "iḍāfah" construction as a whole is a noun phrase. It can be considered indefinite or definite only as a whole. An "idafah" construction is definite if the second noun is definite, by having the article or being the proper name of a place or person. The construction is indefinite if it the second noun is indefinite. Thus "idafah" can express senses equivalent to: But it cannot express a sense equivalent to 'the house of a director': this sense has to be expressed with a prepositional phrase, using a preposition such as ".