Inna and Its Sisters

إنّ and its sisters come before a nominal sentence. They make the subject accusative, while the predicate stays nominative:

• إنّ indeed (at the start and after قال), أنّ that
• لكنّ but, لأنّ because, كأنّ as if
• لعلّ perhaps, ليت if only

A pronoun subject is attached as a suffix: أن + هي → أنها, لكن + هو → لكنه, لأن + أنا → لأنني or لأني, ليت + أنا → ليتني. A masculine sound plural changes -ون to -ين, and a dual changes -ان to -ين or -تين: إن المعلمين مجتهدون (the teachers are hard-working), إن البنتين ذكيتان (the two girls are clever). The predicate keeps its nominative -ون and -ان.