— عَسَىʿasā: an inert verb (fiʿl jāmid), one of the verbs of approach (afʿāl al-muqārabah), of the class of hope (rajāʾ); meaning: it is hoped that, perhaps. Its noun is nominative (marfūʿ) and its predicate (khabar) is usually an imperfect (muḍāriʿ) with "أَنْan" (unlike كَادَkāda, in whose predicate أَنْan is rare). The grammarians state explicitly that when عَسَىʿasā comes from Allah it does not express hope but certainty and necessity. 30 times in the Quran: ﴿وَعَسٰۤي أَنْ تَكْرَهُوْا شَيْئًا وَّهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ﴾ (Al-Baqarah 2:216) and ﴿عَسٰى رَبُّهُۥۤ إِنْ طَلَّقَكُنَّ أَنْ يُّبْدِلَهُۥۤ أَزْوَاجًا خَيْرًا مِّنْكُنَّ﴾ (At-Taḥrīm 66:5).
In Arabic grammar عَسَىʿasā and كَادَ / يَكَادُkāda / yakādu are placed under the heading of "verbs of approach and hope" (afʿāl al-muqārabah wa-l-rajāʾ). Operating like the defective (incomplete) verbs (afʿāl nāqiṣah), they put their noun in the nominative and their predicate in the accusative by position. Their distinguishing rule is that their predicate is never a single noun, but always comes as a verbal sentence (jumlah fiʿliyyah) containing an imperfect verb (fiʿl muḍāriʿ).