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WorldOfIslam.info - Intro
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Learn Arabic Online /
اللغة العربية
An Introduction to Arabic Pronouns
Learning Arabic can be difficult,
since many of the sounds and the appearance of the language are quite
different from English. Learning to correctly apply pronouns in your
Arabic conversation may seem tough, but
it’s one of the most important steps to achieving fluency in the language.
When you first start learning
Arabic, you’ll quickly learn that one of the most important lessons is that
of the Arabic pronouns. Arabic pronouns may seem more complicated than their
English counterparts, since there are a few of the
Arabic pronouns – “he,” “she,” “I,” and
“you” – that can be used alone, without the need to conjugate them, and can
stand without a verb.
For example, when telling your
name, you would only use the Arabic word for “me” or “I,” and then use your
name. You don’t need any verb such as “am” or “is.” This may sound peculiar
if you were translating it to English, but is correct in Arabic. Here are
the translations for the different Arabic
pronouns.
He: anti
She: howa
We: hiya
You: nahnu (Male)
You: antum (Female)
I: ana
They: antun na (male)
They: hum (female)
In the case of “you,” if you’re
speaking to a group of people of both
genders at once, you would use the pronoun “antuna.” However, if you’re
speaking of a situation, the work to use is “humaa.” This is one way that
Arabic differs from many languages, as there is a dual complexity to the
language. Not only do you need to specify gender in a situation, you also
need to be specific about how many people you’re speaking about or to.
If you need to make a
pronoun possessive, you’ll add a suffix
the end of the words, instead of using the pronouns. To say something
belongs to you, you only add to the word of what you are talking about.
Other differences to the Arabic pronouns
are:
Your: Add ka or k
(male, singular)
Your: Add ki or k (female, singular)
His: Add ho or h
Her: Add ha or h
Your: Add kum (female, plural)
Your: Add na (male, plural)
Their: Add kun (male, plural)
Their: Add kum (female, plural)
With these
possessive pronouns, you’ll also need
to add a different suffix to the word when you’re speaking to a group with
both males and females. If you were to say “our,” you would add the suffix “kuman.”
If you were to say “you,” add the word “human.” However, there are times
when a pronoun is not used at all in the Arabic language. For example,
“arastu” means studied, and it can be used by itself if you want to say “I
studied.”
When you look for courses in
Arabic instruction, you need to be sure
you find one that will give you practical exercises in pronoun usage. These
courses should also include a feedback mechanism so that you know when
you’ve made mistakes in pronoun conjugation.
Pronouns are one of the most difficult parts of the Arabic
language to learn, but they’re also some of the most important things to
learn, since incorrectly addressing a man or woman can be offensive. When
you’re able to master this area of the language, you’ll be well on your way
to becoming fluent in Arabic. However, it’s not going to happen overnight.
You’ll need to set aside a certain amount of time each day in order to learn
Arabic correctly.
Arabic Pronouns
Arabic Subject Pronouns:
In Arabic the
subject pronoun is more specific than
many other languages, for example there are different ways to say “you” in
Arabic depending on who you’re addressing it to, for example to address 2
people you use a subject pronoun different than the one you would use for a
single person, also if you’re addressing more than two people you will have
to use a different form for that as well. Finally most of subject pronouns
have a feminine and a masculine form. The table below shows the different
forms you may come across:
Arabic Subject Pronouns |
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
I أنا Ana |
you (singular masculine.)
أنتَ Anta |
you (singular feminine) أنتِ
Anti |
he
هو Howa |
she هي Hiya |
|
you (dual male or female)
أنتُما Antuma |
they (dual male or female)
هُما Humaa |
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We نحن Nahn |
you (plural masculine) أنتُم
Antum |
you (plural feminine)
أنتُن
Antun |
they (plural masculine) هُم
Hum |
they (plural
feminine) هُن
Hun |
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To say for example I’m a
boy = Ana walad! (Ana = I, walad = boy) as you may have
noticed “am” and “a” are omitted in Arabic, so it’s like saying “I boy”,
same thing with all other subject pronouns. He is a boy = Howa walad (he
boy), we’re boys = Nahnu* Awlad (we boys),
You
may also have noticed that Arabic has a “dual” form, meaning that Arabic is
being more specific about not only the gender but also the number, so the
dual form is used to refer to two people, if you want to talk to
Speak7 and Karim to tell them: you both speak Arabic! = Antuma
tatakallamani al ‘arabia انتما
تتكلّمان العربية , if you want to talk about them: they
both speak Arabic = Humaa yatakalamani al ‘arabia
هما يتكلمان العربية
.
For the plural there are
five subject pronouns, We = Nahn (for females and males). You = Antum (when
you talk to 3 males or more, or one male and the 2 females or more)
You = Antun (when you talk to 3 females or more).
They = Hum (when you talk about 3 males or more, or one male and the 2
females or more). They = Hun (when you talk about 3 females or more).
* Some subject pronouns
take an extra vowel at the end when they’re followed by other words, to make
the pronunciation smooth and easy, just like when you add an “n” to the
indefinite article “a” to some words, “an umbrella” instead of “a umbrella”
to make it easier to pronounce, same thing in Arabic, we add either “u” or
“a” to many words to make them go in harmony with other words following
them, we will go through that later, but for now you can keep using the
articles without these vowels especially because you will be still
understood even without adding them.
Arabic Object Pronouns:
Object pronouns in Arabic
are me, you, him, her, us, you (plural) and
come after a verb; In Arabic they’re as follows:
Arabic Object Pronouns |
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
Me: verb+ni
ني |
You (masculine): verb+k
كََ
|
You (feminine): verb+ki
كِ |
Him: verb+h
ه ، ـه |
Her: verb+ha
ها |
|
You (dual male or female):
verb+kumaa كُما |
Them (dual male or female):
verb+humaa هُما |
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We: verb+naa
نا |
You (plural masculine): verb+kum
كُم |
You (plural feminine): verb+kun
كُن |
Them (plural masculine): verb+hum
هُم |
Them (plural feminine): verb+hun
هُن |
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So to say in Arabic “you show me”, after conjugating the verb and adding the
“you” to it, you need to add the object pronoun “me” to it as well, note
that “you show me” in Arabic is written like “youshowme” meaning that the
subject pronoun + the verb + the object pronoun are all connected, “you” as
a prefix and “me” as a suffix of the verb “show”, so it would be
(you show me
= turini
تُريني )
(you show us
= turina
ترينا
) (you show him
= turih
تريه
).
Try to memorize these Arabic Pronouns, as they’re very important.
Arabic
Determinative Possessive Pronouns:
Similar to the Arabic
object pronouns, the determinative possessive pronouns look the same, the
only difference is that they end a noun and not a verb like above. So to
learn how to say “my house” “his car” “her dress” …you need to look at the
table below:
Arabic
Determinative Possessive
Pronouns |
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
Me: noun+i
ي |
You (masculine):
noun+k كََ |
You (feminine):
noun+ki كِ |
Him: noun+h
ه ، ـه |
Her: noun+ha
ها |
|
You (dual male or
female): noun+kumaa كُما |
Them (dual male
or female): noun+humaa هُما |
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We: noun+naa
نا |
You (plural
masculine): noun+kum كُم
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You (plural
feminine): noun+kun كُن |
Them (plural
masculine): noun+hum هُم |
Them (plural
feminine): noun+hun هُن |
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In Arabic you have to use
the possessive pronouns above as a suffix, meaning that they should be
ending the word (noun), here are some examples:
Book = Kitab كتاب
My book = Kitabi
كتابي
Your book = kitabuk
كتابك
Your book (singular female) = Kitabuki
كتابك
His book = Kitabuh
كتابه
Her book = Kitabuha
كتابها
Your book (dual male or female) = Kitabukumaa
كتابكما
Their book (dual male or female) = Kitabuhumaa
كتابهما
Our book = Kitabuna
كتابنا
Your book (plural masculine) = Kitabukum
كتابكم
Your book (plural feminine) = Kitabukun
كتابكن
Their book (plural masculine) = Kitabuhum
كتابهم
Their book (plural feminine) = kitabuhun
كتابهن
So it’s very easy to use
the possessive pronoun in Arabic, you just need to add the suffixes on the
table above to the word, and that’s it.
Arabic Prepositional
Pronouns:
(to me, for you, about her …any pronoun with a preposition preceding it)
It’s easy to use the prepositional pronouns in Arabic;
you just add the suffix below to the preposition, which looks exactly like
the ones we learn before in the possessive object, above:
Arabic Prepositional Pronouns |
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
Me: preposition+i
ي |
You (masculine):
preposition+k كََ |
You (feminine):
preposition+ki كِ |
Him:
preposition+h ه ، ـه |
Her:
preposition+ha ها |
|
You (dual male or
female): preposition+kumaa
كُما |
Them (dual male
or female): preposition+humaa
هُما |
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We:
preposition+naa نا |
You (plural
masculine): preposition+kum كُم |
You (plural
feminine): preposition+kun
كُن |
Them (plural
masculine): preposition+hum
هُم |
Them (plural
feminine): preposition+hun
هُن |
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So to say
“come to me” we would add the prepositional pronoun “me = i” to the Arabic
preposition “to = ila”, so “come to me = taala ilai
=
تعال إلي”
Said to me =
qaal li
قال لي
.
Arabic
Independent Possessive Pronouns:
In Arabic the independent
possessive pronoun is used to express “mine,
yours, hers….”
Example:
the book is mine: al kitab
li
الكتاب
لي,
the drink is ours: al mashroob lana المشروب
لنا
.
The table below shows the independent
possessive pronouns:
Arabic
Independent Possessive Pronouns |
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
Mine li
لي |
yours (sing
masculine) lak لك
|
yours (singular
feminine) laki
لك
|
his lah
له
|
hers laha
لها
ها |
|
yours (dual male
or female) lakumaa
لكما |
theirs (dual male
or female) lahumaa |
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Ours lana
لنا
|
yours (plural
masculine) lakum
لكم
|
yours (plural
feminine) lakun
لكن
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theirs (plural
masculine) lahum
لهم
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theirs (plural
feminine) lahun
لهن
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You can also use the word
“milk” to form independent possessive, the word milk
ملك
means “property of” …, the book is mine
(my property) = al kitaabu milki
الكتاب ملكي,
but I would suggest to use the pronouns on the table above which is
easier and more used.
www.worldofislam.info
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The
Holy Quran Quotes
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“Never think of those slain in the way of God to be dead; rather they are alive and are provided in the Presence of their Lord.”
(Al ‘Imran, 3:169)
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