Pronouns In Modern Standard Arabic

Pronouns in the Arabic language, as in any other language, are easy to learn and understand. Arabic pronouns can, however, become difficult and cause some confusion for students. This is because they are divided into four sections, and students usually study them at different levels, separated by months or even years.

This article you will teach you how to completely avoid this confusion, and allow you to understand the full picture of Arabic pronouns in your mind. Read this article carefully, use it as a reference and come back to it every time you need to remind yourself of anything concerning Arabic pronouns. Let’s begin.

Pronouns in Arabic الضَّمَائِر belong to the category of nouns. Therefore, every rule that applies to nouns will apply to them as well. They are used to substitute for nouns, as well as to refer to them. For example:

• توم طالبٌ أجنبي، هو من أمريكا (Tom is a foreign student, he is from the USA).

Pronouns in Arabic are divided into four categories.

Subject Pronouns:

1. Separate Subject Pronouns
2. Attached Subject Pronouns

Object Pronouns:

1. Separate Object Pronouns
2. Attached Object Pronouns

Only two of these are important at the beginner level, being that they are the most frequently used and the least complicated. For this reason, the ones that I’ll explain here are:

• Separate Subject Pronouns
• Attached Object Pronouns

The other two categories (Attached Subject Pronouns and Separate Object Pronouns) will only be explained briefly.

Separate Subject Pronouns

	English	Arabic (MSA)	Pronunciation
First Person	I	أَنَا	ana
	we	نَحْنُ	nahnu
Second Person	you (masculine)	أَنْتَ	anta
	you (feminine)	أَنْتِ	anti
	you (dual)	أَنْتُمَا	antumaa
	you (masculine plural)	أَنْتُمْ	antum
	you (feminine plural)	أَنْتُنَّ	antunna
Third Person	he	هُوَ	huwa
	she	هِيَ	hiya
	the two of them (dual)	هُمَا	humaa
	they (masculine)	هُمْ	hum
	they (feminine)	هُنَّ	hunna

Examples:

Pronoun	Example	Translation
أَنَا	أَنَا مُدَرِّسٌ.	I am a teacher.
نَحْنُ	نَحْنُ طُلَّابٌ.	We are students.
أَنْتَ	أَنْتَ مَاهِرٌ.	You are clever.
أَنْتِ	أَنْتِ كَرِيمَةٌ جِدًّا.	You (feminine) are very gracious.
أَنْتُمَا	هَلْ أَنْتُمَا فِي إِجَازَةٍ؟	Are you both on vacation?
أَنْتُمْ	أَنْتُمْ مُجْتَهِدُونَ.	You guys are diligent.
أَنْتُنَّ	أَنْتُنَّ بَنَاتٌ طَيِّبَاتٌ.	You are good girls.
هُوَ	هُوَ فِي الْمَكْتَبِ.	He is in the office.
هِيَ	هِيَ طَبِيبَةٌ.	She is a doctor.
هُمَا	هُمَا صَدِيقَانِ.	The two of them are friends.
هُمْ	هُمْ جِيرَانِي.	They are my neighbors.
هُنَّ	هُنَّ مِصْرِيَّاتٌ.	They (feminine plural) are Egyptians.

Non-human objects must be either masculine or feminine in Arabic. For example قَلَم  (pen) is masculine, therefore it uses the subject pronoun هُوَ.

مَدْرَسَة (school), however, is feminine, and so it uses the subject pronoun هِيَ. Nevertheless, all non-human plurals take the feminine singular, for example  هِيَ (school) and هِيَ (pens).

Attached Subject Pronouns

These are contained within the declensions that appear at the end of both perfective and imperfective verbs. You can think of them as the suffixes that you add to verbs when you conjugate them, like this:

• كَتَبَ / kataba (to write, he wrote)

Check out the table below for more examples.

Pronoun	Attached pronoun	Example	Translation
أَنَا	ـتُ	أَنَا كَتَبْتُ.	I wrote.
نَحْنُ	ـنَا	نَحْنُ كَتَبْنَا.	We wrote.
أَنْتَ	ـتَ	أَنْتَ كَتَبْتَ.	You wrote.
أَنْتِ	ـتِ	أَنْتِ كَتَبْتِ.	You (feminine) wrote.
أَنْتُمَا	ـتُمَا	أَنْتُمَا كَتَبْتُمَا.	You two wrote.
أَنْتُمْ	ـتُمْ	أَنْتُمْ كَتَبْتُمْ.	You guys wrote.
أَنْتُنَّ	ـتُنَّ	أَنْتُنَّ كَتَبْتُنَّ.	You (feminine plural) wrote.
هُوَ	ـَ	هُوَ كَتَبَ.	He wrote.
هِيَ	ـَـتْ	هِيَ كَتَبَتْ.	She wrote.
هُمَا	ـَـا	هُمَا كَتَبَا.	They both wrote.
هُمْ	ـُـوا	هُمْ كَتَبُوا.	They wrote.
هُنَّ	ـْـنَ	هُنَّ كَتَبْنَ.	They (feminine plural) wrote.

To this, we can add what is known as the “hiding pronoun.” Since not all verbs have declensions that can be deemed subject pronouns, Arab grammarians postulated that there should be an invisible hidden pronoun ضَمِير مُسْتَتِر after each verb that does not have a declension.

Separate Object Pronouns

These are rare in modern Arabic, so we don’t usually study them at the beginner level.

But, just so you know, here they are:

	English	Arabic (MSA)	Pronunciation
First Person	me	إِيَّايَ	iyyaaya
	us	إِيَّانَا	iyyaana
Second Person	you (masculine)	إِيَّاكَ	iyyaaka
	you (feminine)	إِيَّاكِ	iyyaaki
	you (dual)	إِيَّاكُمَا	iyyaakuma
	you (masculine plural)	إِيَّاكُمْ	iyyaakum
	you (feminine plural)	إِيَّاكُنَّ	iyyaakunna
Third Person	him	إِيَّاهُ	iyyaahu
	her	إِيَّاهَا	iyyaahaa
	the two of them (dual)	إِيَّاهُمَا	iyyaahumaa
	them (masculine)	إِيَّاهُمْ	iyyaahum
	them (feminine)	إِيَّاهُنَّ	iyyaahunna

Examples:

• إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ (قرآن كريم، سورة الفاتحة). It is You we worship and You we ask for help. (Quran Karim, Al-Fatihah).
• أَنْتَ تَعْرِفُ الْقَاعِدَةَ، مِن فَضْلِكَ عَلِّمْنِي إِيَّاهَا. You know the rule, please teach me.
• هُدَى طَلَبَتْ مِنِّي الْقَلَمَ، فَأَعْطَيْتُهَا إِيَّاهُ. Huda asked me for the pen, so I gave it to her.

Attached Object Pronouns

Object pronouns ضَمَائِر المفْعُول appear as suffixes at the end of verbs. They refer to the object (affected party) of the verb. For example قَابَلَنِي (he met me) or سَاعَدتهُم (I helped them). There is a great deal of overlap between the forms of possessive and object pronouns; the same suffixes are used for most pronouns, except “my” and “me,” which are different.

Object pronouns (attached to the verb)

Object pronouns (“me,” “you,” “us,” “him,” “her” and “them”) are used when you do something directly to someone or something else. In Arabic, these pronouns are suffixes that are attached to the verb:

	English	Arabic (MSA)	Pronunciation	Example	Translation
First Person	me	ـنِي	-ni	عَرِفَنِي	He knew me
	us	ـنَا	-na	عَرِفَنَا	He knew us
Second Person	you (masculine)	ـكَ	-ka	عَرِفَكَ	He knew you (masculine)
	you (feminine)	ـكِ	-ki	عَرِفَكِ	He knew you (feminine)
	you (dual)	ـكُمَا	-kuma	عَرِفَكُمَا	He knew both of you
	you (masculine plural)	ـكُمْ	-kum	عَرِفَكُمْ	He knew all of you guys
	you (feminine plural)	ـكُنَّ	-kunna	عَرِفَكُنَّ	He knew all of you girls
Third Person	him	ـهُ	-hu	عَرِفَهُ	He knew him
	her	ـهَا	-haa	عَرِفَهَا	He knew her
	the two of them (dual)	ـهُمَا	-humaa	عَرِفَهُمَا	He knew both of them
	them (masculine)	ـهُمْ	-hum	عَرِفَهُمْ	He knew all of them (masculine)
	them (feminine)	ـهُنَّ	-hunna	عَرِفَهُنَّ	He knew all of them (feminine)

Examples:

Pronoun	Translation	Example	Translation
ـنِي	me	قَابَلَتْنِي فِي الْحَفْلَةِ.	She met me at the party.
ـنَا	us	سَمِعَنَا نَتَكَلَّمُ فِي الْمَكْتَبِ.	He heard us talk in the office.
ـكَ	you (masculine)	مَنْ أَخْبَرَكَ بِوَقْتِ الْحَفْلَةِ؟	Who told you the time of the party?
ـكِ	you (feminine)	مَنْ عَلَّمَكِ لِعْبَ الشَّطْرَنْجِ؟	Who taught you (feminine) to play chess?
ـكُمَا	you (dual)	لِمَاذَا تَرَكَتْكُمَا أُمُّكُمَا هُنَا؟	Why did your (dual) mother leave here?
ـكُمْ	you (masculine plural)	فَهِمْتُكُمْ!	I got you guys!
ـكُنَّ	you (feminine plural)	أَيْنَ رَأَيْتُكُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلُ؟	Where did I see you (feminine plural) before?
ـهُ	him	أَخَذَهُ أَبُوهُ إِلَى الْحَدِيقَةِ.	His father took him to the park.
ـهَا	her	أَحَبَّهَا مِنْ أَوَّلِ نَظْرَةٍ.	He loved her at first sight.
ـهُمَا	the two of them (dual)	رَأَيْتُهُمَا أَمْسِ فِي السِّينِمَا.	I saw them both at the cinema yesterday.
ـهُمْ	them (masculine)	أَخُوهُمْ سَاعَدَهُمْ.	Their brother helped them.
ـهُنَّ	them (feminine)	سَامَحَتْهُنَّ بِرَغْمِ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ.	She forgave them (feminine plural) despite everything.

Possessive pronouns (attached to the noun)

Possessive pronouns (“my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “our” and “their”) are used to indicate ownership of something. In Arabic, as with object pronouns, these take the form of suffixes; they are attached to the noun that is “owned.” The object and possessive pronoun suffixes are exactly the same except for the first person singular:

	English	Arabic (MSA)	Pronunciation	Example	Translation
First Person	my	ـِي	-i	كِتَابِي	My book
	our	ـنَا	-na	كِتَابُنَا	Our book
Second Person	your (masculine)	ـكَ	-ka	كِتَابُكَ	Your book (masculine)
	your (feminine)	ـكِ	-ki	كِتَابُكِ	Your book (feminine)
	your (dual)	ـكُمَا	-kuma	كِتَابُكُمَا	Your book (dual)
	your (masculine plural)	ـكُمْ	-kum	كِتَابُكُمْ	Your book (masculine plural)
	your (feminine plural)	ـكُنَّ	-kunna	كِتَابُكُنَّ	Your book (feminine plural)
Third Person	his	ـهُ	-hu / -hi	كِتَابُهُ	His book
	her	ـهَا	-haa	كِتَابُهَا	Her book
	their (dual)	ـهُمَا	-humaa / -himaa	كِتَابُهُمَا / كِتَابِهِمَا	Their book (dual)
	their (masculine)	ـهُمْ	-hum / -him	كِتَابُهُمْ / كِتَابِهِمْ	Their book (masculine)
	their (feminine)	ـهُنَّ	-hunna / -hinna	كِتَابُهُنَّ / كِتَابِهِنَّ	Their book (feminine)

Examples:

Pronoun	Translation	Example	Translation
ـِي	my	أُخْتِي مُدَرِّسَةٌ أَيْضًا.	My sister is a teacher too.
ـنَا	our	هَذَا بَيْتُنَا الْجَدِيدُ.	This is our new home.
ـكَ	your (masculine)	مَا اسْمُكَ؟	What is your name?
ـكِ	your (feminine)	هَلْ هَذَا كِتَابُكِ؟	Is this your (feminine) book?
ـكُمَا	your (dual)	أَيْنَ صَدِيقُكُمَا؟	Where is your (dual) friend?
ـكُمْ	your (masculine plural)	مَنْ أَحْضَرَ حَقَائِبَكُمْ؟	Who brought your (masculine plural) bags?
ـكُنَّ	your (feminine plural)	أَنَا مُدَرِّسُكُنَّ الْجَدِيدُ.	I am your (feminine plural) new teacher.
ـهُ	his	مَا عُنْوَانُهُ؟	What is his address?
ـهَا	her	شَعْرُهَا أَسْوَدُ.	Her hair is black.
ـهُمَا	their (dual)	حَضَرْنَا زِفَافَهُمَا.	We attended their (dual) wedding.
ـهُمْ	their (masculine)	بَيْتُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ.	Their home is bigger.
ـهُنَّ	their (feminine)	بِطَاقَاتُهُنَّ فِي الاسْتِقْبَالِ.	Their ID cards are at reception.

If the noun that is owned ends in a taa marbuuta (ـة), it must be "untied" and turned into aت before the pronoun suffix is added:

• مَدْرَسَة / madrasa (school)

Untie the taa marbuuta to get مَدْرَسَت and then add the pronoun suffix:

• مَدْرَسَتِي / madrasati (my school)
• مَدْرَسَتُنَا / madrasatuna (our school)

Not too difficult, right?

As we have seen, Arabic pronouns are divided into four categories that you would often study in four different classes. However, it is very important to understand how they relate and how to differentiate between them in order to avoid any confusion about how use them correctly.