Arabic has two sets of demonstratives, also known as “أسْماء الإشارة,” which are similar to the English ones this/these and that/those. The demonstrative phrase in Arabic consists of distinctly masculine and feminine cases for each set in the singular and dual forms. However, for plural forms, there is no distinction between genders.
Demonstratives are not subject to noun cases except within the dual form where they differ by nominative or accusative-genitive case distinctions.
Demonstratives table
Distance (that) | Proximity (this) | أَسْماء الإشارة Demonstrative pronouns | |||
المُؤَنَّث Feminine | المُذَكَّر Masculine | المُؤَنَّث Feminine | المُذَكَّر Masculine | ||
َتِلْك that | ذَلِكَ that | هَذِهِ this | هَذا this | المُفْرَد Singular | |
تانِكَ those two | ذانِكَ those two | هاتانِ these two | هَذانِ these two | مَرْفُوع Nom. | المُثَنّى Dual |
تَيْنِكَ those two | ذَيْنَكَ those two | هاتَيْنِ these two | هَذَيْنِ these two | مَنْصُوب ومَجْرور Acc. & Gen. | |
أُولائِكَ those | هَؤُلاءِ these | الجَمْع Plural |
Ways of use
The demonstrative can be used:
- As an adjective / بَدَل
- As a pronoun / ضمِير
The demonstrative as an adjective
The demonstrative acts as a demonstrative adjective when it is put in apposition (بَدَل) before the noun defined by the article. This is not an annexation: the demonstrative has no influence on the case of the noun that follows but agrees with it in gender (except in the plural) and number.
This library is big | هَذِهِ المَكْتَبةُ كَبِيرةٌ |
That woman is old | تِلْكَ المَرْأَةُ عَجوزٌ |
When a demonstrative is used to qualify the first term of annexation, it must be positioned after the entire phrase (after the 2nd term) similarly to other regular adjectives. In this case, we’ll only use the demonstrative of proximity.
This museum gallery is filthy | رُواقُ المَتْحَفِ هَذه وَسِخةٌ |
This ring from the princess is beautiful | خاتِمُ الأَمِيرةِ هَذِا جَميلٌ |
Note: The demonstrative may come before the last term of an annexation, which is the only exception to the general rule that nothing separates two terms in an annexation.
The gallery of this museum is filthy رُواقُ هَذه المَتْحَفِ وَسِخةٌ This princess’s ring is beautiful خاتِمُ هَذِه الأَمِيرةِ جَميلٌ
The demonstrative as a pronoun
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