Pronouns / الضَمائِر

Pronouns in Arabic (الضَمائِر)

Pronouns in Arabic are indeclinable (not affected by noun cases). We differentiate two categories of pronouns in Arabic:

  • Detached pronouns / الضَمائِر المُنْفَصِلة
  • Attached pronouns / الضَمائِر المُتَّصِلة

Generally speaking, detached pronouns are assumed to be in the nominative case (even though they are indeclinable), whereas attached pronouns are rather in either the accusative or genitive cases.

Detached Pronouns / الضَمائِر المُنْفَصِلة

جَمْع
(plural)
مُثَنّى
(dual)
مُفْرَد
(singular)
نَحْنُ 
We/Us
أنا 
I/Me
المُتَكَلّم
(1st pers.)
أَنْتُم 
You
أَنْتُما 
You (two)
أنتَ 
You
المُذَكَّر
(Masculine)
المُخاطَب
(2nd pers.)
أَنْتُنَّ
You 
أَنتِ
You 
المُؤَنَّث
(Feminine)
هُم
They/Them 

هُما 
They/Them (two)
هُوَ
He/Him 
المُذَكَّر
(Masculine)
الغائب
(3rd pers.)

هُنَّ
They/Them 
هِيَ
Her 
المُؤَنَّث
(Feminine)

Note: The pronouns أَنْتُمْ and هُمْ both take a ḍamma instead of a sukūn when followed by a noun bearing the definite article ال

هُمُ الناجِحُونَ
They are the successful ones

Attached Pronouns / الضَمائِر المُتّصِلة

جَمْع
(plural)
مُثَنّى
(dual)
مُفْرَد
(singular)
ـنا
We/Us
ـِي
I/Me
المُتَكَلّم
(1st pers.)
ـكُمْ
You
ـكُما
You (two)
ـكَ
You
المُذَكَّر
Masculine
المُخاطَب
(2nd pers.)
ـكُنَّ
You 
ـكِ
You 
المُؤَنَّث
Feminine
ـهُمْ / ـهِمْ
They/Them 

ـهُما
They/Them (two)
ـهُ / ـهِ
He/Him 
المُذَكَّر
Masculine
الغائب
(3rd pers.)
ـهُنَّ / ـهِنَّ
They/Them 
ـها
Her 
المُؤَنَّث
Feminine

Note: The attached pronouns ـكُمْ and ـهُمْ work exactly as the detached one, which means they both take a ḍamma instead of a sukūn when followed by a noun bearing the definite article ال

Note 2: 3rd person pronouns ـهُمْ / ـهُنَّ / ـهُ all take the kasra if the word they are attached to is in genitive case or ends with a ي.

The book is at his houseالكِتابُ في بَيْتِهِ
There’s faith inside of themفِيهِمْ إِيمانٌ

Note 3: The first person singular pronoun ـِي erases the final short vowel of the noun or the preposition it is attached to and replace it by a kasra, except if the word ends with a long vowel. In the later case, the ي will have to bear the fatḥa

My restaurantمَطْعَمٌ + ـِي  = مَطْعَمِي
My levelمُستَوى + ـِي  = مُسْتوايَ
On meعَلى + ـِي  = عَليَّ

The attached pronouns work as suffixes which can follow:

Pronouns attached to nouns / الضَمائر المُتّصَلة بالأَسْماء

  • When attached to a noun, pronouns work as 2nd term of annexation.
  • When attached to a noun, pronouns are considered possessive pronouns.
نَظَرْتُ إِلى جُرْحِكَ
I looked at your wound

Pronouns attached to verbs / الضَمائر المُتّصَلة بالأَفْعال

  • When attached to a verb 3rd person plural masculine in the past tense the final alif ا of the verb drops.
سَأَلُوا + ه = سَأَلُوهُ
They asked him
  • When attached to a verb 2nd person plural masculine in the past tense, we add a و to facilitate pronunciation.
سَاَلْتُمْ + ها = سَأَلْتُموها
You asked her
  • When the 1st person singular pronoun ـِي is attached to a verb the letter ن of protection should be added before ـِي so it becomes نِي
لَكَمَ + ـِي = لَكَمَنِي
He punched me

Pronouns attached to prepositions / الضَمائر المُتّصَلة بحُروف الجَرّ

  • When attached to the preposition لِ its kasra becomes a fatḥa (except for the 1st person singular pronoun ـِي ). Example: for him = لَهُ
  • When the 1st person singular pronoun ـِي is attached to the prepositions مِنْ and عَنْ the letter ن should be added before ـِي so it becomes =>    عَنْ + ني = عَنِّي   / مِنْ + نِي = مَنِّي
طَلَبَ مِنِّي أَرْبَعَةَ دينارٍ
He asked [from] me 4 dinars.
  • Suffix pronouns can also be used with particle إيّا mainly used verbs having two direct complements like أَعْطى (to give). Used alone particle إيّا is used to warn.
He gave it to herأعْطاها إيّاه
I warn you not to be lazy!إِيّاكَ والكَسَل
Pronouns

Learn all about pronouns in Arabic and how to use them correctly.

Course Provider: Organization

Course Provider Name: ArabiKey

Course Provider URL: https://arabikey.com

Editor's Rating:
5

Related Articles

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Is there a summary on the differences between attached and deattached? I notice examples of attached clearly but does deattached pronouns seen in nominative, used in a sentence?

    1. In Arabic, most often you’ll find pronouns written in their “attached” form because when a pronoun is used within a sentence and isn’t the first word of the said sentence it’ll be attached to its preceding word. The only instances where detached pronouns will be used are generally either as subject (مبتدأ) in nominal sentences (الجملة الاسمية) (in that case they’ll be positioned as the first word of the sentence) or with interrogatives (أدوات الاستفهام).