1. ALI139 – Arabic Grammar I
Week 5

2. Outline Types of Pronouns
Personal Pronouns: Subject, Object and Possessive
Subject Pronouns (الضمائر)
Object Pronouns (النصب ضمائر)
Possessive Pronouns (الملكية الضمائر)
Another way of looking at pronouns: Detached and Attached
Detached (المُنْفَصِلة الضمائر)
Attached (المتَّصِلة الضمائر)

3. Personal Pronouns
Arabic has three sets of personal pronouns: subject, object and possessive.
This is similar to English grammar. For example, think of the English pronouns I, me and my. I is a subject pronoun as in “I live here”. Me is an object pronoun as in “He saw me”. And my is a possessive pronoun as in “My father”.
Within each set, Arabic has more pronouns than English because of separate categories for masculine, feminine, singular, dual, plural, etc.
The pronouns can also be categorized as Detached or Attached Pronouns.
Subject pronouns are detached when they represent a noun. They are attached as a prefix or suffix to verbs when they denote the doer (subject) of the action.
Object pronouns are always suffixes to verbs and denote the person or thing to whom the action is being done to (by the subject)
Possessive pronouns are also suffixes but to nouns and particles as they denote possession i.e. who possesses the noun.

4. Subject Pronouns - Detached (المُنْفَصِلة - الضمائر)
الجمع
المفرد
we - نَحْن
I - أَنَا
المتكلّم
you (مذكر) - أنتم
you (مذكر) - أنتَ you (مؤنث) - أنتِ
المخاطب
they - هُم
he/it (مذكر) - هُوَ
she/it (مؤنث) - هِيَ
الغائب

5. Qur’anic Language Made Easy Hafiza Iffath Hasan
Review of Lesson 1.3 Detached (Subject) Pronouns

6. Possessive Pronouns (الملكية الضمائر)
Possessive Pronouns in Arabic are suffixes. Because they denote possession, they are usually attached to nouns e.g. والدي (my father), اسمها (her name), ابنه (his son)
Note: If a noun ends with ة, it is pronounced as ت when a pronoun suffix is added e.g. جامعتنا, مدرستي
الجمع
المفرد
نَا - (نَحْن)
ي - (أَنَا)
المتكلّم
كُم - (أنتم)
كَ - (أنتَ) كِ - (أنتِ)
المخاطب
هُم - (هُم)
هُ - (هُوَ)
هَا - (هِيَ)
الغائب

7. Possessive Pronouns (الملكية ضمائر)
الجمع
المفرد
بَيْتُنَا
بَيْتِي
المتكلّم
بَيْتُكُم
بَيْتُكَ
بَيْتُكِ
المخاطب
بَيْتُهُم
بَيْتُهُ
بَيْتُهَا
الغائب

8. Qur’anic Language Made Easy Hafiza Iffath Hasan
Review of Lesson 1.4 Attached Pronouns (General) &
Lesson 1.5 Attached Pronouns with Nouns (Possessive)

9. Object Pronouns (النصب ضمائر)
Object Pronouns are suffixes added to verbs to indicate the object of a verb i.e. to whom the action was done. e.g. ضربني (he hit me), يرحمها الله (Allah have mercy on her).
You will notice that except for the 1st person singular (أَنَا), all object pronouns match possessive pronouns.
الجمع
المفرد
us - نَا - (نَحْن)
me - نِي - (أَنَا)
المتكلّم
you (pl.) - كُم - (أنتم)
you (m.) - كَ - (أنتَ) you (f.) - كِ - (أنتِ)
المخاطب
them - هُم - (هُم)
him/it - هُ - (هُوَ)
her/it - هَا - (هِيَ)
الغائب

10. Object Pronouns (النصب ضمائر) with Past Tense (الماضى الفعل)
الجمع
المفرد
سَمِعَنَا
سَمِعَنِي
المتكلّم
سَمِعَكُم
سَمِعَكَ
سَمِعَكِ
المخاطب
سَمِعَهُم
سَمِعَهُ
سَمِعَهَا
الغائب

11. Object Pronouns (النصب ضمائر) with Present Tense (المضارع الفعل)
الجمع
المفرد
يَسْمَعُنَا
يَسْمَعُنِي
المتكلّم
يَسْمَعُكُم
يَسْمَعُكَ
يَسْمَعُكِ
المخاطب
يَسْمَعُهُم
يَسْمَعُهُ
يَسْمَعُهَا
الغائب

12. Qur’anic Language Made Easy Hafiza Iffath Hasan
Review of Lesson 1.6 Attached Pronouns with Verbs

13. More Notes on Pronouns
In spoken Arabic, the suffixes for أنتَ and أنتِ are often pronounced َك_ and ِك_ respectively.
If a verb is in past tense and masc. 2nd person plural (i.e. ending with تُم) and you add any object pronoun to it, then an extra و is added to help in pronunciation. E.g. علِمتُمونِي
Subject pronouns are detached for nouns but attached for verbs
Possessive Pronouns are attached but only to nouns and particles because they denote possession.
Object Pronouns are attached but only to verbs because they indicated the one to whom an action is done i.e. the object of the verb

14. Summary on Personal Pronouns English
Personal Pronouns (all detached)
Possessive Pronouns Nouns only
Subject Pronouns
Object Pronouns Verbs only I We
You (m.)
You (f.)
You (pl.)
He / it
She / it
They me us
You (m.)
You (f.)
You (pl.)
Him / it
Her / it
Them my
our
Your (m.)
Your (f.)
Your (pl.)
His / it
Her / it
Their

15. Summary on Personal Pronouns
الملكية الضمائر
الضمائر
النصب ضمائر
أَنَا
نَحْن
أنتَ
أنتِ
أنتم
هُوَ
هِيَ
هُم ي
نَا كَ كِ
كُم هُ
هَا
هُم
نِي
نَا كَ كِ
كُم هُ
هَا
هُم
Detached
Attached