Attached Pronouns in Arabic

⁨الضَّمَائِر الْمُتَّصِلَة⁩

Lesson 6 of 18Next: This and That in Arabic →

Words like "my", "me" and "him" are short endings attached to the word before them: ⁨كِتَاب⁩ (book) becomes ⁨كِتَابِي⁩ (my book). The same endings go on nouns, prepositions and verbs.

The Endings on Nouns

On a noun, the ending means "my", "your", "his" and so on. A noun with an ending is already definite, so it never takes ⁨ال⁩.

Pronoun	Ending	Example	Meaning
أَنَا	ـِي	كِتَابِي	my book
أَنْتَ	ـكَ	كِتَابُكَ	your book (to a man)
أَنْتِ	ـكِ	كِتَابُكِ	your book (to a woman)
هُوَ	ـهُ	كِتَابُهُ	his book
هِيَ	ـهَا	كِتَابُهَا	her book
نَحْنُ	ـنَا	كِتَابُنَا	our book
أَنْتُمْ	ـكُمْ	كِتَابُكُمْ	your book (to several people)
هُمْ	ـهُمْ	كِتَابُهُمْ	their book

After ⁨ة⁩, write ⁨ت⁩: ⁨سَيَّارَة⁩ becomes ⁨سَيَّارَتِي⁩ (my car).
An adjective after the noun takes ⁨ال⁩: ⁨بَيْتِي الْجَدِيد⁩ (my new house).
Women as a group use ⁨ـكُنَّ⁩ and ⁨ـهُنَّ⁩ (your, their).

On Prepositions

Prepositions take the same endings. ⁨لِ⁩ (for) becomes ⁨لَ⁩ before them, except in ⁨لِي⁩. After an i or y sound, ⁨ـهُ⁩ and ⁨ـهُمْ⁩ change to ⁨ـهِ⁩ and ⁨ـهِمْ⁩.

Arabic	Meaning
مَعِي	with me
عِنْدَكَ	you have (to a man)
لَهَا	for her, she has
فِيهِ	in it
عَلَيْكُمْ	on you (to several people)

Test yourself

5 quick questions on this lesson. How many can you get right?

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Question 1 of 5

Choose the right answer.

هٰذَا ___. (كِتَاب + أَنَا)

On Verbs: "Me" Is ⁨ـنِي⁩

On a verb, the ending is the object. The endings are the same as on nouns, except "me", which is ⁨ـنِي⁩, not ⁨ـِي⁩.

سَاعَدَنِي صَدِيقِي.My friend helped me.

أُحِبُّكِ.I love you. (to a woman)

رَأَيْتُهُمْ فِي السُّوق.I saw them at the market.

سَأَلَنَا الْمُعَلِّم.The teacher asked us.⁨سَأَلَنَا⁩ (he asked us) and ⁨سَأَلْنَا⁩ (we asked) differ only in one vowel.

Common Mistakes

Adding ⁨ال⁩: ⁨كِتَابِي⁩, never ⁨الْكِتَابِي⁩.
Using ⁨ـِي⁩ on a verb: ⁨يُسَاعِدُنِي⁩ (he helps me), not ⁨يُسَاعِدُي⁩.
Keeping ⁨ة⁩ before the ending: ⁨مَدِينَتُنَا⁩, not ⁨مَدِينَةُنَا⁩.
Mixing up ⁨ـكَ⁩ and ⁨ـكِ⁩: say ⁨كِتَابُكِ⁩ to a woman.

Example Sentences

مَا اسْمُكَ؟What's your name? (to a man)

اسْمِي سَارَة.My name is Sara.

بَيْتُنَا قَرِيب مِنَ الْبَحْر.Our house is near the sea.

هَلْ عِنْدَكِ وَقْت؟Do you have time? (to a woman)

تَعَالَ مَعِي.Come with me. (to a man)

السَّلَام عَلَيْكُمْ.Peace be upon you. (the usual greeting)

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