Arabic: Personal Pronouns
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Subject Pronouns
When a personal pronoun is in the position of subject, it is important to realize that arabic has a masculine and feminine version of the second person ("you"), moreover, arabic does not only have singular and plural, but it also has a dual number.
- first person singular: I - ('ana) أنا
- second person singular, masculine: You -('anta) أنتَ
- second person singular, feminine: You - ('anti) أنتِ
- third person singular, masculine: He - (huwa) هوَ
- third person singular, feminine: She - (hiya) هيَ
- first person plural: We - (naHnu) نحن
- second person plural, masculine: You(-all) - ('antum/'antumu) أنتم
- second person plural, feminine: You-(all) - ('antunna) أنتن
- third person plural, masculine: They - (hum/humu) هُم
- third person plural, feminine: They - (hunna) هُنّ
Where words have two different versions, such as 'antum and 'antumu. The latter is used to glue the word to the next, which happens if the next word starts with a consonant.
Moreover, arabic does not only have singular and plural, but it also has a dual number:
- second person dual, masculine and feminine: You (two) - ('antuma) أنتما
- third person dual, masculine and feminine: They (two) - ('huma) هُما
In Arabic, the subject pronoun does not occur as frequently as in English because the way a verb is conjugated already implies what person is the subject, rendering a subject pronoun obsolete. It can however still be mention in such cases for the purpouse of stressing the subject.
Note that when a mixed gender group is the subject (in dual or plural), the masculine form is used.
Object Pronouns
Object pronouns in arabic are attached as a suffix to a conjugated verb. We will give a list of these suffixes here:
- first person singular: Me - (..nī) ــنى
- second person singular, masculine: You - (..ka) ــك
- second person singular, feminine: You - (..ki) ــك
- third person singular, masculine: Him:
- after any short vowel except "i": (..hū) ــه
- after ā, ū or y: (..hu) ــه
- after i: (..hī) ــه
- after ay or ī: (..hi) ــه
- third person singular, feminine: Her - (..hā) ــها
- second person dual, masculine and feminine: You (two) - (..kumā) ــكما
- third person dual, masculine and feminine: Them (two) - (..humā) ــهما
- But after ay, i or ī: (..himā) ــهما
- first person plural: Us - (..nā) ــنا
- second person plural, masculine: You(-all) - (..kum) ــكم
- second person plural, feminine: You(-all) - (..kunna) ــكن
- third person plural, masculine: Them - (..hum) ــهم
- after ay, i or ī: (..him) ــهم
- third person plural, femine: Them - (..hunna) ــهن
- after ay, i or ī: (..hinna) ــهن
Personal Pronouns after a preposition
Just like object pronouns are attached suffixes to verbs, they are also attached as suffixes to prepositions, these forms are the same as the object pronouns, with the sole exception of the first person singular:
- first person singular: Me - (..ī) ــي
- after ā, ī, ū, or ay: Me - (..ya) ــي
Possessive Adjectives
The possessive adjective are exactly the same as those used after a preposition. They are attached as suffix to de noun they are adjective to:
Example:
- My book - (kitābī) كتابي
For extra stress, one can add the subject pronoun:
- MY book - (kitābī 'ana) كتابي انا
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