Indirect pronouns: me, her, him . . .

I tried a search but did not find a match.
I did find possessives in the vocabulary lists.

Thanks, M

i’m not sure exactly what you mean gramatically, because i am not that good at grammar, but i encourage you that the laws of arabic grammar cant be understood perfectly through english language structural terms.

that being said (and it being a fact that i am currently 2 lazy or busy + unqualified to enter an arabic grammar discussion presently):

i present

from http://arabic.speak7.com/arabic_pronouns.htm

(ps i have edited out the dual, the feminine plural, and any other cases that we do not use in darija , either by deleting or crossing through them. if you want to see them, follow the link. also some of the pronunciation, a couple of the spellings, and a lot of the internal short vowels are different here (this is classical arabic). we can discuss moving forward, but this is a good introductory primer to the ways that pronouns are parsed and systemized in arabic (both classical and moroccan darija)

Arabic Subject Pronouns:

In Arabic the subject pronoun is more specific than many other languages, for example there are different ways to say “you” in Arabic depending on who you’re addressing it to, for example to address 2 people you use a subject pronoun different than the one you would use for a single person, also if you’re addressing more than two people you will have to use a different form for that as well. Finally most of subject pronouns have a feminine and a masculine form. The table below shows the different forms you may come across:

Arabic Subject Pronouns

I ??? Ana

you (singular masculine.) ??? Anta

you (singular feminine) ??? Anti

he ?? Howa

she ?? Hiya

they (dual male or female) ??? Humaa

We ??? Nahn

you (plural masculine) ??? Antum

they (plural masculine) ??? Hum

To say for example I’m a boy = Ana walad! (Ana = I, walad = boy) as you may have noticed “am” and “a” are omitted in Arabic, so it’s like saying “I boy”, same thing with all other subject pronouns. He is a boy = Howa walad (he boy), we’re boys = Nahnu* Awlad (we boys),

You may also have noticed that Arabic has a “dual” form, meaning that Arabic is being more specific about not only the gender but also the number, so the dual form is used to refer to two people, if you want to talk to Speak7 and Karim to tell them: you both speak Arabic! = Antuma tatakallamani al ‘arabia ??? ??? ??? , if you want to talk about them: they both speak Arabic = Humaa yatakalamani al ‘arabia ??? ??? ??? .

For the plural there are five subject pronouns, We = Nahn (for females and males). You = Antum (when you talk to 3 males or more, or one male and the 2 females or more)

You = Antun (when you talk to 3 females or more).
They = Hum (when you talk about 3 males or more, or one male and the 2 females or more). They = Hun (when you talk about 3 females or more).

  • Some subject pronouns take an extra vowel at the end when they’re followed by other words, to make the pronunciation smooth and easy, just like when you add an “n” to the indefinite article “a” to some words, “an umbrella” instead of “a umbrella” to make it easier to pronounce, same thing in Arabic, we add either “u” or “a” to many words to make them go in harmony with other words following them, we will go through that later, but for now you can keep using the articles without these vowels especially because you will be still understood even without adding them.

Arabic Object Pronouns:

Object pronouns in Arabic are me, you, him, her, us, you (plural) and come after a verb; In Arabic they’re as follows:

Arabic Object Pronouns

Me: verb+ni ??

You (masculine): verb+k ???

You (feminine): verb+ki ??

Him: verb+h ? ? ??

Her: verb+ha ??

We: verb+naa ??

You (plural masculine): verb+kum ???

Them (plural masculine): verb+hum ???

So to say in Arabic “you show me”, after conjugating the verb and adding the “you” to it, you need to add the object pronoun “me” to it as well, note that “you show me” in Arabic is written like “youshowme” meaning that the subject pronoun + the verb + the object pronoun are all connected, “you” as a prefix and “me” as a suffix of the verb “show”, so it would be (you show me = turini ??? ) (you show us = turina ??? ) (you show him = turih ??? ). Try to memorize these Arabic Pronouns, as they’re very important.

If you are looking for a more extensive Arabic course, we recommend Breaking The Arabic Code

Arabic Determinative Possessive Pronouns:

Similar to the Arabic object pronouns, the determinative possessive pronouns look the same, the only difference is that they end a noun and not a verb like above. So to learn how to say “my house” “his car” “her dress” …you need to look at the table below:

Arabic Determinative Possessive Pronouns

Me: noun+i ?

You (masculine): noun+k ???

You (feminine): noun+ki ??

Him: noun+h ? ? ??

Her: noun+ha ??

We: noun+naa ??

You (plural masculine): noun+kum ???

Them (plural masculine): noun+hum ???

In Arabic you have to use the possessive pronouns above as a suffix, meaning that they should be ending the word (noun), here are some examples:

Book = Kitab ???

My book = Kitabi ???

Your book = kitabuk ???

Your book (singular female) = Kitabuki ???

His book = Kitabuh ???

Her book = Kitabuha ???

Our book = Kitabuna ???

Your book (plural masculine) = Kitabukum ???

So it’s very easy to use the possessive pronoun in Arabic, you just need to add the suffixes on the table above to the word, and that’s it.

Arabic Prepositional Pronouns: (to me, for you, about her …any pronoun with a preposition preceding it)

It’s easy to use the prepositional pronouns in Arabic; you just add the suffix below to the preposition, which looks exactly like the ones we learn before in the possessive object, above:

Arabic Prepositional Pronouns

Me: preposition+i ?

You (masculine): preposition+k ???

You (feminine): preposition+ki ??

Him: preposition+h ? ? ??

Her: preposition+ha ??

We: preposition+naa ??

You (plural masculine): preposition+kum ???

Them (plural masculine): preposition+hum ???

So to say “come to me” we would add the prepositional pronoun “me = i” to the Arabic preposition “to = ila”, so “come to me = taala ilai = ??? ???”

Said to me = qaal li ??? ?? .

Arabic Independent Possessive Pronouns:

In Arabic the independent possessive pronoun is used to express “mine, yours, hers….”

Example: the book is mine: al kitab li ??? ??, the drink is ours: al mashroob lana ??? ??? . The table below shows the independent possessive pronouns:

Arabic Independent Possessive Pronouns

Mine li ??

yours (sing masculine) lak ??

yours (singular feminine) laki ??

his lah ??

hers laha ???

Ours lana ???

yours (plural masculine) lakum ???

theirs (plural masculine) lahum ???

[s]

You can also use the word “milk” to form independent possessive, the word milk ??? means “property of” …, the book is mine (my property) = al kitaabu milki ??? ???, but I would suggest to use the pronouns on the table above which is easier and more used.[/s]


in darija you can say ‘dial’ instead of the above, adding your endings i.e. diali- belonging to me, dialak belonging to you (male) dialik (female), dialna belonging to us and etc

(From the Peace Corps “Moroccan Arabic” which you can download for free)

Subject Pronouns
I ana
you (m.) nta
you (f.) nti
he huwa
she hiya
we 7na
you ntuma
they huma

Possessive Pronouns - these are added to the end of words (suffixes)
my - i / ya *
your - k
his - u / h *
her - ha
our - na
your - kum
their - hum

  • first ending used for words ending in a consonant, second for words ending in a vowel

Object Pronouns (NOTE : with the exception of 1st Pers. Sing. (me) they are the same
as the Possessive Pronouns, and like them they are added to
the end of words)
me -ni
you -k
him/it -u / k
her/it -ha
us -na
you -kum
them -hum