Pronouns
Reference:
Normally, the pronoun refers back to a noun. Such a reference is called an
anaphoric reference, true for both English and Arabic, e.g.,
The man whom you saw is my friend
‫الرجل الذي رأيته صديقي‬
However, the pronoun sometimes refers forward, not backwards. It is called a
pronoun with a cataphoric reference. Examples:
It is he whom I told you about
‫هو الرجل الذي حدثتك عنه‬
Co-reference and Concord:
In both languages, a pronoun usually refers to a noun, whether anaphorically or
cataphorically and the two have a common reference: they both refer to the same
person or thing; the pronoun and the noun become co-referential.This co-reference
requires concord, i.e., agreement, between the pronoun and the noun in case,
person, gender, and number. This is true for both languages, e.g.,
‫هو ولد‬
‫هي بنت‬
‫هم أوالد‬
Case: both languages have pronouns distributed over different cases:
1- Nominative pronoun: e.g. I, he
2- Accusative pronoun: e.g. him, us
3- Genitive pronoun: e.g. mine, my
‫ هو‬،‫أنا‬
‫ إيانا‬،‫إياه‬
‫ ي‬،‫لي‬
Arabic adds a case marker to the noun, an addition unused in English, e.g.
‫ رجلا‬، ‫ رج ٌل‬، ‫رج ٍل‬
Number:
The pronoun in English has two numbers like the noun: singular and plural.
Singular pronouns areI, he, she, it, you, me, him, her, mine, my, his her, hers, its,
andyours. Plural pronouns are we, you, they, us, them, our, ours, your, yours,
their, and theirs.There are many pronouns other than those, e.g. myself, none.
Each pronoun in English is either singular or plural. Some pronouns can be used
to cover both singular and plural, e.g. you, yours.
The pronoun in Arabic is singular, dual, or plural. Examples of dual pronouns are
‫ كما‬،‫هما‬. The dual meaning in English is considered plural. Further, in Arabic,
every difference in number causes a difference in the pronoun form: there is not
one pronoun that can cover two numbers or more. English has you, which
parallels‫َأنتن‬،‫َأنتم‬،‫َأنتما‬،ِ‫َأنت‬،َ‫انت‬.
Gender:
Pronouns in English have four genders: masculine (he), feminine (she), neutral
(it), and common (they). Pronouns in Arabic have these three genders:
masculine(‫(هو‬, feminine(‫(هي‬, and common()‫نحن‬.
When comparing the gender of the pronoun in English and Arabic, you notice
that:
1- English has a neutral gender; Arabic does not.
2- First person pronouns have a common gender in both English and Arabic; (I,
we) and )‫ نحن‬،‫ )أنا‬stand for both masculine and feminine.
3- English uses you as common in gender. Arabic uses a different pronoun for
each different reference, e.g. ‫َأنتم‬،‫َأنتن‬،‫َأنتما‬،َ‫َأنت‬،‫ت‬
َِ ‫أن‬.
4- Arabic uses some pronouns as common in gender, e.g. ‫ هما‬،‫أنتما‬.
Person:
English uses the pronoun in three persons, and so does Arabic:
1- First person. It covers pronouns referring to the speaker. It includes the
pronouns I, we ‫ نحن‬،‫أنا‬.
2- Second person. It covers pronouns referring to the addressed person, e.g. you
‫أنت‬. English has one pronoun in the second person, whereas Arabic has five
different ones:‫ أنتم‬،‫ أنتن‬،‫ أنتما‬،‫ أنت‬،‫أنت‬.
3- Third person. It covers the other pronouns, i.e. those not referring to the speaker
or addressee, e.g. he, she, it, they‫ هم‬،‫ هما‬،‫ هي‬،‫هو‬. The pronoun theystands for
masculine and feminine references, whereas Arabic has two words for the same
cover, i.e. ‫ هم‬،‫هن‬.
Semantic features:
If we compare the main pronouns in both English and Arabic, in the nominative
case, with regard to their semantic cover, we notice that:
1- The pronouns I and‫أنا‬stand for the singular speaker, whether masculine or
feminine.
2- The pronouns weand ‫نحن‬stand for the plural, whether masculine or feminine.
3- The pronoun youis wider than‫أنت‬in its semantic cover. It can refer to singular,
dual, or plural; masculine or feminine. Arabic uses more specific words such as
‫ أنتم‬،‫ أنتن‬،‫ أنتما‬،‫ أنت‬،‫أنت‬.
4- The pronoun he refers to the masculine singular in the third person. The Arabic
‫هو‬is also masculine singular.
5- The pronoun she refers to a feminine third person singular. In Arabic, ‫هي‬refers
to the same.
6- The pronoun it refers to a third person singular animal or thing. Arabic does not
have a similar pronoun because ‫هو‬and ‫ هي‬replace it.
7- The pronoun theyrefers to a third person plural, whether masculine or feminine,
human or non-human. In contrast, Arabic uses ‫هم‬for a masculine human plural and
‫هن‬for a feminine human plural. If the noun is plural but non-human, the pronoun
‫هي‬,not ‫هن‬or ‫هم‬, is used as a co-referential, e.g. ‫هي البحار‬.
8- English does not have dual pronouns, but Arabic has, e.g. ‫ هما‬،‫أنتما‬, both of
whichrefer to masculine and feminine.
Free and bound pronouns:
All English pronouns are free: each makes one word, e.g. he, him, his. Arabic
pronouns are either free or bound:‫إياك‬،‫ أنتم‬،‫أنت‬are free, but ‫ نا‬،‫ ك‬،‫ ت‬are bound since
they are suffixed to another word, e.g. ‫كتبت‬.
Reflexive and emphatic pronouns:
English has reflexive pronouns: myself, herself…..etc, and Arabic has similar
words. When comparing the two languages, you find the following:
1- Both languages use reflexive pronouns as objects:
Hani saw himself in the mirror
‫هاني رأى نفسه في المرآة‬
2- In English and Arabic, the same reflexive may function as an emphasizer, e.g.
Hani himself did it
‫هاني نفسه فعل ذلك‬
3- In English and Arabic, when the reflexive is preceded by a preposition, it
means “alone”
Hani did it by himself
‫هاني فعل ذلك بنفسه‬
4- Whether the pronoun is reflexive or emphatic, in English and Arabic, it has to
agree in number and gender with the previous antecedent, e.g. he himself, we
ourselves.
5- In both English and Arabic, the reflexive consists of one word made of two
morphemes: one is self and the other is a pronoun morpheme, e.g. my and
‫ي‬:myself, ‫نفسي‬.
6- The pronoun morpheme in the reflexive comes first in English, but second in
Arabic.
Relative pronouns:
English has three types of relatives. The first is personal used for persons
only:who, whom. The second is non-personal used for non- humans only: which.
The third is common used for both humans and non-humans: whose and that. In
Arabic, we have pronouns like ‫ اللئي‬،‫ اللتي‬،‫ اللذين‬،‫ اللتان‬،‫ اللذان‬،‫التي‬،‫الذي‬.
In English, the relative pronouns are sensitive to the antecedent being human or
non-human, but they are not sensitive to the number or gender of the antecedent.
In contrast, Arabic, the relative pronouns are sensitive to the gender and number
of the antecedent, but not sensitive to the human feature of the antecedent.
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