َ َ‫اَلضَمَائَر‬
Adh-Dhamaa’ir
Arabic Pronouns.
Darul Ilm Publications
Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem.
Alhamdulillaahi Was Salaatu was Salaamu `Alaa Rasoolillaahi Wa `Alaa
Aalihi Wa Sahbihi Wa Man Waalahu, Wa Ba`d:
This is a short lesson on the usage of Pronouns and Possessive Pronouns in
the Arabic language.
In Arabic there are 14 pronouns, because the language has singular, dual
and plural, while English only has singular and plural.
These Pronouns are as follows:
.‫ي – ُه َما – ُه َّن‬
َ ‫ – ِه‬.‫ُه َو – ُه َما – ُه ْم‬
.‫ت – أ َ ْنت ُ َما – أ َ ْنت ُ َّن‬
ِ ‫ – أ َ ْن‬.‫ت – أ َ ْنت ُ َما – أ َ ْنت ُ ْم‬
َ ‫أ َ ْن‬
.‫أَنَا – ن َْح ُن‬
It is important that you memorize all fourteen of them, and to memorize
them in this particular order has its benefits, as it will make it much easier
to recall and use them.
They are: 3 masculine 3rd person, then 3 feminine 3rd person, then 3
masculine 2nd person, then 3 feminine 2nd person, then 2 1st person which is
used for both masculine and feminine.
‫ – ُه َو‬Huwa = He/It (singular absent male). i.e. Third
Person.
‫ – ُه َما‬Humaa = They (dual absent male) i.e. Third Person.
‫ – ُه ْم‬Hum = They (plural absent male for 3 people or
more) i.e. Third Person.
‫ي‬
َ ‫ – ِه‬Hiya = She/It (singular absent female) i.e. Third
Person.
‫ – ُه َما‬Humaa = They (dual absent female) i.e. Third
Person.
‫ – ُه َّن‬Hunna = They (plural absent female for 3 people or
more) i.e. Third Person.
‫ت‬
َ ‫ – أ َ ْن‬Anta = You (singular present male) i.e. Second
Person.
‫ – أ َ ْنت ُ َما‬Antumaa = You (dual present male) i.e. Second
Person.
‫ – أ َ ْنت ُ ْم‬Antum = You (plural present male for 3 people or
more) i.e. Second Person.
‫ت‬
ِ ‫ – أ َ ْن‬Anti = You (singular present female) i.e. Second
Person.
‫ – أ َ ْنت ُ َما‬Antumaa = You (dual present female) i.e. Second
Person.
‫ – أ َ ْنت ُ َّن‬Antunna = You (plural present female for 3 people
or more) i.e. Second Person.
‫ – أَنَا‬Ana = I (singular male or female) i.e. First Person.
‫ – ن َْح ُن‬Nahnu = We (plural male or female) i.e. First
Person.
Note: First person does not have a dual form.
To give an example of each:
‫ ُه َو ُم ْس ِلم‬- Huwa Muslimun = He is a Muslim.
‫ان‬
ِ ‫ ُه َما ُم ْس ِل َم‬- Humaa Muslimaani = They (two men) are
Muslims.
‫ ُه ْم ُم ْس ِل ُم ْو َن‬- Hum Muslimoona = They (three or more
males) are Muslims.
‫ي ُم ْس ِل َمة‬
َ ‫ ِه‬- Hiya Musimatun = She is a Muslimah.
‫ان‬
ِ َ ‫ ُه َما ُم ْس ِل َمت‬- Humaa Muslimataani = They (two
females) are Muslimahs.
‫ ُه َّن ُم ْس ِل َمات‬- Hunna Muslimaatun = They (three or
more females) are Muslimahs.
‫ت ُم ْس ِلم‬
َ ‫ أ ْن‬- Anta Muslimun = You are a Muslim.
‫ان‬
ِ ‫ أ َ ْنت ُ َما ُم ْس ِل َم‬- Antumaa Muslimaani = You two (males)
are Muslims.
‫ أ َ ْنت ُ ْم ُم ْس ِل ُم ْو َن‬- Antum Muslimoona = You are all (three
or more) Muslims.
‫ت ُم ْس ِل َمة‬
ِ ‫ أ َ ْن‬- Anti Muslimatun = You are a Muslimah.
‫ان‬
ِ َ ‫ أ َ ْنت ُ َما ُم ْس ِل َمت‬- Antumaa Muslimataani = You two
(females) are Muslimahs.
‫ أ ُ ْنت ُ َّن ُم ْس ِل َمات‬- Antunna Muslimaatun = You all
(females) are Muslimahs.
‫ أَنَا ُم ْس ِلم‬- Ana Muslimun = I am a Muslim (male).
‫ أَنَا ُم ْس ِل َمة‬- Ana Muslimatun = I am a Muslimah
(female).
‫ ن َْح ُن ُم ْس ِل ُم ْو َن‬- Nahnu Muslimoona = We (men) are
Muslims.
‫ نَ ْح ُن ُم ْس ِل َمات‬- Nahnu Muslimaatun = We (women) are
Muslimahs.
This is how these pronouns are written and used in their independent
standalone forms, the Tashkeel/Harakaat (diacritical marks) will not change
of any of them.
As you can see above, the dual forms “Humaa” and “Antumaa” are the
same for both male and female, so you will tell from the context of the
sentence whether they are referring to men or women, in the examples
given above, “Muslimaani” is used for two men, it is a masculine word
because we are referring to two men, while “Muslimataani” is used for two
women, and it is a feminine word because of us speaking about two
females. Likewise is the case when using First Person.
However in the case of Possessive Pronouns, these Pronouns take on
different forms, and these forms are:
.‫ َها – ُه َما – ُه َّن‬.‫هُ – ُه َما – ُه ْم‬
.‫ – ِك – ُك َما – ُك َّن‬.‫َك – ُك َما – ُك ْم‬
.‫ي ِ – نَا‬
Once again I would recommend memorising them in this particular order,
for the same reason mentioned above.
They are: 3 masculine 3rd person, then 3 feminine 3rd person, then 3
masculine 2nd person, then 3 feminine 2nd person, then 2 1st person which is
used for both masculine and feminine.
ُ‫ ه‬- Hu = He/It (singular absent male). i.e. Third Person.
It also becomes Hi in certain cases:
‫ ِه‬- Hi = He/It (singular absent male). i.e. Third Person.
‫ – ُه َما‬Humaa = They (dual absent male) i.e. Third Person.
‫ – ُه ْم‬Hum = They (plural absent male for 3 people or
more) i.e. Third Person.
‫ – َها‬Haa = She/It (singular absent female) i.e. Third
Person.
‫ – ُه َما‬Humaa = They (dual absent female) i.e. Third
Person.
‫ – ُه َّن‬Hunna = They (plural absent female for 3 people or
more) i.e. Third Person.
‫ – َك‬Ka = You (singular present male) i.e. Second Person.
‫ – ُك َما‬Kumaa = You (dual present male) i.e. Second
Person.
‫ – ُك ْم‬Kum = You (plural present male for 3 people or more)
i.e. Second Person.
‫ – ِك‬Ki = You (singular present female) i.e. Second Person.
‫ – ُك َما‬Kumaa = You (dual present female) i.e. Second
Person.
‫ – ُك َّن‬Kunna = You (plural present female for 3 people or
more) i.e. Second Person.
ِ ‫ – ي‬Ee = Me/Mine (singular male or female) i.e. First
Person.
‫ – نَا‬Naa = Ours (plural male or female) i.e. First Person.
Note: First person does not have a dual form.
The only Possessive Pronoun which has the ability to have two different
diacritical marks is the singular absent male (i.e. Third Person) form, as that
can be either Hu or Hi, the rest of the possessive pronouns remains
unchanged as they are.
To give an example of each, let us take the word “Kitaab” meaning “Book”:
ُ‫ ِكتَابُه‬- Kitaabuhu = His book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُه َما‬- Kitaabuhumaa = Their (two men) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُه ْم‬- Kitaabuhum = Their (three or more men)
book.
‫ ِكتَابُ َها‬- Kitaabuhaa = Her book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُه َما‬- Kitaabuhumaa = Their (two women) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُه َّن‬- Kitaabuhunna = Their (three or more
women) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ َك‬- Kitaabuka = Your (singular male) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُك َما‬- Kitaabukumaa = Your (two men) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُك ْم‬- Kitaabukum = Your (three or more men)
book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ِك‬- Kitaabuki = Your (singular female) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُك َما‬- Kitaabukumaa = Your (two women) book.
‫ ِكتَابُ ُك َّن‬- Kitaabukunna = Your (three or more
women) book.
‫ ِكتَا ِب ْي‬- Kitaabee = My book.
‫ ِكتَابُنَا‬- Kitaabunaa = Our book.
I mentioned above that the singular absent male possessive pronoun “Hu”
also becomes “Hi” in some cases, a few examples of that is:
‫ فِ ْي ِه‬- Feehi = In him/it.
‫ ِإلَ ْي ِه‬- Ilayhi = To him/it.
‫ ِب ِه‬- Bihi = With him/it.
As can be seen from the above, the only drastic changes in form between
the possessive and non-possessive pronouns, is in the singular male and
female, present and absent pronouns, and also the first person pronouns,
the rest is very similar to one another in both forms.
So keeping this all in mind, you should now be able to start using Pronouns
Bi-Idhnillaah.
Wa aakhiru da`waanaa anilhamdu lillaahi Rabbil `aalameen.