Attached pronouns

ديسمبر 26th, 2007

To express possession, you can use the word عِندَ (a’inda), which means “to have”. This word requires a pronoun suffix, or “attached pronoun”. For example, the attached pronoun نا (-na) is used for “we”. Take عِندَ and add نا and it becomes عِندَنا (a’indana), which means “we have”. It is important to note that عِندَ is not a verb.
Here are some objects:
سَيّارة (sayyara) - a car
بَيت (beyt) - a house, home
مَكاتِب (maktab) - an office
Now, say عِندَنا followed by the object, which can be definite (e.g. the car) or indefinite (e.g. a car).
عِندَنا سَيارة - We have a car
عِندَنا السَيارة - We have the car
The attached pronouns can also be suffixed to the object nouns. For example, تَيتنا (beytna) which means “our house”.
Here is the list of all attached pronouns.

First person
أنا (ana) ي (my) بَيتي (my house) عِندي بِيت (I have a house)
نَحنُ (nahnu) نا (our) بِيتنا (our house) عِندَنا بِيت (We have a house)
Second person
أنتَ (anta) - you (male, singular) كَ (your) سَيارتَكَ (your car) عِندَكَ سَيارة (You have a car)
أنتِ (anti) - you (female, singular) كِ (your) سَيارتَكِ (your car) عِندَكِ سَيارة (You have a car)
أنتُما (antuma) - you (dual) كُما (your) سَيارتَكُما (your car) عِندَكُما سَيارة (You have a car)
أنتُم (antum) - you (male, plural) كُم (your) سَيارتَكُم (your car) عِندَكُم سَيارة (You have a car)
أنتُنَّ (antuna) - you (female, plural) كُنَّ (your) سَيارتَكُنَّ (your car) عِندَكُنَّ سَيارة (You have a car)
Third person
هُوَ (huwa) - he هُ (his) مَكتابَهُ (his office) عِندَهُ مَكتاب (He has an office)
هيَ (hiya) - she ها (her) مَكتابَها (her office) عِندَها مَكتاب (She has an office)
هُما (huma) - they (dual) هُما (their) مَكتابَهُما (their office) عِندَهُما مَكتاب (They have an office)
هُم (hum) - they (male) هُم (their) مَكتابَهُم (their office) عِندَهُم مَكتاب (They have an office)
هُنَّ (huna) - they (female) هُنَّ (their) مَكتابَهُنَّ (their office) عِندَهُمنَّ مَكتاب (They have an office)

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I am studying Arabic at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and will be in Egypt in the summer. This site covers Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects of the Arabic language, and makes frequent use of YouTube videos, news, and other Arabic language resources on the Internet.