PRONOUNS

                                         

                     PRONOUNS

Learning Arabic can be difficult, since many of the sounds and the appearance of the language are quite different from English. Learning to correctly apply pronouns in your Arabic conversation may seem tough, but it’s one of the most important steps to achieving fluency in the language.

When you first start learning Arabic, you’ll quickly learn that one of the most important lessons is that of the Arabic pronouns. Arabic pronouns may seem more complicated than their English counterparts, since there are a few of the Arabic pronouns – “he,” “she,” “I,” and “you” – that can be used alone, without the need to conjugate them, and can stand without a verb.

For example, when telling your name, you would only use the Arabic word for “me” or “I,” and then use your name. You don’t need any verb such as “am” or “is.” This may sound peculiar if you were translating it to English, but is correct in Arabic. Here are the translations for the different Arabic pronouns.

I – ana /// We - nahnu

You (m) – anta // (f) – anti /// You plural (m) – antum // (f) - antun

She –hya /// They (f) - hunna

He – howa /// They (m) - hum

In the case of “you,” if you’re speaking to a group of people of both genders at once, you would use the pronoun “antum”.

 One way that Arabic differs from many languages is that there is a dual complexity to the language. Not only do you need to specify gender in a situation, you also need to be specific about how many people you’re speaking about or to.

 If you need to make a pronoun possessive, you’ll add a suffix the end of the words, instead of using the pronouns. To say something belongs to you, you only add to the word of what you are talking about. Other differences to the Arabic pronouns are:

My: Add y (singular) // Add na (plural)
Your: Add ka or k (male, singular)
Your: Add ki or k (female, singular)
His: Add ho or h
Her: Add ha or h
Your: Add kun (female, plural)
Your: Add kum (male, plural)
Their: Add hum (male, plural)
Their:  Add hun (female, plural)

Pronouns are one of the most difficult parts of the Arabic language to learn, but they’re also some of the most important things to learn, since incorrectly addressing a man or woman can be offensive. When you’re able to master this area of the language, you’ll be well on your way to becoming fluent in Arabic. However, it’s not going to happen overnight. You’ll need to set aside a certain amount of time each day in order to learn Arabic correctly.