Subject pronouns (I, you, we, he, she, we, they) take the place of a noun and function as the subject of a sentence.
أنا من أمريكا (ana min amriika)
I am from the US.هو مهندس (howwa mohandis)
He is an engineer.
Note: In Arabic, the subject pronoun is frequently dropped. You can tell from a verb conjugation who the subject is, so it’s not really necessary to use the subject pronoun in such cases except for emphasis. However, in equational (verbless) sentences like the two above, you do need the subject pronoun.
Subject pronouns in standard and Egyptian Arabic
|
English |
Standard Arabic |
Egyptian Arabic |
| Singular |
I |
أنا (ana) |
| you (masc.) |
انتَ (anta) |
انت (inta) |
| you (fem.) |
انتِ (anti) |
انتى (inti) |
| he |
هو (howwa) |
| she |
هي (heyya) |
| Dual |
we |
نحن (naHnu) |
|
| you |
أنتما (antuma) |
|
| they |
هما (humaa) |
|
| Plural |
we |
نحن (naHnu) |
احنا (eHna) |
| you (masc.) |
أنتم (antum) |
انتو (intu) |
| you (fem.) |
أنتن (antunna) |
| they (masc.) |
هم (homa) |
هم (homa) |
| they (fem.) |
هن (hunna) |
In English, there is only one second-person pronoun, “you,” which is used whether you’re talking to one person, two people, or more. But in Arabic, as you see above, there are masculine and feminine versions of “you,” as well as singular, dual (standard Arabic only), and plural versions:
انتَ\
انتِ if you’re addressing one person,
أنتما if you’re addressing two (in standard Arabic), and
أنتم\
أنتن if you’re addressing three or more people. Note that the dual “you” (
أنتما) is the same regardless of gender. In standard Arabic, there is also a dual version of “they” (
هما – which is gender-indiscriminate as well) and masculine and feminine versions of the plural “they” (
همand
هن).
Note that Egyptian Arabic has fewer pronouns than standard Arabic, since it has no dual pronouns; it just has plural pronouns that are used to talk about two or more people, of any gender. And the colloquial
انتو and
هم are gender-neutral.
Object pronouns
Object pronouns (me, you, us, him, her, them) are used when you do something directly
to someone or something else. In Arabic, these pronouns are suffixes that are attached to the verb:
ضربته (Darabatu)
She hit him.يشكروني (yaškuruuni)
They thank me.
Object pronouns in standard and Egyptian Arabic
|
English |
Standard Arabic |
Egyptian Arabic |
| Singular |
me |
ـني (-ni) |
| you (masc.) |
ـكَ (-ka) |
ـك (-ak) |
| you (fem.) |
ـكِ (-ki) |
ـك (-ik) |
| him |
ـه (-u) |
| her |
ـها (-ha) |
| Dual |
us |
ـنا (-na) |
|
| you |
ـكما (-kuma) |
|
| them |
ـهما (-huma) |
|
| Plural |
us |
ـنا (-na) |
| you (masc.) |
ـكم (-kum) |
ـكو\ـكم (-ku/-kum) |
| you (fem.) |
ـكن (-kunna) |
| them (masc.) |
ـهم (-hum) |
ـهم (-hom) |
| them (fem.) |
ـهن (-hunna) |
Note: In colloquial Arabic,
ـكو and
ـكم are both used, but the former is more colloquial than the latter.
Here are some examples of object pronoun usage, using the verb
سأل (sa’al) – “to ask.”
|
English |
Standard Arabic |
Egyptian Arabic |
| Singular |
He asked me |
سألني (sa’alni) |
| He asked you (masc.) |
سألكَ (sa’alaka) |
سألك (sa’alak) |
| He asked you (fem.) |
سألكِ (sa’alaki) |
سألك (sa’alik) |
| He asked him |
سأله (sa’alahu [more standard] or sa’alu [more colloquial]) |
| He asked her |
سألها (sa’alaha [more standard] or sa’alha [more colloquial]) |
| Dual |
He asked us |
سألنا (sa’alna) |
|
| He asked you |
سألكما (sa’alkuma) |
|
| He asked them |
سألهما (sa’alhuma) |
|
| Plural |
He asked us |
سألنا (sa’alna) |
| He asked you (masc.) |
سألكم (sa’alkum) |
سألكو\ـكم (sa’alku/sa’alkum) |
| He asked you (fem.) |
سألكن (sa’alkunna) |
| He asked them (masc.) |
سألهم (sa’alhum) |
سألهم (sa’alhom) |
| He asked them (fem.) |
سألهن (sa’alhunna) |
