Arabic Subject Pronouns:
In Arabic the subject pronoun is more specific than many other languages, for example there are different ways to say “you” in Arabic depending on who you’re addressing it to, for example to address 2 people you use a subject pronoun different than the one you would use for a single person, also if you’re addressing more than two people you will have to use a different form for that as well. Finally most of subject pronouns have a feminine and a masculine form. The table below shows the different forms you may come across:
Arabic Subject Pronouns
Singular
Dual
Plural
I أنا Ana
you (singular masculine.) أنتَ Anta
you (singular feminine) أنتِ Anti
he هو Howa
she هي Hiya
you (dual male or female) أنتُما Antuma
they (dual male or female) هُما Humaa
We نحن Nahn
you (plural masculine) أنتُم Antum
you (plural feminine) أنتُن Antun
they (plural masculine) هُم Hum
they (plural feminine) هُن Hun
To say for example I’m a boy = Ana walad! (Ana = I, walad = boy) as you may have noticed “am” and “a” are omitted in Arabic, so it’s like saying “I boy”, same thing with all other subject pronouns. He is a boy = Howa walad (he boy), we’re boys = Nahnu* Awlad (we boys),
You may also have noticed that Arabic has a “dual” form, meaning that Arabic is being more specific about not only the gender but also the number, so the dual form is used to refer to two people, if you want to talk to Speak7 and Karim to tell them: you both speak Arabic! = Antuma tatakallamani al ‘arabia انتما تتكلّمان العربية , if you want to talk about them: they both speak Arabic = Humaa yatakalamani al ‘arabia هما يتكلمان العربية .
For the plural there are five subject pronouns, We = Nahn (for females and males). You = Antum (when you talk to 3 males or more, or one male and the 2 females or more)
You = Antun (when you talk to 3 females or more). They = Hum (when you talk about 3 males or more, or one male and the 2 females or more). They = Hun (when you talk about 3 females or more).
* Some subject pronouns take an extra vowel at the end when they’re followed by other words, to make the pronunciation smooth and easy, just like when you add an “n” to the indefinite article “a” to some words, “an umbrella” instead of “a umbrella” to make it easier to pronounce, same thing in Arabic, we add either “u” or “a” to many words to make them go in harmony with other words following them, we will go through that later, but for now you can keep using the articles without these vowels especially because you will be still understood even without adding them.
Arabic Object Pronouns:
Object pronouns in Arabic are me, you, him, her, us, you (plural) and come after a verb; In Arabic they’re as follows:
Arabic Object Pronouns
Singular
Dual
Plural
Me: verb+ni ني
You (masculine): verb+k كََ
You (feminine): verb+ki كِ
Him: verb+h ه ، ـه
Her: verb+ha ها
You (dual male or female): verb+kumaa كُما
Them (dual male or female): verb+humaa هُما
We: verb+naa نا
You (plural masculine): verb+kum كُم
You (plural feminine): verb+kun كُن
Them (plural masculine): verb+hum هُم
Them (plural feminine): verb+hun هُن
So to say in Arabic “you show me”, after conjugating the verb and adding the “you” to it, you need to add the object pronoun “me” to it as well, note that “you show me” in Arabic is written like “youshowme” meaning that the subject pronoun + the verb + the object pronoun are all connected, “you” as a prefix and “me” as a suffix of the verb “show”, so it would be (you show me = turini تُريني ) (you show us = turina ترينا ) (you show him = turih تريه ). Try to memorize these Arabic Pronouns, as they’re very important.
