PRONOUNS IN ARABIC LANGUAGE | THIRD-PERSON PRONOUNS (الضمائر الغائبة)

 PRONOUNS IN ARABIC | THIRD-PERSON PRONOUNS

By: Yusuf Basirat Bolanle

THE THIRD PERSON PRONOUNS (الضمائر الغائبة)

What is the third person pronoun?

The third person pronoun in Arabic is known as (ضمير الغائب). The are pronouns referring to the third person who is not present at the point of our discussion. it is also divided into singular, dual and plural pronouns. However, the third person pronouns, like the first and the second person pronouns are also sub divided into:

 

1- Attached Pronouns (الضمائر المتصلة)

2- Detached Pronouns (الضمائر المنفصلة)

Examples

His/him (m)   ه                                           He (m)  هو

Her (f)  ها                                                     She (f) هي

their/ them (dual)  هما                               they (dual) هما

thir/them (m) (plural) هم                          they (m) (plural) هم

their/them (f) (plural) هن                          they(f) هن

1. The Detached Third person pronoun (الضمير المنفصل للغائب)

 These are the third person pronouns that are separated from other words and they stand on their own without being attached to anything. In Arabic language, the detached or separated pronouns in the subjective position are 12 in numbers. Others can be used in objective position in sentences.

The separated or detached pronouns that are mostly used as subjects or in subjective positions are the following: هو, هى, هما, هم, هن, انتَ, أنتِ, أنتما، أنتم, أنتن, أنا, نحن. 

While those that are usually in objective positions are as follows: إياك, إياكِ، إياكم, إياكن، إيي، إياكما، إياه، إياها، إياهما  and so on.

Let us look at the following examples

He         هو  

She         هي

The (dual)     هما

They (m) (plural)     هم

They (f) (plural)     هن

هو فى الغرفة

He is in the room

نحن مسلمون

We are Muslims

أنتم مجتهدون

You are hardworking

أنتما مسلمان

You are Muslims

هى بنت المدرس

She is the teacher's daughter

 

2. The attached third person pronoun (الضمير المنفصل للغائب)

The attached third person pronouns, like others are those pronouns joined with other words. they can as well be joined to a verb, a noun, or a preposition. 

- when added to a verb, it functions as a subject (فاعل) or an object (مفعول به)

- when added to a noun, it is a possessive pronoun (مضاف إليه)

- when added with a preposition, it functions as an object of a preposition (اسم مجرور)

---when the attached  third person pronouns are added to prepositions, they function as the object of the preposition (اسم مجرور), we have:

to him (m)                  الى                                 ه                             إليه    

to her (f)                     إلى                                ها                           إليها    

to them (dual)           إلى                                هما                          إيهما

to them (m) (plural) إلى                                 هم                          إليهم

to them (m) (plural) إلى                               هن                     إلهن

--when the attached third person pronouns are added to nouns, they function as possessive pronouns (مضاف إليه), then we have:

his book (m)                 كتاب                     ه                       كتابه  

her book (f)                  كتاب                   ها                       كتابها       

their book (dual)         كتاب                    هما                    كتابهما    

their book (m) (plural)كتاب                     هم                     كتابهم    

their book (f) (plural) كتاب                      هن                    كتابهن

In the above examples, the pronouns are used in different ways as shown, some are used in subjective position as in the case of detached pronouns. some are used in the objective positions while others in the attached pronouns are also used in different positions like objective, prepositional and possessive pronouns.