Personal and Possessive Pronouns

Independent Personal Pronouns

In Arabic, there are two types of personal pronouns. There are independent pronouns, that can stand alone, for example as the subject of a sentence:


أنا مدرس  ana mudarris - "I'm a teacher"


Below are the list of all independent personal pronouns:

أنا	ana	I
احنا	e7na	we
انت	enta	you (masculine)
انتي	enty	you (feminine)
انتو	ento	you all (plural)
هو	howwa	he
هي	heyya	she
هم	homma	they

Dependent Personal Pronouns

Dependent personal pronouns consist of a suffix added to the end of nouns, prepositions and verbs. When added to a noun, it acts like a possessive adjective in English (my, his, her). The suffix is a couple of letters joined the end of the noun which changes depending on how many consonants the noun ends in.

• If the noun ends in TWO consonants "-CC", (for example اسم esm = "name") the dependent personal pronouns are as follows:

انا ana ي- -y اسمي esmy my name احنا e7na نا- -ena اسمنا esmena our name انت enta ك- -ak اسمك esmak your name (masculine) انتي enty ك- -ek اسمك esmek your name (feminine) انتو ento كم- -uku(m)* اسمكو esmuku your name (plural) هو howwa ه- -o اسمه esmo his name هي heyya ها- -aha اسمها esmaha her name هم homma هم- -ohom اسمهم esmohom their name

* You can use -ukum instead of -uku but the ending -ohom never changes.


Examples:


اسمك ايه؟  - esmak eih? - what's your name? (to a male)
اسمها ايه؟  - esmaha eih? - what's her name? (to a female)


ينت - bent - girl/daughter
ينتي - benty - my girl/my daughter


اخت  - ukht -  sister
اختك فين؟  - ukhtak fein? - where's your sister? (to a male)

•  If the noun ends in just ONE consonant  "-C", (example بيت beit = "house") the dependent personal pronouns are as follows:

انا	ana	ي-	-y	بيتي	beity	my house
احنا	e7na	نا-	-na	بيتنا	betna*	our house
انت	enta	ك-	-ak	بيتك	beitak	your house (masculine)
انتي	enty	ك-	-ek	بيتك	beitek	your house (feminine)
انتو	ento	كم-	-kum	بيتكم	betkum*	your house (plural)
هو	howwa	ه-	-o	بيته	beito	his house
هي	heyya	ها-	-ha	بيتها	betha*	her house
هم	homma	هم-	-hom	بيتهم	bethom*	their house

بيتنا كبير  -  betna kbeer -  our house is big
بيتها فين   -  betha fein?  -   where is her house?


* In Egyptian Arabic, as a rule, there is never a long vowel before 2 consonants "-CC" so the "ei/ي" sound in beit becomes a short 'e' sound. 

• If the noun ends in a VOWEL, "-V", the dependent personal pronouns are as follows.

*Note: the words abb اب "father" and akh اخ "brother" take the form abo and akho when they are used with suffixes. The final vowel is lengthened, as is the rule with all words which end in a vowel when used with suffixes. 

انا	ana	ي-	-ya	اخويا	akhoya	my brother
احنا	e7na	نا-	-na	اخونا	akhona	our brother
انت	enta	ك-	-k	اخوك	akhok	your brother (masculine)
انتي	enty	ك-	-ky	اخوكي	akhoky	your brother (feminine)
انتو	ento	كم-	-kum	اخوكم	akhokom	your brother (plural)
هو	howwa	ه-	-o	اخوه	akho	his brother
هي	heyya	ها-	-ha	اخوها	akhoha	her brother
هم	homma	هم-	-hom	اخوهم	akhohom	their brother

اخوك طويل  -  akhok Taweel  -  your brother is tall (to a male)

اخوكي فين؟  -  akhoky feen?   -  where is your brother? (to a female)