Possessive pronouns in Arabic
There are two sets of suffix pronouns in Arabic: one set indicates possession (attached to nouns), and the other indicates the object of a verb or the object of a preposition.
They differ in meaning, but in form they are almost identical.
The only difference is in the first person singular pronoun (me vs. my):
- When it indicates possession and is suffixed to a noun, it is ـي (-i).
- When it indicates the object of a verb or preposition, it is ـني (-ni).
Let’s go over the possessive suffix pronouns.
These suffixes are attached to the end of a noun after the case-marking vowel, except for the suffix ـي (-i) for the first person singular.
Another important point: a noun with a pronoun suffix is considered definite. This means that when a personal pronoun suffix is used:
- The noun cannot take the definite article (ال)
- It cannot take nunation (تنوين)
Because it is already definite. Let’s see some examples:
كتابٌ(kitabun – a book) → كتابي(kitabi – my book)
No definite article ال, no nunation.
مدرسةٌ (madrasatun – a school) → مدرسته (madrasatuhu – his school)
بيتٌ (baytun – a house) → بيتنا (baytuna – our house)
قلمٌ (qalamun – a pen) → قلمك (qalamuka – your pen, masc.)
Since we’ve already established that a noun with a pronoun suffix is defined, any adjective that describes it must also be in the definite form. Let’s see some examples:
كتابي الجديد (kitabi al jadid) – my new book
كتابي (my book) is definite because of the suffix ـي, so جديد must also be definite (الجديد).
مدرستها الكبيرة (madrasatuha al kabira) – her big school
مدرستها (her school) is definite, so كبيرة becomes الكبيرة.
بيتنا الصغير (baytuna aS Saghir) – our small house
بيتنا (our house) is definite, so صغير must be الصغير.
Also, regarding the first person singular: when the personal pronoun suffix ـي (-i) is added to a masculine sound plural (ending in -ونَ or -ينَ), the ن (nuun) is dropped.
Examples
معلِّمينَ (mu’allimina – teachers, acc./gen.) → معلِّمِيَّ (mu’allimiya – my teachers, acc./gen.)
The ن is dropped before adding ـي.
معلِّمونَ (mu’allimuna – teachers, nom.)
→ معلِّمِيَّ (mu’allimiyya – my teachers, nom.)
The ن is dropped, and و + ي merge into ي, then with the possessive ي it becomes -iyy (ـِيّ).
مسلمونَ (muslimuna – Muslims, nom.)
→ مسلمِيَّ (muslimiyya – my Muslims, nom.)
Again, ن is dropped, و + ي collapse into ي, and the extra ي gives -iyy (ـِيّ).
Rule in short
For masculine sound plurals (ــونَ / ــينَ):
- When attaching the possessive ي (my), the final ن drops.
- If the ending was ـونَ, the و + ي combination collapses into ي, and with the possessive ي, it becomes -iyy (ـِيّ).
