Arabic Demonstrative Pronouns

What are Demonstrative Pronouns?

Demonstrative pronouns are the pronouns that are used to point towards a noun. In English it could be either singular or plural, near or far. In addition to this, in Arabic a demonstrative pronoun could either be masculine or feminine. In the Arabic language, every thing is either a masculine (male) or feminine (female), hence the pronouns pointing towards it is also a masculine form or feminine form.

Demonstrative pronouns function as the other pronouns do. They usually describe places, things, animals, and people. And can work both as subjects (nominative case) as well as objects (accusative case).

The difference between demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective is the former replaces a noun while the latter does not replaces, but used to point and describe the noun without replacing it.

Singular Near Demonstrative Pronouns

Masculine

Near demonstrative pronoun is used to point towards a near object, place, person or present time to give some information.

In this first lesson 1, we shall learn about the singular masculine near demonstrative pronoun, ھذاَ haadha meaning ‘This‘. It is pronounced as haadha but written without an alif with ھ. Written as ھَذَا but read as ھَاذَا.

Sometimes in Arabic language ا alif is not written, but a word is pronounced as if ا alif is there. This is a good example to show that the invisible alif is pronounced but the visible alif is not pronounced. If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced hadhaa but it is not.

In arabic, the basic singular masculine demonstrative pronoun is ذا . For the purpose of drawing attention of the listener, هـ is added in the beginning. ھذاَ is commonly used in written and spoken Arabic. But only ذا is also used in some dialects.

The form of هَذا remain the same regardless of its position in the sentence unlike dual form variations in nominative, accusative & genitive sentences.

Examples:

هذا متجر  – This is a store

أحب هذا المنزل – I like this house

أعمل في هذا المتجر المستحضرات التجميل – I work in this cosmetics’ store

Some Important points

• In Arabic language, there is no word corresponding to English to be verb, “is”. Looking at the sentence, if it is a complete sentence the word “is” is added during the translation.
• There is no word corresponding to English indefinite article “a” or “an“. It is determined by the tanween symbol which is an indicator of indefinite article as we already studied this point in our previous lesson.

Lesson 1

1. Haadha baitun. – This is a house
2. Haadha masjidun.  – This is a mosque
3. Haadha baabun.  – This is a door
4. Haadha kitabun.  – This is a book
5. Haadha qalamun.  – This is a pen
6. Haadha miftahun.  – This is a key
7. Haadha maktabun.  – This is a writing table
8. Haadha sareerun.  –  This is a bed
9. Haadha kursiyyun.  –  This is a chair

Singular Feminine Near Demonstrative Pronoun

هذه is the feminine form of ھٰذاَ. It is singular feminine near demonstrative pronoun.

Lesson 2

In this lesson 2, we learn and practice more on singular feminine demonstrative pronoun هَذِهِ. هَذِهِ is used to refer or point to a person, place, animal or a thing which is near us and is of feminine nature.

In Arabic, the basic feminine demonstrative noun is ذِهِ . Similar to masculine, as هَ was added there to draw attention of a listener, even in feminine it is added before ذِهِ . Therefore,هَذِهِ is commonly used in written and spoken format but ذِهِ or ذِہْ is still used in some other Arabic dialects.

The form of هَذِه remain the same regardless of its position in the sentence unlike dual form variations in nominative, accusative & genitive sentences.

Examples:

هَذِهِ شركة  – This is a company  (Nominative case)

أَسْكُن فِي هَذِهِ العِمَارَة  – I reside in this building  (Genitive case)

أُحِبُّهَذِهِ الدَجَاجَة   – I like this chicken  (Accusative case)

Feminine Nouns

As discussed, In Arabic language nouns are either masculine or feminine. A feminine noun is usually formed by adding any of the following three symbols at the end of a masculine noun:

1.  ة  Ta Marbūŧah (The taa letter attached at the end of a noun to form a feminine noun or)
2.  اء  Alif Mamdūdah (The letters Alif + Hamza are present at the end of a feminine noun or)
3.  ىٰ  Alif Maqŝūrah.  (The letter Yaa comes at the end in attached form or separately)

For e.g,. تاجرۃ , مسلمة,  قطة ,  عطشى, بشرى,  هدى, حمراء

Moreover, there are some feminine nouns and adjectives as well without any of the above mentioned signs but still are considered feminine among Arabs.  For e.g,.الأَرْضُ  الشَّمْسُ

And the double members of the body parts are usually feminine, and single members are masculine.  For e.g,. هَـٰذِهِ أُذُنٌ    هَـذَا رَأسٌ   ,  ,هَـٰذِهِ عَيْنٌهَـٰذَا أَنْفٌ,

Types of Feminine Nouns

There are different types of feminine nouns:

Real

This noun is created for the real females, or those animals that give birth or lay eggs. For example, امرأة , بقرة , وزة

Non-Real

This is not a female in reality but the Arabs treat them as feminine, so they are read with feminine pronouns wherever applicable. Examples include: أريكة, صحراء,عين

Abstract

It is a noun which does not have any feminine markers, but implies a feminine meaning. Foe example, زينب , مَرْيَم etc,. 

Literal

It is a noun which has feminine marker written in the word at its end but is not a feminine meaning. For example, حمزة , موسى

Literal & Abstract Feminine

This noun refers to a female in terms of its meaning and it also has a feminine marker at its end. For e.g,. فاطمة

Conversations

Haadha ھَذَا:  This (singular masculine near demonstrative pronoun)

Huwa ھُوَ: He, It (singular masculine third person pronoun)

Haadhihi ھَذِہِ: This (singular feminine near demonstrative pronoun)

Hiya ھِیَ : She, It (singular feminine third person pronoun)

Dialogue 1

1. Ahmed: Assalaamu a’laikum [peace be upon you]
2. Badr: Wa a’laikumus salaam [And upon you be peace]
3. Ahmed: Haadha aKhee. Huwa mudarris [This is my-brother. He is a teacher]
4. Badr: Ahlan wa sahlaa [Hello]
5. Ahmed: Haadha Sadeeqee. Huwa muhandis [This is my-friend. He is an engineer]
6. Al-AKh: Ahlan wa sahlaa [Hey, Hello]
7. Ahmed: Maa’s-salaamah [With peace or Goodbye]
8. Badr: Maa’s-salaamah [With peace or Goodbye]

Dialogue 2

1. Nadaa: Assalaamu a’laikum [peace be upon you]
2. Hudaa: Wa a’laikumus salaam [And upon you be peace]
3. Nadaa: Haadhihi uKhtee. Hiya Tabeebah [This is my-sister. She is a doctor]
4. Hudaa: Ahlan wa sahlaa [Hello]
5. Nadaa: Haadhihi Sadeeqatee. Hiya Taalibah [ This is my-(female)-friend. She is a doctor.]
6. Al-UKht: Ahlan wa sahlaa [Hello]
7. Nadaa: Maa’s-salaamah [With peace or Goodbye]
8. Hudaa: Maa’s-salaamah [With peace or Goodbye]

Cosmetics Sentences & Vocabulary:

1. متجر (mutajjarun) = Store
2. مكياج (mikyaajun) = Make up
3. مشروع (mashroou’n)= Project
4. سوق (sooqun)  = Market
5. خصم (khisamun) =  Discount
6. بالجملة (bil jumla) = wholesale
7. شركة  (shirkatun) = Company
8. تجارة  (tijaaratun) = Trading, trade, commerce, business, merchandise
9. ضفة = A bank
10. بيع = Sale
11. مستحضرات التجميل (mustakhDuaraatu-tajmeel) = Cosmetics
12. المستحضرات التجميلية (Al-mustakhDuaraatu-tajmeeliyatun) = The Cosmetic products
13. مواد التجميل (mawaadut-tajmeeli)  = Beauty products, Cosmetics

List of All Masculine Near Demonstrative Pronouns

ھٰذاَ  = This

ھٰذاَنِ ,  ھٰذَیْنِ   =  These (two)

[هذان is used with nouns in the nominative case (المرفوع); هذين is used with nouns in the genitive and accusative cases (المجرور والمنصوب).

هؤلاءِ    =  (All) These

Examples:

هذا متجر

هذان الرجلان يقفان (Nominative case)

رأيت هذين الرجلان  (Accusative case)

 أرى الأشجار في هذين المنزلين   (Genitive case),

 أعمل مع هذين الرجلين

هؤلاء رجال

هؤلاء نساء

List of All Feminine Near Demonstrative Pronouns

هذه

هتان, هتين

هتان is used with nouns in the nominative case (المرفوع); هتين is used with nouns in the genitive and accusative cases (المجرور والمنصوب)

هتان البنتان,  رأيت هاتين الفتاتين

هؤلاءِ

Singular Masculine Far Demonstrative Pronoun

Far demonstrative pronoun is used to point towards a far object or past time to give some information.

In this lesson 3, we learn another demonstrative pronoun which is a singular masculine far demonstrative pronoun, ذٰلِکَ dhaalika meaning ‘That‘. It is pronounced as dhaalika but written without an alif with ذ. Written as ذَلِکَ but read as ذَالِکَ. Sometimes in Arabic language ا alif is not written, but a word is pronounced as if ا alif is there. This is another interesting example to show that the invisible alif is pronounced. If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced dhalika but it is not.

Another basic singular masculine far demonstrative pronoun ذَاكَ is used to point towards a person, place, an animal, or an object that is fairly far from the speaker. In this word كَ is added to the singular near demonstrative pronoun to indicate the distance. ذَلِكَ is used to refer to someone or something that is very far away.  And here, لِكَ indicates very far distance. And Alif ذَا is dropped, therefore becomes ذَلِكَ.  In Modern Standard Arabic usage, ذَلِكَ does not have dual form.

List of Masculine Far Demonstrative Pronouns

Unlike the dual pronouns, the singular and plural pronouns have the same forms regardless of their position (as subject or object) in the sentence.

 ذَاكَ, ذٰلِکَ  = That

ذٰنِکَ , ذَیْنِکَ = Those (two) \\ Less Frequently used \\

أولائك  = (All) Those

Examples:

ذَاكَ متجر

ذَانِكَ الرجلان يقفان  = Those two men are standing

رأيت ذَيْنِكَ الرجلين أمس  = I  saw those two men yesterday

 أعمل مع ذَيْنِكَ الرجلين = I work with those two men

أولائك رجال

أولائك  نساء

Lesson 4

List of Feminine Far Demonstrative Pronouns

تلك

تَانِك , تَيْنِكَ

أولائك

Examples

Lesson 5