The detached pronouns (الضمائر المنفصلة)

Arabic pronouns (الضَّمَائِرُ) are classified into:

The pronouns (الضَّمَائِر) can be written either independently or attached to words.

هُوَ طَوِيلٌ He is tall

كِـتَابُــهُ عَلَى الـمَـكْتَبِ His book is on the desk

The pronouns (الضَّمَائِر) are always definite (المَعْرِفَة).This lesson explores independent pronouns (الضَّمَائِرُ المُنْفَصِلَةُ).

ضَـمَائِرُ الـمُنْفَصِلَة

The Arabic word "المُنْفَصِلِة" translates to "independent" or "detached" (is written separately from the words).

هُمْ مُـهَـنْـدِسُونَ They are engineers

Now, let's explore the types of independent pronouns (الضَّمَائِرُ المُنْفَصِلَةُ).

1st person (الْـمُتَكَلِّمُ)

The word "المُتَكَلِّمُ" literally means "speaker". This term refers to the pronouns we use to identify ourselves when speaking, such as "I" and "we".

أَنَا I

نَـحْنُ We

2nd person (الـمُخَاطَبُ)

The one you are speaking to.

Imagine I'm talking to you. In this scenario, I'm the "speaker" (مُتَكَلِّمٌ), and you're the "listener" (مُخَاطِبٌ).

أَنْــتَ You (singular male)

أَنْــتِ You (singular female)

أَنـــتُـمْ You (plural male)

أَنْــتُـنَّ You (plural female)

Notice how the pronoun "you" changes not only based on gender but also on number.

1. When addressing one person, you use "أنــتَ" for males and "أنــتِ" for females.
2. For multiple people, you use "أَنـــتُـمْ" for males and "أَنـــتُـنَّ" for females.

3rd person (الغَائِبُ)

Pronouns for absent people, such as "he", "she", or "they".

For instance, imagine we're in class discussing Khalid, and someone asks, "Where is he"? We could respond, "هو غَائِبٌ اليَوْمَ" (He's absent today)

هُوَ He

هِيَ She

هُمْ They (male)

هُنَّ They (female)

📚 Examples

هُوَ طَالِبٌ He is a student

هِيَ طَالِبَةٌ She is a student

هُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ They are Muslims (male)

هُنَّ مُسْلِمَاتٌ They are Muslims (female)