Introduction

 

In this new free lesson to learn the Arabic language, we will study how to use the second-person feminine plural pronouns and the first person pronouns in Arabic.

 

Dialogue

الفَتَيَات : السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

The young girls: As salam alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

زَينب : و عليكم السلام و رحمة الله و بركاته. مَن أَنْتُنَّ يا أخواتٌ؟

Zaynab: wa alykum as salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. Who are you o sisters ?

إِحْدَاهُنَّ: نَحْنُ بَناتُ الشَّيْخِ عَبَّاسٍ.

One of them: we are the daughters of the Shaykh Abbas.

زَيْنَبُ : أَهلا و سهلا و مرحبا. أُمُكُنَّ أُسْتَاذتي. كَيْفَ حالُها؟

Zaynab: Welcome. Your mother is my teacher. How is she?

إِحْداهُنَّ: هي بِخَيْر و الحمد للَّه.

One of them: she is fine, wa alhamdulillah.

زَينب: أين هي الآن؟

Zaynab: where is she now?

إحداهن: هي الآن في الرِّياضِ.

One of them: she is now in Riyadh.

زينب: مَتَى ذَهَبَتْ؟

Zaynab: when did she go?

إِحدهن: ذهبت قبل أُسْبوعٍ.

One of them: she went before a week.

زَيْنب: مَنْ ذهب مَعَها؟

Zaynab: who went with her?

إحداهن : ذهب معها أخونا إبراهيمُ.

One of them: our brother Ibrahim went with her.

زينب: كيف حالكُنَّ؟

Zaynab: How are you?

إحْدَاهن: نحن بخير و الحمد لله

One of them: we are fine, wa alhamdulillah

زينب: في أَيِّ مدرَسَةِ أنتُنَّ؟

Zaynab: In which school are you?

إحداهن: نحن في المدرَسةِ المتوسطةِ.

One of them: we are in middle school.

زينب : متى اِخْتِبارُكُنَّ؟

Zaynab: when is your exam?

إحداهن: اختِبارُنَا بَعْدَ شَهْرٍ.

One of them: our exam will be after a month.

إحْداهن: نَعَم. ذهبنَا و رَجَعْنَا

One of them: yes. We went and returned.

 

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2. The second-person feminine plural pronouns

 

We saw previously that, in Arabic, you could use pronouns – ضَمَائِرُ. Thus, pronouns are of two types :

 

• The attached pronouns – الضَّمائِرُ المُتَّصِلَةُ

We saw the following attached pronouns previously:

• هُ
• His

• هَا
• Her

• كَ
• Your (masculine)

 

• كِ
• Your (feminine)

• ي
• My

 

• كُم
• Yours (masculine plural)

 

In our dialogue, you can see a now a newly attached pronoun: كُنَّ, which means “your/yours”. It is the second-person detached feminine plural pronoun.

 

Examples:

 

 أُمُكُنَّ أُسْتَاذتي

 Your mother is my teacher.

 متى اِخْتِبارُكُنَّ؟

 when is your exam?

 

 

• The detached pronouns – الضَّمَائِرُ الْمُنْفَصِلَة

We have previously learned the following detached pronouns:

أَنَا

I

أَنْتَ

you (masculine)

أَنْتِ

you (feminine)

هُوَ

He

هِيَ

She

أَنْتُم

Your/yours (masculine, plural)

In this dialogue, we can learn a new detached pronoun “أَنْتُنَّ“ which means “you“. It is the second-person detached feminine plural pronoun.

Example:

 مَن أَنْتُنَّ يا أخواتٌ؟

Who are you, o sisters?

3. The first-person pronoun

 

We already know that in Arabic, to say “My”, we use the attached pronoun ي. It is a feminine and masculine singular pronoun.

Example:

كِتَابِي

My book

 

If you want to say “our”, we use the attached pronoun “نَا” a masculine and feminine plural pronoun.

 

Example:

 

اختِبارُنَا بَعْدَ شَهْرٍ.

 our exam will be after a month.

كِتَابُنَا

Our book

The detached pronoun of the second person of the plural in English is “we”, in Arabic “نَحْنُ“.

Examples:

 نَحْنُ بِخَيْرٍ وَ الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ

we are fine, wa alhamdulillah

 نَحْنُ بَناتُ الشَّيْخِ عَبَّاسٍ.

We are the daughters of the Shaykh Abbas.

4. The  first-person pronouns at the past tense

 

If you want to use the first-person pronouns, we use the attache pronoun “تُ” for the first singular person. The last radical letter of the verb will carry a sokoon.

Example:

 

كَتبْتُ

I wrote

 

خَرَجْتُ

I went outside

 

If you want to use the first-person pronouns, we use the attache pronoun “نَا” for the first plural person. The last radical letter of the verb will carry a sokoon.

 

Examples:

 نَعَم. ذَهَبْنَا و رَجَعْنَا

Yes. We went and returned.

 

كَبَبْنَا

We wrote

 

5. The adverb of time

 

We saw previously how to use the adverbs of place in Arabic. In this dialogue, we can see the adverb of time “قَبْلَ” which means in English “before”.

Example:

 

ذَهَبَتْ قَبْلَ أُسْبوعٍ.

she went before a week.

We also see its opposite “بَعْدَ” which means “after”.

Example:

 اختِبارُنَا بَعْدَ شَهْرٍ.

our exam will be after a month.

Conclusion

 

This Arabic free lesson is now completed. You have learned how to use:

• The second-person feminine plural attached pronouns – كُنَّ
• The second-person feminine plural detached pronouns – أَنْتُنَّ
• The first-person singular detached pronouns – ي
• The first-person singular detached pronouns –نَحْنُ
• the first person singular and plural pronouns at the past tense
• The adverbs of time

InshaAllah, we will study in the next lesson the non-humans plural in Arabic.