Lesson 45 – الدَّرْسُ الْخامِسُ والأرْبَعُونَ

Pronouns (2 of 5) – الضَّمَائرُ (٢ من ٥)

The nominative attached pronouns – ضَّمَائِرُ الرَّفْع المُتَّصِلَةُ

The Nominative Pronouns attached to the past verb

  • We are still in lesson forty five of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • The following table summarizes the all the Arabic attached pronouns as agents of the past verb with the example of verb to write كَتَبَ:

 

Singular    مُفْرَدٌ

Masculineمُذَكَّرٌ

Feminine مُؤَنَّثٌ

3rd. person غَائِبٌ

 

 

كَتَبَ

كَتَبَتْ

2nd. Personمُخَاطَبٌ

ـْتَ

ـْتِ

كَتَبْتَ

كَتَبْتِ

1st. person

مُتَكَلِّمٌ

ـْتُ

كَتَبْتُ

 

 

Dual مُثَنَّى

Plural    جَمْعٌ

Masculineمُذَكَّرٌ

Feminine  مُؤَنَّثٌ

Masculineمُذَكَّرٌ

Feminine مُؤَنَّثٌ

3rd. person غَائِبٌ

ـَا

ـَتَا

ـُوا

ـْنَ

كَتَبَا

كَتَبَتَا

كَتَبُوا

كَتَبْنَ

2nd. Personمُخَاطَبٌ

ـْتُمَا

ـْتُمْ

ـْتُنَّ

كَتَبْتُمَا

كَتَبْتُمْ

كَتَبْتُنَّ

1st. person

مُتَكَلِّمٌ

ـْنا

كَتَبْنا

 

  • From the above mentioned table we learn the following:
    • There is no nominative attached pronoun for the third person singular masculine, we just say the verb in its original stem, (كَتَبَ), which means (he wrote).
    • The pronouns related to all the pronouns of the first and the second persons and to the feminine plural of the third person are preceded with Sukūn. This means that the past verb attached to them is indeclinable on Sukūn. This sukūn makes morphological/ phonetic effect in the conjugation of the weak/irregular verbs. Let's see how does this affect verbs like (قال he said), (مَرَّ He passed), and (دَعَا he invited) as follows:

1.   قَالَ he said:

Explanation

Conjugation

The sukūn which precedes the pronoun causes the drop of the weak letter in the middle

قُلْتِ

You said

قُلْتَ

You said

قُلْنا

We said

قُلْتُ

I said

قُلْنَ

They said

قُلْتُنَّ

You said

قُلْتُمْ

You said

قُلْتُما

You said

2.   مَرَّ he passed:

The sukūn preceding the pronoun causes to dissociate the double letter

مَرَرْتِ

You passed

مَرَرْتَ

You passed

مَرَرْنا

We passed

مَرَرْتُ

I passed

مَرَرْنَ

They passed

مَرَرْتُنَّ

You passed

مَرَرْتُمْ

You passed

مَرَرْتُمَا

You passed

3.   دَعَا he invited or prayed.

The sukūn preceding the pronoun causes to change the weak Alif to its origin

دَعَوْتِ

You invited

دَعَوْتَ

You invited

دَعَوْنا

We invited

دَعَوْتُ

I invited

دَعَوْنَ

They invited

دَعَوْتُنَّ

You invited

دَعَوْتُمْ

You invited

دَعَوْتُما

You invited

    • There is no nominative attached pronoun for the third person singular feminine, although we add (tā') letter in the end (كَتَبَتْ). Our grammarians say that the (tā') signed with sukūn is not an attached pronoun, rather it is just a feminine sign ending. To be convinced of this fact consider the following explanation:
      • When we express the agent by an evident noun we drop the prominent pronoun obligatorily and put the evident noun. This happens in all persons, but we don’t drop the (tā') letter from the conjugation of the third person singular feminine. This means that this (tā') letter is not a pronoun. Consider these examples and explanations:

Explanation

The agent is an evident noun

The agent is an attached pronoun

 

When we put the agent as an evident noun we dropped the attached pronoun

كَتَبَ الطُّلابُ الدَّرْسَ.

The student wrote the lesson.

كَتَبُوا الدَّرْسَ.

They wrote the lesson.

Third person plural masculine

When we put the agent as an evident noun we dropped the attached pronoun

كَتَبَ الطَّالِبَانِ الدَّرْسَ.

The (dual) students wrote the lesson.

كَتَبَا الدَّرْسَ.

They wrote the lesson.

Third person dual masculine

  • Unlike the examples above we don’t drop the (tā') letter from the conjugation of the verb with the third person feminine singular, as the following example:

Explanation

The agent is an evident noun

The agent is an attached pronoun

 

When we put the agent as an evident noun we didn’t drop the letter (t), so it is not an attached pronoun.

كَتَبَتْ فاطِمَةُ الدَّرْسَ.

Fatimah wrote the lesson.

كَتَبَتْ الدَّرْسَ.

she wrote the lesson.

Third person feminine singular

  • Here is an important phonetic information:
    • Some of the nominative attached pronouns are ended with a short vowel as:

ـْنَ - ـْتُنَّ - ـْتِ - ـْتَ - ـْتُ

    • Some others are ended with a long vowel as:

ـُوا- ـَتَا- ـَا- ـْتُمَا- ـْنا

    • And there is only one ending with sukūn:

ـْتُمْ

  • Those pronouns ending with short vowel don’t have any problem or phonetic changes when connected to any following words.
  • But those ending with a long vowel when they are followed by sukūn, the long vowel in the end of the pronoun will be dropped in the pronunciation (not in the writing) as follows:

ـْنا

ـْتُمَا

ـَا

ـَتَا

ـُوا

كَتَبْنا الدَّرْسَ.

Katabnad-darsa

We wrote the lesson.

كَتَبْتُما الدَّرْسَ.

Katabtumad-darsa

You wrote the lesson.

كَتَبَا الدَّرْسَ.

Katabad-darsa

They wrote the lesson.

كَتَبَتَا الدَّرْسَ.

Katabatad-darsa

They wrote the lesson.

كَتَبُوا الدَّرْسَ.

Katabud-darsa

They write the lesson.

  • You can notice from the above mentioned examples that due to the drop of the long vowel from the pronunciation we will find some similar sounds in this context as follows:

Katabad-darsa = كتب الدرس  and كتبا الدرس  = he wrote the lesson and they (dual) wrote the lesson.

Katabnad-darsa = كتبن الدرس  and كتبنا الدرس = they (3rd. pl. f.) wrote the lesson and we wrote the lesson.

  • Finally in the pronoun ending with a sukūn (ـْتُمْ), the sukūn will be changed (phonetically) into đammah when it meets another sukūn in the following word:

Katabtumud-darsa = كَتَبْتُمُ الدَّرْسَ = you (2nd.pl.m.) wrote the lesson.

  • By this phonetic notice we end the nominative attached pronoun as an agent of past verb. Let’s now see some exercises of that type of pronouns.

Picture

Translation

Example

Person/ number/ gender

Pronoun

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

I went to school.

(أَنا) ذَهَبْتُ إلى المَدْرَسَةِ.

/(anā) dhahabtu ilā al-madrasa-ti /

1st. s.

ـْتُ

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

We wrote the lesson.

(نَحْنُ) كَتَبْنَا الدَّرْسَ.

/(naħnu) katabnā ad-dars-a/

1st. Pl.

ـْنا

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

Have you visited Egypt?

هَلَ زُرْتَ (أَنْتَ) مِصْرَ؟

/Hal zurta (anta) miŝra/

2nd. s. m.

ـْتَ

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

Have you visited Egypt?

هَلَ زُرْتِ (أَنْتِ) مِصْرَ؟

/Hal zurti (anti) miŝra/

2nd. s. f.

ـْتِ

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

When did you go to the sea?

مَتَى ذَهَبْتُمَا إِلَى الْبَحْرِ؟

/matā dhahabtumā ilā al baħri/

2nd. d.

ـْتُمَا

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

Did you ride the train?

هَلْ رَكِبْتُم القِطَارَ؟

/hal rakibtum (u- a)l qiŧâra?

2nd. Pl. m.

ـْتُمْ

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

Did you understand the lesson?

هَلْ فَهِمْتُنَّ الدَّرْسَ؟

/hal fahimtunna ad-darsa/

2nd. Pl. f.

ـْتُنَّ

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

The (two) students wrote the lesson.

الطالبان كَتَبَا الدَّرْسَ.

/aŧ-ŧâlibāni katabā ad-dars-a/

3rd. d. m.

ـَا

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

The (two female) students went to school.

الطالبتان ذَهَبَتَا إلى المَدْرَسَةِ.

/aŧ-ŧâlibatāni dhahabatā ilā al-madrasa-ti /

3rd. d. f.

ـَتَا

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

The teachers helped their students.

المُعَلِّمُونَ سَاعَدُوا طُلابَهُم.

/al-muξallimūna sāξadū ŧullābahum/

3rd. pl. m.

ـُوا

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

The (female) teachers helped the students.

المُعَلِّماتُ ساعَدْنَ طُلابَهُنَّ.

/al-muξallimātu sāξadna aŧ-ŧālibāt-i/

3rd. pl. f.

ـْنَ