Levantine Arabic

Grammar: Pronouns

This article focuses on the urban Palestinian and Jordanian dialect.

For Lebanese, Syrian as well as rural dialects see Comparison of MSA and dialects.


Personal pronouns🠉

أَنَاأنا'anaI
إحْنَاإحنا'iḥnawe
إنْتَإنت'intayou
إنْتِيإنتي'intiyou
إنْتُوإنتو'intuyou (plural)
هُوِّهوhuwwehe
هِيِّهيhiyyeshe
هُمِّهمhummethey

Urban Levantine Arabic don't use dual and feminine plural pronouns unlike MSA and rural dialects.


Suffix pronouns🠉

ObjectPossessive
ـنِيـني-nime-
ـِيـي-i (-y)-my
ـنَاـنا-nausour
ـَكـك-ak (-k)you your
ـِكـك-ek (-ki)you your
ـكُمـكم-komyou (plural)your (plural)
ـُهـه-o (-ʰ)himhis
ـهَاـها-haherher
ـهُمـهم-homthemtheir

Suffix pronouns are objects after verbs and possessive after nouns.

Some suffixes change their pronunciation after vowels (in parantheses), the vowels become long.

The femine endings ـَة (-a/-α) and ـِة (-e) change to ـِت (-ét) if stressed and ـْت (-t) if unstressed.

If the suffix pronoun begins with a consonant, the last syllable before it becomes stressed.


Demonstrative pronouns🠉

هَاد
هَادَا
هاد
هادا
hād
hāda
this
هَاي
هَادِي
هاي
هادي
hāy
hādi
this
هَادَولهادولhādōlthese
هَدَاكهداكhadākthat
هَدِيكهديكhadīkthat
هَدَولَاكهدولاكhadōlākthose
هَونهونhōnhere
هُنَاكهناكhunākthere

Comparison of MSA and dialects🠉

Personal pronouns

MSAPalestine, JordanSyria
(Damasc.)
Lebanon
(Beirut)
UrbanRuralGalilee
أنا'anā 'anaI
نحنnaḥnu 'iḥnaniḥnawe
أنت'anta 'inta / 'inte'inte'intayou (masc.)
أنتanti 'inti'inteyou (fem.)
أنتما'antumā you (dual)
أنتم'antum 'intu'intu'intuyou (plural)
أنتن'antunna 'intenyou (plural, fem.)
هوhuwa huwwehe
هيhiya hiyyeshe
هماhumā they (dual)
همhum hummehummehinnethey
هنhunna hinnethey (fem.)

Suffix pronouns

MSAPalestine, JordanSyria
(Damasc.)
Lebanon
(Beirut)
UrbanRuralGalilee
ـني-nī -ni-neme
ـي-ī (-ya) -i (-y)-e (-y)my
ـنا-nā -naus, our
ـك-ka -ak (-k)you, your (masc.)
ـك-ki -ek (-ki)you, your (fem.)
ـكما-kumā you, your (dual)
ـكم-kum -kom-ku-ku-konyou, your (plural)
ـكن-kunna -kenyou, your (plural, fem.)
ـه-hu/-hi -o (-ʰ) him, his
ـها-hā -ha-a (-ha)her
ـهما-humā/-himā they, them (dual)
ـهم-hum/-him -hom-hom-hen-on (-hon)they, them
ـهن-hunna/-hinna -henthey, them (fem.)

Demonstrative pronouns

MSAPalestine,
Jordan
Syria
(Damasc.)
Lebanon
(Beirut)
هذاhāḏā hādahaydathis (masc.)
هذهhāḏihī hāy / hādihayyhaydethis (fem.)
هذينhāḏayn these (dual)
هتينhātayn these (dual, fem.)
هؤلاءhā'ūlā'i hadākhaydākthese (plural)
ذلكḏālika hadākhaydākthat (masc.)
تلكtilka hadīkhaydākethat (fem.)
ذينكḏaynika those (dual)
تينكḏaynika those (dual, fem.)
أولئكulā'ika hadōlākhadōlīkhaydōlīkthose (plural)
هناhunā hōnhūnhere
هناكhunāka hunākhunīkthere