2.7: Grammar (2) الإضافة، ضمائر الملكية

Learning Objectives

In this section, you will be able to:

• Express relation and possession using Idhafa الإضافة
• Learn possessive pronouns

Expressing Relation and Possessing using Idafa الإضافة

• الإضافة Idafa is a construction that allows linking two nouns or more by possession, and you have used the Idafa الإضافة before like (صباح الخير), (بيْتُ الطّلاب), (مساء النّور), (ولاية فلوريدا), (مدينة بيروت).
• الإضافة means addition in Arabic, and it is formed by two or more nouns that are placed together in a relationship of possession or belonging. We can more easily conceptualize الإضافة the way the word "of" is used in English (the book of the student, كتاب الطالب).
• There is an apostrophe "s" construction in Arabic to indicate possession. There is no way that you can say (the student's book) in Arabic, and you need to restructure the phrase to say (the book of the student).
• In Arabic, you say (كتاب الطالب), so the last word of the Idafa الإضافة phrase will take the definite article (الـ), even the word of the book is definite because you are talking about a specific book. For example: (بيْتُ الطّلابِ) the phrase is the students' house, and it means the students' dormitory.
• The meaning of the Idafa الإضافة phrase is definite, but only the last term of the Idafa الإضافة will indicate its definiteness by the definite article (الـ) or a possessive suffix. For example: (باب البيت), (باب بَيْتي).
• Another way that nouns can be definite is if they are proper nouns, like the University of Damascus (جامعة دمشق). You know دمشق is a proper noun.
• Also, when you have a noun that ends with Taa Marbouta (ة) in an Idafa الإضافة, you should pronounce the Taa Marbouta (ة) as Taa (ت) sound on all the words in the Idafa الإضافة phrase except the last word of the Idafa الإضافة. For example: (مدينة لوس أنجلوس), (كلية العلوم), (جامِعة القاهِرة).
• These simple Idafa الإضافة compose of two nouns. However, there is a complex Idafa الإضافة that contains more than two nouns. All the nouns in complex Idafa الإضافة behave like the first noun in the phrase and never take the definite article (الـ). For example: (جامعة مدينة دمشق) (صورة ابن عمي) (كتاب صديق ابن أخي)

Check the table using the chapter vocabulary in the context of Idafa الإضافة.

Idafa Practice التدرب على الإضافة

Audio الصوت	Meaning In English المعنى بالانجليزي	Idafa Phrase الإضافة
	Students' dormitory	بَيْتُ الطّلابِ
	California State	ولاية كاليفورنيا
	Science Department or Department of science	قسم العلوم
	Department of Language Sciences	قسم علوم اللغة
	Department of Psychology	ِقسمُ علمُ النَّفس
	Business Management Program or Program of Business Management	ِبرنامجُ إدارةُ الأعمال
	The lecture of today	ِمُحاضرَةُ اليوم
	My nephew (the son of my brother)	ابنُ أخي
	The friend of my nephew	صاحبُ ابنُ أخي
	The classmate of my niece	زميلةُ ابنةُ أخي
	My family friend or the friend of my family	صديقُ أسرتي
	My aunt's family photo	صورة أسرة عَمَّتي
	Week days/ days of the week	أيام الأسبوع

Activities تدريبات الإضافة

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أQuery \(\PageIndex{2}\)

Possessive Pronouns ضمائر الملكية

Check the table of possessive pronouns and their counterpart of subject pronouns.

Possessive Pronouns ضمائر الملكية

Meaning	الضمائر المتصلة / الملكية "Possessive Pronouns"	الضمائر المنفصلة Subject Pronouns/ Arabic	الضمائر المنفصلة Subject Pronouns/ English	Gender & Number of people
My	ي----------	أنا	I	1st. Person Masculine/ Feminine
Our	نَا-----------	نحنُ	We	1st. Person Masculine/ Feminine plural
Your	كَ-----------	أَنْتَ	You	2nd. Person Masculine/ Singular
Your	كِ-----------	أَنْتِ	You	2nd. Person Feminine/ Singular
Your (dual)	كُما-----------	أنْـتُـما	You	2nd. Person Masculine/ dual
Your (dual)	كُما-----------	أنْـتُـما	You	2nd. Person Feminine/ dual
Your	كُم------------	أَنْتُم	You	2nd. Person Masculine/ Plural
Your	كُنَّ-----------	أنْـتُـنَّ	You	2nd. Person Feminine/ Plural
His	ـهُ-----------	هو	He	3rd. Person Masculine/ Singular
Her	ـها-----------	هي	She	3rd. Person Feminine/ Singular
Their (dual)	ـهُما-----------	هُـمَا	They	3rd. Person Masculine/ Dual
Their (dual)	ـهُما-----------	هُـمَا	They	3rd. Person Feminine/ Dual
Their	ـهم----------	هم	They	3rd. Person Masculine/ Plural
Their	َّـهُن-----------	هُـنَّ	They	3rd. Person Feminine/ Plural

• You have seen the possessive pronouns in the first book, "Introduction to Arabic I," and you already used them when you said (اسمها ,اسمي, اسمك, اسمه).
• Possessive pronouns are suffixes, and you can check the table and their meaning. They are used to indicate ownership of something.
• If the noun has Taa Marbouta (تاء مربوطة), and you need to add a possessive suffix to the word ends with (ة). You switch the Taa Marbouta (ة) to a regular Taa (ت), or you untied the Taa Marbouta (ة). For example: جامعة + (ي) = جامعتي.
• Possessive Pronouns are different according to gender and number. For example: كتابي- كتابنا- كتابكَ- كتابكِ- كتابكما- كتابكم- كتابكن- كتابهُ- كتابها- كتابهما- كتابهم- كتابهن
• Nouns with possessive pronouns are considered definite, so adjectives describing them have the definite article (الــ) because of the rule of adjective agreement. For example, كتابي الجديد، أخي الصغير
• ِAdding possessive pronoun suffix to a word matches the Idafa concept since nouns with possessive pronouns are a type of Idafa construction. For example, والدة جاد means the mother of Jad, and you do not have to repeat the same phrase every time we talk about his mother, so you can say والدتهُ means his mother.

Watch the video to practice the possessive pronouns.

Possessive Pronouns and Preposition "عِندَ" to Express "To have"ExI

Possessive pronouns can be attached to prepositions at the end of them. In the table below, you will see the preposition (عِندَ) means (to have) in English, but literally means (at). Check the table to learn more.

Possessive Pronouns and Preposition عند

Audio	Meaning	بالعربي	Preposition and possessive
	I have	عِنْدي	عِنْد + ي
	We have	عِنْدَنا	عِنْدَ + نا
	You have (masculine, singular)	عِنْدَكَ	عِنْدَ + كَ
	You have (feminine, singular)	عِنْدَكِ	عِنْدَ + كِ
	You have (masculine, dual)	عِنْدَكُما	عِنْدَ + كُما
	You have (feminine, dual)	عِنْدَكُما	عِنْدَ + كُما
	You have (masculine, plural)	عِنْدَكُم	عِنْدَ + كُم
	You have (Feminine, plural)	عِنْدَكُنَّ	عِنْدَ + كُنَّ
	He has	عِنْدَهُ	عِنْدَ + هُ
	She have	عِنْدَها	عِنْدَ + ها
	They have (masculine, dual)	عِنْدَهُما	عِنْدَ + هُما
	They have (feminine, dual)	عِنْدَهُما	عِنْدَ + هُما
	They have (masculine, plural)	عِنْدَهُم	عِنْدَ + هُم
	They have (feminine, plural)	عِنْدَهُنَّ	عِنْدَ + هُنَّ

Watch the video to learn more about expressing the verb "to have" in Arabic.

Possessive Pronouns تدريبات ضمائر الملكية

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