Arabic Pronouns: The Full Chart, With Qur'an Examples

Arabic pronouns come in two families. Detached pronouns are separate words: huwa (he), hiya (she), anta (you, to a man), ana (I) and eight more, twelve in all. Attached pronouns are short endings joined to a word, such as -hu (him, his) and -ka (you, your), as in رَبُّكَ, rabbuka, 'your Lord'.

This guide gives you both families in clear charts, with an example from the Qur'an for every form that appears in it, each checked against quran.com. It also covers what most charts skip: the dual, the missing 'it', why Allah says 'We', and why the same ending sometimes changes its sound. It is written for beginners who want to recognise pronouns when they recite.

What are pronouns in Arabic?

Pronouns in Arabic are called ḍamāʾir (singular ḍamīr): words that stand in for a noun so it need not be repeated. Arabic grammar counts them as nouns (ism), one of the three types of Arabic word. Every pronoun tells you three things at once: the person (the speaker, the one spoken to, or someone absent), the number (one, two, or three and more) and, in most forms, the gender.

Two features surprise English speakers. Arabic has a dual, a separate form for exactly two people, and it has a masculine and a feminine 'you'. So where English has one word, 'you', Arabic has five: anta, anti, antumā, antum and antunna. The difference between anta and anti is a single vowel on the ta, a fatha or a kasra, which is one more reason to read the harakat carefully.

What are the 12 Arabic subject pronouns?

The 12 Arabic subject pronouns are ana, naḥnu, anta, anti, antumā, antum, antunna, huwa, hiya, humā, hum and hunna. Grammarians group them as two for the speaker, five for the person spoken to and five for someone absent. The chart gives each one with an example from the Qur'an wherever the word occurs.

Three patterns make the chart easier to hold. The duals antumā and humā serve men and women alike. Naḥnu covers two people or more, so there is no separate 'we two'. And the masculine plurals antum and hum are used for any mixed group, and you will meet them constantly in the Qur'an. Anti and antunna never appear as separate words in the Qur'an; you meet the feminine 'you' there as endings instead.

Is there a word for 'it' in Arabic?

There is no separate word for 'it' in Arabic: a thing is huwa if its noun is masculine and hiya if it is feminine. In Surah Ta-Ha, Allah asks Musa ('alayhis-salam), 'And what is that in your right hand, O Moses?' (20:17), and he replies with hiya, because the word for staff, 'aṣā, is feminine.

Count the visible pronouns in that one verse: hiya (it), the -ya of 'aṣāya (my staff), the -hā of 'alayhā, bihā and fīhā (upon it, with it, in it), the -ī of ghanamī (my sheep) and the -ya of liya (for me). Plurals of things that are not people often take a feminine pronoun too, very often the singular -hā, as in وَتِلْكَ ٱلْأَمْثَـٰلُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ, 'And these examples We present to the people' (59:21), where amthāl (examples) is plural but takes -hā.

Why does Allah say 'We' in the Qur'an?

Allah says 'We' (naḥnu, or innā) in the Qur'an as the plural of majesty, an Arabic way for one great speaker to refer to himself with respect and glorification, not to indicate a number. The islamqa.info answer on why Allah refers to Himself as 'We' explains this, and notes that Allah never refers to Himself with the dual.

The same Qur'an also has Allah speaking as 'I', as in إِنَّنِىٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ, 'Indeed, I am Allāh' (20:14), and spoken of as 'He', as in قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ, 'Say, He is Allāh, [who is] One' (112:1). The Arabs who first heard the Qur'an knew all three styles, and the plural forms are read in the light of the clear verses on Allah's oneness.

What are attached pronouns in Arabic?

Attached pronouns in Arabic are endings joined to a noun, a verb or a preposition. On a noun they show possession (rabbu-ka, your Lord), on a verb they are the object (khalaqa-kum, He created you), and after a preposition they are what the preposition points to (la-ka, for you). The same set of endings does all three jobs.

Two small details sit in the first row. 'My' on a noun is a simple -ī, but 'me' on a verb takes an extra nun first, -nī, as in fa'budnī, 'so worship Me'. Grammarians call it the protecting nun (nūn al-wiqāyah). And the -ī is sometimes written with a fatha in the mushaf, as in وَجْهِىَ (6:79) and عَصَاىَ (20:18), so do not let the extra vowel throw you.

One ending in all three cases: -nā in 3:193

The ending -nā is the only attached pronoun that works in all three grammatical cases, and the first three words of this du'a show each one. In rabba-nā (our Lord) it is possessive, the genitive (jarr) case. In inna-nā (indeed we) it is in the accusative (naṣb) case after inna. In sami'-nā (we have heard) it is the subject, the nominative (raf') case. No other attached ending can also be the subject. Count the rest of the verse and you will find -nā seven more times.

Why -hu sometimes sounds like -hi

The -hu ending (him, his, it) changes to -hi after a kasra or a sakin ya: لَهُ and مِنْهُ, but بِهِ and عَلَيْهِ. The same happens to -hum, -humā and -hunna, which is why al-Fatihah says عَلَيْهِمْ, 'alayhim. In the riwayah of Hafs there are two famous exceptions read with a damma: وَمَآ أَنسَىٰنِيهُ (18:63) and عَلَيْهُ ٱللَّهَ (48:10). An islamqa.info answer on the damma in 48:10 (in Arabic) discusses the second.

Subject endings on verbs

Past-tense verbs carry their subject as an attached ending too, so a single word such as سَمِعْنَا is a whole sentence: 'we have heard'. For 'he', the past verb has no visible ending at all; grammarians say the pronoun is hidden (mustatir), as in خَلَقَ, 'He created' (96:1).

What does iyyāka mean, and how do pronouns add emphasis?

Iyyāka means 'you' as the object of a verb, placed before the verb for emphasis. Arabic has a second set of detached pronouns built on iyyā-, used when the object stands apart from its verb: iyyāya (me), iyyāka (you), iyyāhu (him) and so on, the same endings you have already learned.

Ibn Kathir explains in his tafsir of this verse that putting the object before the verb means 'we worship You alone and none else, and rely on You alone and none else'. Saheeh International reflects this emphasis with 'It is You we worship'. The iyyā- form is also used after illā ('except'), as in 17:23, أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ, 'that you worship not except Him'.

A detached pronoun can also sit between a subject and its description, where English would not normally put a word: أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ (2:5). Grammarians call it the pronoun of separation (ḍamīr al-faṣl). It shows that what follows is the predicate, not an adjective, and it adds emphasis, which Saheeh International brings out as 'it is those who are the successful'.

How can you spot pronouns when you recite?

You spot pronouns when you recite by learning the chart in pairs, then asking 'who?' every time you meet an ending, starting with the surah you know best, al-Fatihah.

What mistakes do learners make with Arabic pronouns?

The most common mistakes with Arabic pronouns come from English habits: treating 'you' as one word, looking for an 'it', and reading endings without asking who they refer to.

Pronouns are among the quickest wins in Qur'anic Arabic: once you know these few dozen forms you will spot them in almost every verse you recite, and our guide to how much Arabic you need to understand the Qur'an shows where they fit. If you would like a teacher of your choice to take you through them with your own surahs, you can find an Arabic teacher on My Tijarah.