ARABIC MADE SIMPLE 2

ARABIC MADE SIMPLE

As explained in the previous blog. Regardless of language, there are roughly only six pronouns, used to refer to people. Three of them are used for singular, viz he/she, you and I ( singular) -  and three plural, viz they/them, you (all of you)  and us (plural). Once you grasp this concept, referring to anyone becomes quite simple. For example , in our  discussion on "nominative" we see the following. Accusative, dative and genitive will be dealt with later when appropriate. But for now, have a look at the masculine and feminine pronouns in the six languages  

Masculine Personal Pronouns

Feminine Personal pronouns

As can be seen, there is  a huge amount of overlap between masculine and feminine of all the above languages. Here both masculine and feminine singular 1st and 2nd person pronouns are identical and likewise both masculine and feminine plural 1st and 2nd person pronouns are also identical. This implies there are no specifics. Meaning "You" remains "You" for both singular and plural whether male or female. So whn speaking about a group of men there is no way of determining this from the context and the same applies to a group of women. However in Arabic there is specifics. 

When speaking to a male one uses  انتَ (anta) and when speaking to a female one uses انتِ  anti. When speaking to a group of men one uses أنتم (antum) and when speaking to a group of females one uses أنتن (antunna). But when one speaks about a group of men one uses هم (homa) and when speaking about a group of women one uses هن (hunna).  The beauty of the Arabic language is that it also has specific pronouns for dual which other languages don't have.

It is therefore in your interest to learn Arabic nominative pronouns in the table below. These are based on a pattern. Once mastered, it will make understanding Arabic so much easier. However this is but an iota of what is still in store. All languages tend to list their pronouns as 1st person, 2nd person then 3rd person. Arabic however starts with 3rd person then 2nd person then 3rd person. Remember Arabic is an ancient language and was in use way before English Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc were even formulated. Besides these languages drew vocabulary from Arabic,  use the Arabic numbering system and certainly loan some of its grammar rules. So Arabic should be considered the mother language. However, for the sake of comparison the table below list them like the tables above.  

Arabic Nominative table for Masculine 

But when learning them, leaving out dual for now, remember them as huwa, hum, 'anta 'antum, 'anna, 'nahnu  for masculine.

Arabic Nominative table for Feminine 

And likewise for feminine, leaving out dual for now, remember them as hiya, hunna, 'anti, 'antunna, 'anna nahnu.

The logic behind this will become clearer at a later stage when we deal with it.


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