In Arabic, personal pronouns are classified into two types: detached and attached. Although the correspondence is not exact, detached personal pronouns often function like subject personal pronouns in English.
On the other hand, attached personal pronouns often function like possessive, object, and prepositional pronouns in English.
Unlike MSA, Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic does not have dual pronoun forms; only singular and plural forms are used. Thus, we have two genders, namely masculine and feminine, and two numbers, namely singular and plural.
Detached Personal Pronouns in Arabic
Here are the detached personal pronouns in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic:
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person (m/f) | أَنَــا ’ana I | إِحْــنَــا ’iḥna We |
| 2nd person masculine | إِنْــتَ † ’inta You | إِنْــتُــوْ ’intu You (all) |
| 2nd person feminine | إِنْــتِ ’inti You | إِنْـتِـنْ ’intin You (all) |
| 3rd person masculine | هُــوِّ * huwwe He | هُــمِّ # humme They |
| 3rd person feminine | هِــيِّ § hiyye She | هِــنِّ hinni They |
| † Sometimes shortened to إِنْــتْ (’int). * Sometimes shortened to هُــوْ (hū). | # Sometimes shortened to هُــمْ (hum). § Sometimes shortened to هِــيْ (hī). |
The feminine forms are used for groups that consist exclusively of feminine-gendered members, whereas the masculine forms are used for mixed-gender groups.
Many people, especially in urban areas, use the third-person masculine plural forms إِنْــتُــوْ (’intu) ‘you (all)’ and هُـــمِّ (humme)‘they’ with both male and female groups.
Some Palestinians, especially in West Bank villages, make the distinction between genders by using إِنْـتِـنْ (’intin) and هِــنِّ (hinni) with all-female groups.
Some Palestinians, especially in the Galilee and in cities like Haifa, use the feminine pronoun هِــنِّ (hinni) with both male and female groups.
While it is important to understand that these variations exist, the overall trend is toward the erosion of the feminine plural, not the expansion of its usage. We will use إِنْــتُــوْ (’intu) and هُــمِّ (humme) with both male and female groups throughout the book.
Let us consider some examples:
| .أَنــا هُــون ’ana hown I (am) here. | .هُـــوِّ فِــيْ الْــمَــدْرَسِـــة huwwe fi -l-madraseh He (is) at school. |
| .إِنْــتُــوْ بِــتْـعِــيْــشُــوْ هُــنَــاك ’intu bit‘īshu hunāk You (all) live there. | .هُـــمِّ سَـافَــرُوْ humme sāfaru They traveled. |
| .إِنْـتَ مُـهَـنْـدِس ’inta muhandis You(m) (are) (an) engineer. | .إِنْـتِ مُـهَـنْـدِسِــة ’inti muhandiseh You(f) (are) (an) engineer. |
| .هِــيِّ مَــع إِمّْــهَــا hiyye ma‘ ’immhā She (is) with her mother. | .إِحْــنَــا نْــسِــيْــنَــا ’iḥna nsīna We forgot. |
Note that the detached personal pronoun may be omitted, since the verb conjugation ending often suffices to indicate the subject. We will discuss this in more detail in Lesson 6 of this level.
Attached Personal Pronouns
On the other hand, attached personal pronouns appear as suffixes that can attach to verbs, nouns, prepositions, and some conjunctions. Here are the attached personal pronouns in Arabic:
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person (m/f) | ـنِــيْ ، … ـــيْ … -i, -ni my, me, I | ـــنَــا … -na our, us, we |
| 2nd person masculine | ـَـك … -ak your, you | ــكُــم … -kum your, you (all) |
| 2nd person feminine | ـِـك … -ik your, you | ــكِـن … -kin your, you (all) |
| 3rd person masculine | ـُـه … -uh his, him, he, its, it | ــهُــم … -hum their, them, they |
| 3rd person feminine | ــهَــا … -ha her, she, its, it | ــهِــن … -hin their, them, they |
In the first-person singular, the suffix ـنِــيْ… (-ni) is generally used with verbs, whereas ـــيْ … (-i) is used in most other cases.
As mentioned earlier, attached personal pronouns can be used as suffixes to:
1. Nouns (similar to English possessive pronouns).
2. Verbs (similar to English object personal pronouns).
3. Prepositions (similar to English prepositional pronouns).
4. Some conjunctions (no English equivalent).
Here are some examples. Note that if a preposition or conjunction ends with ن (n), it is often doubled in all singular forms—except the third-person feminine.
| Noun | Verb | Preposition | Conjunction |
| كْــتَـابْ ktāb book | شَــكَــر shakar he thanked | مِـــن min from | … لَإِنْــ la’in … because … |
| كْــتَـابِــي ktābi my book | شَــكَــرْنِــي shakarni he thanked me | مِـنّــــي minni from me | لَإِنِّـــي la’inni because I … |
| كْــتَـابَــك ktābak your(m.s.) book | شَــكَــرَك shakarak he thanked you(m.s.) | مِــنَّـــك minnak from you(m.s.) | لَإِنَّـــك la’innak because you(m.s.)… |
| كْــتَـابِــك ktābik your(f.s.) book | شَــكَــرِك shakarik he thanked you(f.s.) | مِــنِّـــك minnik from you(f.s.) | لَإِنِّـــك la’innik because you(f.s.)… |
| كْــتَـابُــه ktābuh his book | شَــكَــرُه shakaruh he thanked him | مِــنُّـــه minnuh from him | لَإِنُّــه la’innuh because he … |
| كْــتَـابْــهَـا ktābha her book | شَــكَــرْهَــا shakarha he thanked her | مِــنْــهـا minha from her | لَإِنْــهَـــا la’inha because she … |
| كْــتَـابْــنَـا ktābna our book | شَــكَــرْنَــا shakarna he thanked us | مِـــنَّــا minna from us | لَإِنَّـــا la’inna because we … |
| كْــتَـابْــكُــم ktābkum your(m.p.) book | شَــكَــرْكُــم shakarkum he thanked you (m.p.) | مِـنْـــكُــم minkum from you (m.p.) | لَإنْـــكُــم la’inkum because you(m.p.)… |
| كْــتَـابْــكِــن ktābkin your(f.p.) book | شَــكَــرْكِــن shakarkin he thanked you(f.p.) | مِـنْــكِــن minkin from you(f.p.) | لَإنْـــكِــن la’inkin because you(f.p.)… |
| كْــتَـابْــهُــم ktābhum their(m.p.) book | شَــكَــرْهُــم shakarhum he thanked them(m.p.) | مِـنْــهُـم minhum from them(m.p.) | لَإِنْـــهُــم la’inhum because they(m.p.)… |
| كْــتَـابْــهِــن ktābhin their(f.p.) book | شَــكَــرْهِــن shakarhin he thanked them(f.p.) | مِـنْــهِــن minhin from them(f.p.) | لَإِنْـــهِــن la’inhin because they(f.p.)… |
Other lessons in Level II: