Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic 6.5. Special-Use Pronouns, Nouns, and Words

In this lesson, we will explore some special-use nouns and words in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic: the reflexive pronoun نَـــفْـــس (nafs), the reciprocal pronoun بَـعْــض (ba‘ḍ), the negation words غِــيـــر (gheyr) and عَـــــدَم (‘adam), and the unnamed noun فْـــلَان (flān).

Table of Contents

• The Reflexive Pronoun نَـفْـس (nafs)
• The Reciprocal Pronoun بَـعْـض (ba‘ḍ)
• The Negation Word غِــيـــر (gheyr)
• The Negation Word عَــــدَم (‘adam)
• The Unnamed Noun فْـــلَان (flān)
• Special Descriptive Words
• Level VI – Advanced II (C2)

The Reflexive Pronoun نَـفْـس (nafs)

In English, reflexive pronouns are used in phrases such as ‘he himself,’ ‘about themselves,’ ‘by myself,’ and so on.

In Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, نَـــفْـــس (nafs) ‘self’ is suffixed with an attached personal pronoun to express the same concept as follows:

	Singular	Plural
1st person m/f	أَنَــــا نَـــفْـــسِـــيْ ’ana nafsi I myself	إِحْــنَــا نَـــفْـــسْـــنَـــا ’iḥna nafsna We ourselves
2nd person masculine	إِنْــتَ نَـــفْـــسَـــك ’inta nafsak You yourself	إِنْــتُــوْ نَـــفْـــسْـــكُـــم ’intu nafskum You (all) yourselves
2nd person feminine	إِنْــتِ نَـــفْـــسِـــك ’inti nafsik You yourself	إِنْــتِــن نَـــفْـــسْـــكِـــن ’intin nafskin You (all) yourselves
3rd person masculine	هُــــوِّ نَـــفْـــسُـــه huwwe nafsuh He himself	هُـــمِّ نَـــفْـــسْـــهُـــم humme nafs-hum They themselves
3rd person feminine	هِـــيِّ نَـــفْـــسْـــهَـــا hiyye nafs-ha She herself	هِـــنِّ نَـــفْـــسْـــهِـــن hinne nafs-hin They themselves

Here are some examples:

.أَنَــــا نَـــفْـــسِـــيْ تْـــعِـــبْـــت ’ana nafsi t‘ib(i)t I myself got tired.	.خَــالِــد نَـــفْـــسُـــه قَـــال هِـــيـــك khālid nafsuh qāl heyk Khaled himself said that.
.هِـــيِّ نَـــفْـــسْـــهَـــا مَـــا بِــــدْهَـــا hiyye nafs-ha mā bid-ha She herself doesn’t want to.	.هُـــمِّ نَـــفْـــسْـــهُـــم غَـــيَّـــرُوْ رَايْــهُـــم humme nafs-hum ghayyaru rāyhum They themselves changed their minds.

When preceded by a preposition, the reflexive نَـــفْـــس (nafs) is often replaced with حَـــال (ḥāl), which is more common in colloquial Palestinian Arabic. For example:

.مَـا بَـحِـبّ أَحْـكِـيْ عَــن حَـــالِـــيْ كْــثِــيْــر mā baḥibb ’aḥki ‘an ḥāli kthīr I don’t like to talk much about myself.

.شُـــفْـــتُـــه بِــحْــكِــيْ مَـــع حَـــالُـــه shuftuh biḥki ma‘ ḥāluh I saw him talking with himself.

The following four idiomatic expressions using the word حَـــال (ḥāl) are common in colloquial Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic:

Expression	Example
فِـــيْ حَـــالُـــه fi ḥāluh minding his business	.خَــلِّــيــهُــم هِـــيـــك فِـــيْ حَـــالْـــهُـــم khallīhum heyk fi ḥālhum Leave them like that, minding their business.
مَـــع حَـــالُـــه ma‘ ḥāluh withdrawn, unsociable	.اِبْـــن عَـــمِّــي دَايْـــمًــا مَـــع حَـــالُـــه ibn ‘ammi dāyman ma‘ ḥāluh My cousin is always withdrawn (doesn’t mix with others).
مِـــن حَـــالُـــه min ḥāluh spontaneously	.اِلْــوَلَــد رَاح مِـــن حَـــالُـــه il-walad rāḥ min ḥāluh The boy left spontaneously (without being told).
لَـــحَـــالُـــه la-ḥāluh on his own, alone	.كُــنْــت قَـــاعِـــد هُــنَـــاك لَـــحَـــالِـــيْ kunt qā‘id hunāk la-ḥāli I was sitting there alone.

The word نَـــفْـــس (nafs) can also mean ‘same’ when used as an adjective. In this case, نَـــفْـــس (nafs) may precede the noun or follow it, in which case it takes an attached pronoun that agrees in gender and number with the noun it describes. For example:

نَـــفْـــس الِــكْــتَــاب nafs li-ktāb the same book	الِــكْــتَــاب نَـــفْـــسُـــه li-ktāb nafsuh the same book, the books itself
نَـــفْـــس اِلْـــكُـــتُـــب nafs il-kutub the same books	اِلْـــكُـــتُـــب نَـــفْـــسْـــهُـــم il-kutub nafs hum the same books, the books themselves
نَـــفْـــس اِلْـــبِـــنْـــت nafs il-bint the same girl	اِلْـــبِـــنْـــت نَـــفْـــسْـــهَـــا il-bint nafs-ha the same girl, the girl herself

The Reciprocal Pronoun بَـعْـض (ba‘ḍ)

The word بَـعْـض (ba‘ḍ) is used in MSA and in some formal contexts to mean ‘some.’ It can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. When used with countable nouns, the following definite noun appears in the plural form. For example:

بَـــعْـــض اِلْأَفْـــكَـــار ba‘ḍ il-’afkār some ideas	بَـــعْـــض اِلْــكُـــتُــب ba‘ḍ il-kutub some books
بَـــعْـــض اِلــسُّـــكَّـــر ba‘ḍ is-sukkar some sugar	بَـــعْـــض اِلْأَكْــــل ba‘ḍ il-’ak(i)l some food
بَـــعْـــض اِلــنَّـــاس ba‘ḍ in-nās some people	بَـــعْـــض اِلْأَشْــخَـــاص ba‘ḍ il-’ash khāṣ some individuals

In everyday life, Palestinians and Jordanians use the two more common colloquial alternatives: شْـــوَيِّـــة (shwayyet) and كَـــم (kam).

Whereas شْـــوَيِّـــة (shwayyet) is used with both countable and uncountable nouns and is followed by an indefinite plural noun if the noun is countable, كَـــم (kam) is always followed by a singular, countable, indefinite noun.

Here are some examples:

شْـــوَيِّـــة سُـــكَّـــر shwayyet sukkar a little bit of sugar	شْـــوَيِّـــة أَكْــــل shwayyet ’ak(i)l a little bit of food
شْـــوَيِّـــة كُـــتُــب shwayyet kutub a few books	كَـــم كْـــتَـــاب kam (i) ktāb a few books
شْـــوَيِّـــة أَفْـــكَـــار shwayyet ’afkār a few ideas	كَـــم فِـــكْـــرَة kam fikrah a few ideas

A special function of the word بَـعْــض (ba‘ḍ) is its use as a reciprocal pronoun, often meaning ‘each other.’ It can be used on its own or suffixed by the third-person plural attached personal pronoun.

Here are some examples:

.سَـــاعَـــدُوْ بَـــعْـــض/بَـــعْـــضْـــهُـــم sā‘adu ba‘ḍ/ba‘ḍhum They helped each other.	.تْـــعَـــاوَنُـــوْ مَـــع بَـــعْـــض/بَـــعْـــضْـــهُـــم ta‘āwanu ma‘ ba‘ḍ/ba‘ḍhum They cooperated with each other.
.قَـاعْـدِيْـن بِـتْـفَـرَّجُـوْ عَـلَـى بَــعْــض/بَــعْــضْـهُـم qā‘dīn bitfarraju ‘ala ba‘ḍ/ba‘ḍhum They are looking at each other.	.بِــتْــقَـــاتَــلُــوْ مَـــع بَـــعْـــض/بَـــعْـــضْـــهُـــم bitqātalu ma‘ ba‘ḍ/ba‘ḍhum They fight with each other.
.اِلْأَغْــــرَاض فُــــوق بَـــعْـــض/بَـــعْـــضْـــهُـــم il-’aghrāḍ fowq ba‘ḍ/ba‘ḍhum The items are on top of each other.	.رَتِّــب اِلْـكَــرَاسِـيْ جَـنْـب بَــعْـض/بَـعْــضْـهُـم rattib il-karāsi janb ba‘ḍ/ba‘ḍhum Arrange the chairs next to each other.

The Negation Word غِــيـــر (gheyr)

The negation word غِــيـــر (gheyr) often precedes a noun or adjective to indicate a negative meaning. It is similar in function to the negative prefixes in English, such as ‘un-,’ ‘non-,’ ‘in-,’ ‘im-,’ ‘dis-,’ etc. For example:

غِــيـــر صَــحِــيْــح gheyr ṣaḥīḥ incorrect	غِــيـــر مُــمْــكِــن gheyr mumkin impossible
غِــيـــر مَـــقْــبُـــوْل gheyr maqbūl unacceptable	غِــيـــر مُـــسْــلِــم gheyr muslim non-Muslim

In Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, the negation particle مِـــش (mish) is often used instead.

مِـــش صَــحِــيْــح mish ṣaḥīḥ incorrect	مِـــش مُــمْــكِــن mish mumkin impossible
مِـــش مَـــقْــبُـــوْل mish maqbūl unacceptable	مِـــش مُـــسْــلِــم mish muslim non-Muslim

In negated sentences, غِــيـــر (gheyr) can function as an exception particle, similar to إِلّا (’illa), meaning ‘except’ or ‘other than.’ For example:

.مَـــا شْــرِبْــت إِشِـــيْ غِـــيـــر قَـــهْـــوِة مِـــن اِلــصُّـــبْـــح mā shrib(i)t ’ishi gheyr qahweh min iṣ-ṣub(i)ḥ I did not drink anything other than coffee since the morning.

.مِـــش مُـــتَـــوَقَّـــع تْــمَــطِّــر غِـــيـــر هَــاذَا الْأُسْـــبُـــوْع mish mutawaqqa‘ tmaṭṭir gheyr hādha -l-’usbū‘ It is not expected to rain except for this week.

To refer to other people, i.e., ‘others,’ غِــيـــر (gheyr) can be used as a definite noun, i.e., اِلْـــغِـــيـــر (il-gheyr), or it can be suffixed with an attached pronoun, as in:

غِــيـــرْنَـــا gheyrna other than us	غِـــيـــرِيْ gheyri other than me
غِــيـــرُه gheyruh other than him	غِــيـــرْهَـــا gheyrha other than her

Here are some examples in context:

.لَازِم اِلْــوَاحَــد يِــحْــتِــرِم مَــشَــاعِــر اِلْـــغِـــيـــر lāzim il-wāḥad yiḥtirim mashā‘ir il-gheyr One must respect the feelings of others.

.مَــا بِــهِــمْــنِــيْ كَــــلَام اِلْـــغِـــيـــر mā bihimni kalām il-gheyr I don’t care about what others say.

.أَنَـــا رَح أَرُوْح بَــسّ غِـــيــري يِـــمْـــكِــن مَـــا يِـــقْـــدَر ’ana raḥ ’arūḥ bass gheyri yimkin mā yiqdar I will go but others may not be able to.

.تْــحَــمَّــل اِلْــمَــسْـــؤُوْلِـــيِّـــة ولَا تْـــلُـــوْم غِـــيــرَك tḥammal il-mas’ūliyyeh w-lā tlūm gheyrak Take responsibility and don’t blame others.

.هُــــمِّ دَايْـــمًــا بِــحِــبُّـــوْ يْـــسَـــاعْـــدُوْ غِـــيــرْهُـــم humme dāyman biḥibbu ysā‘du gheyrhum They always love to help others.

When preceded by the preposition مِــن (min), مِــن غِــيــر  (min gheyr) is equivalent to بِــــدُوْن (bidūn), meaning ‘without.’ For example:

.أَنَـــا دَايْـــمًـــا بَـــشْـــرَب قَـــهْـــوِتِـــيْ مِـــن غِـــيـــر سُـــكَّـــر ’ana dāyman bashrab qahwiti min gheyr sukkar I always have my coffee without sugar.

.إِلِـــيْ يُــــوم كَـــامِـــل مِـــن غِـــيـــر نُـــوم ’ili yowm kāmil min gheyr nowm I’ve had a whole day without sleep.

مِــن غِــيــر  (min gheyr) can also be followed by مَـــا and a present verb in the subjunctive mood. For example:

طِـــلِـــع مِـــن غِـــيـــر مَـــا أَشُـــوْفُـــه. ṭili‘ min gheyr mā ’ashūfuh He left without me seeing him.

.مِـــن غِـــيـــر مَـــا نِــتْــحَــرَّك مَـــا رَح يِــتْــغَــيَّـــر إِشِـــيْ min gheyr mā nitḥarrak mā raḥ yitghayyar ’ishi Without us moving, nothing will change.

غِـــيـــر عَـــن (gheyr ‘an) means ‘different from.’ For example:

.فَــلَــسْــطِــيْــن غِـــيـــر عَـــن أَيّ بَــلَــد ثَـــانِـــيْ falasṭīn gheyr ‘an ’ayy balad thāni Palestine is different from any other country.

.اِلْــجَـــوّ اِلْـــيُــــوم غِـــيـــر عَـــن اِمْــبَـــارِح il-jaww il-yowm gheyr ‘an imbāriḥ The weather today is different from yesterday.

Finally, there are some idiomatic expressions that use غِــيـــر (gheyr), such as:

غِـــيـــر شَـــكْـــل gheyr shak(i)l amazing, out of the ordinary	غِــيـــر هِــيــك gheyr heyk other than that, otherwise
عَـــلَـــى غِـــيـــر اِلْـــعَـــادِة ‘ala gheyr il-‘ādeh unusually	هُــــوِّ غِـــيـــر huwwe gheyr he is different

Here is a summary of the different uses of غِــيـــر (gheyr) in daily spoken Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic:

Usage			Meaning	Example
غِــيـــر gheyr	+	adjective	‘un-,’ ‘non-,’ ‘in-,’ ‘im-,’ ‘dis-,’ etc.	غِــيـــر (= مِـــش) مَـــقْــبُـــوْل gheyr (= mish) maqbūl unacceptable
Negated sentence	+	غِــيـــر gheyr	except, other than	.مَــا شْــرِبْــت غِـــيـــر قَــهْــوِة mā shribt gheyr qahweh I had nothing but coffee.
اِلْـــغِـــيـــر il-gheyr			others	.لَازِم نْــسَــاعِــد اِلْـــغِـــيـــر lāzim nsā‘id il-gheyr We must help others.
غِــيـــر gheyr	+	attached pronoun	others, other than	.لَا تْـــلُـــوْم غِـــيــرَك lā tlūm gheyrak Don’t blame others.
مِـــن min	+	غِــيـــر gheyr	without	مِـــنْ غِـــيـــر سُـــكَّـــر min gheyr sukkar without sugar
غِــيـــر gheyr	+	عَـــن ‘an	different from	غِـــيـــر عَـــن أَيّ إِشِــــيْ gheyr ‘an ’ayy ’ishi different from anything

The Negation Word عَــــدَم (‘adam)

The MSA negation words عَـــــدَم (‘adam) ‘lack of’ and غِــيَـــاب (ghiyāb) ‘absence of’ can only precede a noun, indicating the lack or absence of a particular property or quality.

Here are some examples:

عَـــــدَم اِلْــحُـــضُـــوْر ‘adam il-ḥuḍūr the lack of attendance	عَـــــدَمُ اِلْـــفَــــهْــــم ‘adam il-fah(i)m the lack of understanding
غِــيَـــاب اِلــنَّــجَـــاح ghiyāb in-najāḥ the absence of success	غِــيَـــاب اِلــتَّـــنْـــظِـــيْـــم ghiyāb it-tanẓīm the absence of organization

In Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, the negation word قِـــلِّـــة (qillet) ‘shortage of’ is often used instead.

قِـــلِّـــة اِلْـــفَــــهْــــم qillet il-fah(i)m the shortage of understanding

قِـــلِّـــة اِلــتَّـــنْـــظِـــيْـــم qillet it-tanẓīm the shortage of organization

The adjectives derived from the negative noun عَـــــدَم (‘adam) ‘lack of’ and قِـــلِّـــة (qillet) ‘shortage of’ are عَـــدِيْــم (‘adīm) and قَـــلِـــيْــل (qalīl), respectively. For example:

عَـــدِيْــم اِلْــفَـــايْـــدِة ‘adīm il-fāydeh useless (Lit. ‘lacking benefit’)

قَـــلِـــيْــل اِلــتَّـــنْـــظِـــيْـــم qalīl it-tanẓīm disorganized (Lit. ‘little (in) organization’)

The Unnamed Noun فْـــلَان (flān)

In Arabic, the masculine noun فْـــلَان (flān) and the feminine noun فْـــلَانِــة (flāneh) are used in a similar way that we use the expression ‘so and so’ in English. For example:

.خَــلِّــيْــهُــم يْــقُــوْلُــوْ فْـــلَان عِــمِــل هِــيــك khallīhum yqūlu flān ‘imil heyk Let them say so and so (male person) did that.

.فْـــلَانِــة قَــالَــت وفْـــلَان سَــــوَّى flāneh qālat w-flān sawwa So and so (female person) said and so and so (male person) did.

Note that فْـــلَان (flān) and فْـــلَانِــة (flāneh) are often used to refer to human beings. Nevertheless, the relative adjective forms فْـــلَانِـــيْ (flāni) and فْـــلَانِـــيِّـــة (flāniyyeh) can sometimes be used to refer to non-human entities. For example:

فِـــيْ الْــبَــلَــد الِــفْـــلَانِـــيْ fi -l-balad li-flāni in the such–and–such country

فِـــيْ الـسَّــاعَـــة الِــفْـــلَانِـــيِّـــة fi -s-sā‘ah li-flāniyyeh at such–and–such hour

Special Descriptive Words

Here are some common descriptive words in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic:

Word		Example
أَيّ ’ayy any		أَيّ مَـــكَـــان ’ayy makān any place
بَـــاقِـــيْ bāqi	بَـــقِـــيِّـــة baqiyyet	بَـــاقِـــيْ الْأُسْـــبُـــوْع bāqi -l-’usbū‘ the rest of the week
the remaining, the rest of
الِاثْــنِــيــن li-thneyn	اِثْــنِــيــنْــهُــم † ithneynhum	اِلْـــوَلَـــدِيـــن الِاثْــنِــيــن il-waladeyn li-thneyn both boys
both, the two
اِلْــكُــلّ il-kull	اِلْــجَــمِــيْــع il-jamī‘	سَـــلِّـــم عَ اِلْــجَــمِــيْــع sallim ‘a -l-jamī‘ Send greetings to everybody
everybody

^† Some people also use the similar word اِثْــنِــيــنَــاتْــهُــم (ithneynāt hum).

Some words change meaning if followed by a noun in the singular or plural form. For example:

كُــــلّ طَـــالِـــب kull ṭālib each student

كُــــلّ الــطُّـــــلَّاب kull iṭ-ṭullāb all the students

Notice that some descriptive words have different forms based on gender and number. For example, the masculine adjective ثَـــانِـــيْ (thāni), which can mean ‘second’ or ‘another,’ varies with gender and number as follows:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	رِجَّــــال ثَـــانِـــيْ rijjāl thāni another man	مَــــــرَة ثَـــانْـــيِـــة marah thānyeh another woman
Plural	رْجَــــال ثَـــانْـــيِـــيْـــن rjāl thānyīn other men	نِــــسْــــوَان ثَـــانْـــيَـــات niswān thānyāt other women

Remember that when referring to non-human beings in the plural—such as animals, plants, objects, or concepts—we use either the feminine singular or the plural form. For example:

اِلْــكُـــتُـــب اِلــثَّـــانْـــيِـــة/اِلــثَّـــانْــيِــيْــن il-kutub ith-thānyeh/ith-thānyīn the other books

سَـــيَّـــارَات ثَـــانْـــيِـــة/ثَـــانْـــيَـــات sayyārāt thānyeh/thānyāt other cars

Next: Nouns of Place

Back to: Special-Use Particles

Other lessons in Level VI: