Possessive Endings in Levantine Arabic: my, your, his, her

How possessive endings work

In English the owner comes first as a separate word: 'my house'. In Levantine Arabic the noun comes first and the owner is glued to the end of it as a suffix. بيت (beit) is 'house', and بيتي (beiti) is 'my house'. There is no extra word in between and no article: the ending already makes the noun specific.

Each pronoun you learned in Unit 1 has a matching ending. They follow the same order the workbook always uses: I, you (m.), you (f.), he, she, we, you (pl.), they.

Tip: The 'his' ending is written ـه but in Jordanian and Palestinian speech it is pronounced as a short -o (or -u): كتابُه sounds like ktaabo. Do not pronounce a strong h at the end.

You (m.) and you (f.): one vowel apart

The endings for a man and a woman look identical in unvowelled writing, because both are spelled ـك. The difference is only in the vowel: -ak to a man, -ik to a woman. Listen for it carefully, because it tells you who is being spoken to.

• وين بيتَك يا أحمد؟wein beitak ya a7mad?Where's your house, Ahmad?
• بيتِك كتير حلوbeitik kteer 7iluYour house is really nice (to a woman)
• بيتُه بعيد عن الجامعةbeito b3eed 3an il-jaam3aHis house is far from the university
• رحنا على بيتها مبارحru7na 3ala beit-ha mbaari7We went to her house yesterday
• أهلا وسهلا، هاد بيتناahlan wa sahlan, haad beitnaWelcome, this is our house
• بيتهُم جنب المسجدbeit-hum jamb il-masjidTheir house is next to the mosque

Nouns ending in ة: the ة turns into ت

Many feminine nouns end in ة (taa marbuuta), which is pronounced as a simple -a or -e at the end of a word. When you add a possessive ending, that hidden t comes back to life and is written ت. So سيّارة (sayyaara, car) becomes سيّارتي (sayyaarti, my car), and عيلة (3eele, family) becomes عيلتي (3eelti, my family).

• عيلتي ساكنة بعمّان3eelti saakne b-3ammaanMy family lives in Amman
• كيف عيلتَك؟keif 3eeltak?How's your family?
• سيّارتنا صغيرة بس منيحةsayyaaritna zgheere bas mnee7aOur car is small but good

Tip: When the ending starts with a consonant, as with -na, -kum or -hum, speakers often slip a short vowel before it to make it easier to say: sayyaaritna rather than sayyaartna. Both are understood.

Everyday examples

Possessive endings appear in some of the first phrases you will use. Asking someone's name is literally 'what is your name?', with the ending on اسم (ism, name).

• شو اسمَك؟shu ismak?What's your name? (to a man)
• اسمي محمدismi m7ammadMy name is Mohammad
• هاد صاحبي، اسمُه خالدhaad saa7bi, ismo khaaledThis is my friend, his name is Khaled
• ممكن ترجّعلي قلمي؟mumkin traj3illi alami?Can you give me back my pen?

Bonus: the dual ending -een

The same workbook page introduces the dual, the form Arabic uses for exactly two of something. Add ـين (-een) to the noun. For a noun ending in ة, the ة once again becomes ت before the ending. This is why Arabic speakers rarely say 'two' with a noun: the ending does the job.

Notice that أخ doubles its خ before the ending: أخّين. That is an irregular one worth memorising.

You can combine the dual with what you learned above. In the workbook dialogue, one speaker says she has أُختين (two sisters) and then asks about her friend's brothers with إخوانِك, 'your brothers'. Endings stack onto plurals just as they do onto single nouns.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most frequent error is adding the article and an ending at the same time, as in الكتابي. A noun with a possessive ending is already definite, so the الـ must go: just كتابي. A second slip is forgetting the ة to ت change and saying something like سيّارةي, which is never correct. Finally, keep -ak and -ik apart. Using the masculine ending to a woman is understood, but it sounds as odd as calling her 'sir'.

Practice

Cover the tables and try these. You can answer in Arabic script or type them in Arabizi.