Attached Subject Pronouns with the Regular Perfective Verbs

In Arabic, connected pronouns can be attached to verbs, nouns, or prepositions. If attached to verbs, they can be a subject (the doer of the action) فَاعِل or an object (the receiver of the action) مَفْعُول. In this lesson, we look at the connected subject pronouns with regular perfective verbs الْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِي. In a previous lesson, we briefly looked at the common personal pronouns (also know as separate pronouns). The personal pronoun الضَّمِيْر المُنْفَصِل refers to the person who’s speaking (1^st person), the person we speak to (2^nd person), or the person we speak about (3^rd person). For each of these pronouns, there is a corresponding connected pronoun.

For the separate pronoun أَنَا, the connected pronoun is ـتُ; for نَحْنُ ‘we’, it is ـنَا; for أَنْتَ ‘you (masculine)’, it is ـتَ, and so on, as shown in the table below. This connected pronoun is attached to the perfective verb الْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِي. Hence, it is the subject of the verb, that is الْفَاعِل.

The Separate Pronoun

The Connected Pronoun

Connected Pronoun with Verbs

أنَا

ـتُ

كَتَبْـتُ رِسَالَةً – I wrote a letter

شَرِبْـتُ كُوبًا مِنَ الشَّاي – I drank a cup of tea

رَقَدْتُ عَلَى الْكَنَبَةِ – I slept on the sofa

نَحْنُ

ـنَا

ذَهَبْـنَا إِلَى السُّوقِ – we went to the market

شَاهَدْنَا التِّلْفَازَ – we watched the TV

نَظَّفْـنَا الْبَيْتَ – we cleaned the house

أَنْتَ

you – masculine

ـتَ

قَرَأْتَ رُوَايَةً جَدِيْدَةً – you read a new novel

ضَحِكْـتَ مَعَهُم – you laughed with them

فَتَحْـتَ الْبَابَ – you opened the door

أَنْتِ

you – feminine

ـتِ

خَرَجْـتِ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ – you went out

طَبَخْـتِ بَامِيَةً – you cooked okra

غَسَلْـتِ مَلابِسَكِ – you washed your clothes

أَنْتُم

you – masculine, plural

ـتُم

لَعِبْـتُم فِي الْحَدِيْقةِ – you played in the garden

قَفَزْتُم إِلَى النَّهرِ – you jumped to the river

سَبَحْـتُم فِي النَّهْرِ – you swam in the river

أَنْتُنَّ

you – feminine plural

ـتُنَّ

نَزَلْـتُنَّ مِنَ السَّيَّارَةِ – you got off the car

فَتَحْـتُنَّ بَابَ السَّيَّارَةِ – you opened the car door

عَرَفْـتُنَّ الْإِجَابَةَ – you knew the answer

هُوَ

دَرَسَ التَّارِيْخَ – he studied history

أَخَذَ الكِـتَابَ – he took book

حَمَلَ الشَّنْطَةَ – he carried the bag

هِيَ

she

… تْ

جَلَسَتْ عَلَى الْمَقْعَدِ – she sat on the bench

ذَهَبَتْ إِلَى الْجَامِعَةِ – she went to the university

دَخَلَتْ إِلَى الْغُرْفَةِ – she came in to the room

هُم

they – masculine

ـوَا

رَفَضُـوا الْفِكْرَةَ – they rejected the idea

عَطَسُـوا – they sneezed

رَجَعُـوا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ – they returned home

هُنَّ

they – feminine

ـنَ

لَبِسْـنَ مَلابِسَ جِدِيْدةً – they wore new clothes

سَافَرْنَ إِلَى الْقَرِيَةِ – they traveled to the village

طبَخْـنَ العَشَاءِ – they cooked dinner

The connected pronouns in the above example function as a subject فَاعِل (i.e. the person who did the action). With هُوَ and هِيَ, there is no attached pronoun because it is covert مُسْتَتِر; that is, it does not overtly surface as a suffix at end of the verb.

Here are more examples of perfective forms with هُوَ and هِيَ:

هُوَ

سَافَرَ إِلَى أُسْتَرَالِيَا – he travelled to Australia

كَتَبَ رُوَايَةً جَدِيْدَةً – he wrote a new novel

رَكِبَ سَيَّارَتَه إِلَى الْعَمَلِ – he rode / took his car work

شَرِبَ كَأسًا مِنَ الْحَلِيْبِ – he drank a glass of milk

There is no connected pronoun at the end of the verb. The doer of the action is understood from the context.

هِيَ

سَافَرَتْ إِلَى أُسْتَرَالِيا.

كَتَبَتْ رُوَايَةً جَدِيْدةً.

رَكِبَتْ سَيَّارَتَها إِلَى العَمَلِ.

شَرِبَتْ كَأسًا مِنَ الحَلِيْبِ.

The تْ at the end of the verb is not for the subject. It marks the feminine. The subject pronoun is covert understood as هِيَ.

The forms of the verb with هُوَ and هِيَ are the same. That is, no attached pronoun surfaces at the verb end—it is covert. The only difference between the two forms is that the feminine marker تْ is added when the covert pronoun is هِيَ.

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