In today’s article we will learn about the relative nouns in the Arabic language, what are they? and how to use them. Let’s get started.
What is a relative noun in Arabic?
Relative nouns or as it is called Relative pronouns in Arabic are just like the English pronouns which are: who, whom, whose, which, what, and that. Relative nouns are used in the Arabic language to link two sentences in one complex sentence.
Here’s an example:
This is the pen which I bought yesterday.
هذا هو القلم الذي اشتريته أمس.
In Arabic, the relative noun is called “noun of the connected” اِسْمُ الْمَوْصُوْلِ. they differ based on gender, dual, singular, and plural. As you can see, they are a bit different from the English relative nouns.
Here’s a table showing you the different relative nouns in the Arabic language:
| Relative nouns | |||
| Singular | Masculine | al-lathee | اَلَّذِيْ |
| Feminine | al-latee | اَلَّتِيْ | |
| Dual | Masculine | al-lathaani | اللَّذَاْنِ |
| al-lathayni | اللَّذَيْنِ | ||
| Feminine | al-lataani | اللَّتَاْنِ | |
| al-latayni | اللَّتَيْنِ | ||
| Plural | Masculine | al-latheena | اَلَّذِيْنَ |
| Feminine | al-laatee | اللاَّتِيْ | |
Uses of relative nouns in Arabic
There are two types of relative nouns in the Arabic language, special nouns which differ based on gender, singular, dual, or plural there are six of them, and they are الَّذِي ، اللَّذَان ، الَّذِيْن ، الَّتِي ، اللَّتَان ، اللَّاتِي. While the other type doesn’t change its form based on gender or number and is called a common noun it includes مَنْ and مَا, one of them used for humans, and the other is used to refer to non-humans.
Now let’s understand when to use each one of them:
1- الَّذِي: it is used to refer to singular Masculine nouns whether humans or nonhumans and here are some examples:
The man who bought the book.
الرجل الذي اشترى الكتا.
The book which I bought.
الكتاب الذي اشتريته.
The cat which I bought for my friend.
القط الذي اشتريته لصديقي.
2- اللَّذَان: used to refer to dual masculine nouns, whether human or nonhuman, here are some examples:
The two houses which I saw yesterday are amazing.
المنزلان اللذان رأيتهما بالأمس مذهلين.
The two boys who you spoke to are nice.
الصبيان اللذان تحدثت إليهما لطيفان.
The two dogs which I bought are cute.
الكلبان اللذان اشتريتهما لطيفان.
3- الَّذِيْنَ: is used to refer to plural masculine human nouns, and here are some examples:
Aren’t those the men who helped you yesterday?
أليس هؤلاء الرجال الذين ساعدوك بالأمس؟
Those are the kids who I saw in the park yesterday.
هؤلاء هم الأطفال الذين رأيتهم في الحديقة أمس.
4- الَّتِي: is used to refer to single feminine human nouns or nonhuman masculine and feminine plural nouns, here are some examples:
The books which I bought.
الكتب التي اشتريتها.
The girl who became my friend.
الفتاة التي أصبحت صديقي.
The car which you saw.
السيارة التي رأيتها.
The cars which you saw.
السيارات التي رأيتها.
The dogs which I saw playing in the garden.
الكلاب التي رأيته يلعب في الحديقة
5- اللَّتَان: is used to refer to dual feminine nouns whether human or nonhuman, here are some examples:
The two cats which I saw.
القطتان اللتان رأيتهما.
The two ladies who spoke to me.
السيدتان اللتان تحدثتا معي
6- اللَّاتِي: used to refer to feminine plural nouns, here are some examples:
The ladies who spoke to me.
السيدات اللَّاتِي تحدثن معي
The female doctors who helped the patients.
الطبيبات اللَّاتِي ساعدن المرضى.
7- مَنْ: is used to refer to human masculine and feminine singular, dual, and plural nouns, here are some examples to explain more:
I respect him who says the truth.
حْتَرِم مَنْ يَقُول الحَق
I respect them who say the truth.
أَحْتَرِم مَنْ يَقُولُون الحَق.
I respect her who says the truth
أَحْتَرِم مَنْ تَقُول الحَق
I respect the two ladies who said the truth.
أَحْتَرِم مَنْ قَالَتَا الحَق
We can still use the special relative nouns instead of the common relative nouns and it will be as follows:
I respect the one who says the truth.
أَحْتَرِم الَّذِي يَقُول الحَق.
I respect the ones who say the truth.
أَحْتَرِم الَّذِيْنَ يَقُولُون الحَق
I respect the one (woman) who says the truth.
أحَتَرِم الَّتِي تَقُول الحَق.
I respect the two (women) who said the truth.
أَحْتَرِم اللَّتَان قَالَتَا الحَق
8- مَا: is used to refer to non-human masculine and feminine singular, dual and plural nouns, here are some examples:
I read what you wrote.
قَرَأتُ مَا كَتَبْتَ.
Did you hear what they said?
هَل سَمِعْتُ مَا قَالُوا?
What are relative nouns examples?
Here are some examples to test your understanding:
The man who bought the book.
الرجل الذي اشترى الكتا.
The book which I bought.
الكتاب الذي اشتريته.
The cat which I bought for my friend.
القط الذي اشتريته لصديقي
The two houses which I saw yesterday are amazing.
المنزلان اللذان رأيتهما بالأمس مذهلين.
The two boys who you spoke to are nice.
الصبيان اللذان تحدثت إليهما لطيفان.
The two dogs which I bought are cute.
الكلبان اللذان اشتريتهما لطيفان.
Aren’t those the men who helped you yesterday?
أليس هؤلاء الرجال الذين ساعدوك بالأمس؟
Those are the kids who I saw in the park yesterday.
هؤلاء هم الأطفال الذين رأيتهم في الحديقة أمس.
The books which I bought.
الكتب التي اشتريتها.
The girl who became my friend.
الفتاة التي أصبحت صديقي.
The car which you saw.
السيارة التي رأيتها.
The cars which you saw.
السيارات التي رأيتها.
The dogs which I saw playing in the garden.
الكلاب التي رأيته يلعب في الحديقة
The two cats which I saw.
القطتان اللتان رأيتهما.
The two ladies who spoke to me.
السيدتان اللتان تحدثتا معي
The ladies who spoke to me.
السيدات اللَّاتِي تحدثن معي
The female doctors who helped the patients.
الطبيبات اللَّاتِي ساعدن المرضى.
I respect him who says the truth.
حْتَرِم مَنْ يَقُول الحَق
I respect them who say the truth.
أَحْتَرِم مَنْ يَقُولُون الحَق.
I respect her who says the truth
أَحْتَرِم مَنْ تَقُول الحَق
I respect the two ladies who said the truth.
أَحْتَرِم مَنْ قَالَتَا الحَق
I respect the one who says the truth.
أَحْتَرِم الَّذِي يَقُول الحَق.
I respect the ones who say the truth.
أَحْتَرِم الَّذِيْنَ يَقُولُون الحَق
I respect the one (woman) who says the truth.
أحَتَرِم الَّتِي تَقُول الحَق.
I respect the two (women) who said the truth.
أَحْتَرِم اللَّتَان قَالَتَا الحَق
I read what you wrote.
قَرَأتُ مَا كَتَبْتَ.
Did you hear what they said?
هَل سَمِعْتُ مَا قَالُوا?
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