Lesson 15
Second-Person Masculine Plural Pronouns
أنتم أنتما
أَنْتُمْ (you plural masc.) and أَنْتُمَا (you dual). These complete the second-person pronoun paradigm and introduce their corresponding present-tense verb endings.
Complete Second-Person Pronoun Paradigm
PronounArabicPresent form (write)Meaning
You sg mأَنْتَتَكْتُبُyou (one man) write
You sg fأَنْتِتَكْتُبِينَyou (one woman) write
You dualأَنْتُمَاتَكْتُبَانِyou two write
You pl mأَنْتُمْتَكْتُبُونَyou (men/mixed) write
You pl fأَنْتُنَّتَكْتُبْنَyou (women) write
First-Person Pronouns
PronounArabicPresent form
Iأَنَاأَكْتُبُ
Weنَحْنُنَكْتُبُ
هَلْ تَفْهَمُونَ الدَّرْسَ؟ نَعَمْ، نَفْهَمُهُ جَيِّداً
Hal tafhamūna d-darsa? Naʿam, nafhamuhū jayyidan
Do you (pl m) understand the lesson? Yes, we understand it well.
أَنْتُمَا تَكْتُبَانِ مَعاً أَنْتُنَّ تَفْهَمْنَ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ جَيِّداً
Antumā taktubāni maʿan Antunna tafhamna l-ʿarabiyyata jayyidan
You two are writing together. You (women pl) understand Arabic well.
Sample Dialogue
أ: هَلْ تَعْرِفُونَ هَذَا الدَّرْسَ؟ ب: نَعَمْ، نَعْرِفُهُ. أ: وَأَنْتُمَا؟ ب: نَحْنُ نَتَعَلَّمُ الْآنَ.
A: Hal taʿrifūna hādhā d-dars? B: Naʿam, naʿrifuh. A: Wa-antumā? B: Naḥnu nataʿallamu l-ān.
A: Do you (pl) know this lesson? B: Yes, we know it. A: And you two? B: We are learning now.
- تَكْتُبُونَ (أَنْتُمْ) and يَكْتُبُونَ (هُمْ) are identical except for initial تَـ vs يَـ context distinguishes.
- نَحْنُ (we) takes نَـ prefix: نَكْتُبُ، نَفْهَمُ، نَتَعَلَّمُ.
- هَلْ = yes/no question marker; answered with نَعَمْ (yes) or لَا (no).
- أَنْتُنَّ (you f pl) takes تَـ...نَ: تَكْتُبْنَ. The shaddah نَّ in أَنْتُنَّ distinguishes it from أَنْتُمْ.
- الْآنَ (al-āna = now) adverb of time, very common in spoken Arabic.