Lesson 4
Prepositions and Personal Pronouns
حروف الجر والضمائر
Arabic prepositions فِي، عَلَى، مِنْ، إِلَى govern the genitive case. Combined with the pronouns هُوَ (he) and هِيَ (she), they enable you to describe where things are and who they belong to.
Key Prepositions
ArabicTransliterationMeaning
فِيfīin / inside
عَلَىʿalāon / upon
مِنْminfrom
إِلَىilāto / towards
عِنْدَʿindaat / with (possession or location)
مَعَmaʿawith / together with
بَيْنَbaynabetween
Personal Pronouns: هُوَ / هِيَ
ArabicTransliterationMeaning
هُوَhuwahe / it (m)
هِيَhiyashe / it (f)
الْكِتَابُ فِي الْحَقِيبَةِ هُوَ مِنَ الْمَدِينَةِ الْمُنَوَّرَة
Al-kitābu fī l-ḥaqībati Huwa min al-Madīnati l-munawwara
The book is in the bag. He is from Madinah.
الْقَلَمُ عَلَى الْمَكْتَبِ عِنْدِي كِتَابٌ هِيَ مِنَ الْقَاهِرَة
Al-qalamu ʿalā l-maktabi ʿIndī kitābun Hiya min al-Qāhira
The pen is on the desk. I have a book. She is from Cairo.
Sample Dialogue
أ: مِنْ أَيْنَ هُوَ؟ ب: هُوَ مِنَ الْمَدِينَةِ. أ: وَهِيَ؟ ب: هِيَ مِنَ الْقَاهِرَةِ.
A: Min ayna huwa? B: Huwa min al-Madīna. A: Wa-hiya? B: Hiya min al-Qāhira.
A: Where is he from? B: He is from Madinah. A: And she? B: She is from Cairo.
Pronunciation Focus
The letter عَيْن (ʿ) in عَلَى and عِنْدَ is a constricted pharyngeal sound with no English equivalent the throat tightens while voicing a vowel. The letter إِلَى begins with hamza (ء), a glottal stop: a brief pause before the long ī vowel.
- All prepositions require the following noun to take the genitive case (kasra ِ ending).
- مِنَ before sun letters: مِنَ النَّهَرِ the fatḥa on نُون eases the junction.
- هُوَ = he / it (m); هِيَ = she / it (f) the gender matches the noun they replace.
- عِنْدِي (ʿindī = at me) is the standard idiom for "I have" no separate verb for "have."
- مِنْ أَيْنَ؟ (from where?) is the question for asking someone's origin.