Lesson 53
Adjective Clause Review and Extension
الجملة الوصفية
A comprehensive review of relative clauses with all relative pronoun forms. The linking pronoun (ضَمِير الصِّلَة) in the subordinate clause ensures agreement with the antecedent.
Complete Relative Pronoun Table
Person/Gender/NumberRelative pronounTransliteration
Masc sg (definite)الَّذِيalladhī
Fem sg (definite)الَّتِيallatī
Masc pl (definite)الَّذِينَalladhīna
Fem pl (definite)اللَّاتِي / اللَّوَاتِيallātī / allawātī
Dual masc (definite)اللَّذَانِ / اللَّذَيْنِalladhāni / alladhayni
Indefinite antecedentمَنْ (persons) / مَا (things)man / mā
Relative Clauses in Practice
رَأَيْتُ الطُّلَّابَ الَّذِينَ نَجَحُوا فِي الامْتِحَان
Raʾaytu ṭ-ṭullāba lladhīna najaḥū fī l-imtiḥān
I saw the students who succeeded in the exam.
قَرَأَتِ الطَّالِبَةُ الْكُتُبَ الَّتِي اشْتَرَاهَا أَبُوهَا
Qaraʾati ṭ-ṭālibatu l-kutuba llatī ishtarāhā abūhā
The student read the books that her father bought. (اشْتَرَاهَا = linking pronoun هَا)
- الَّذِينَ for human masculine plural; اللَّاتِي for human feminine plural; الَّتِي for non-human plural.
- When the relative pronoun is the object in the clause a linking pronoun (هَا, هُمْ, etc.) must appear in the clause.
- When it is the subject no linking pronoun: الطَّالِبُ الَّذِي نَجَحَ (الَّذِي IS the subject of نَجَحَ).
- Indefinite relative clause: مَنْ يَعْمَلْ خَيْراً يَرَه (whoever does good will see it) no explicit antecedent.
- A linking pronoun in a prepositional phrase: الطَّالِبُ الَّذِي تَحَدَّثْتُ مَعَهُ the pronoun هُ after مَعَ refers back to the antecedent.