HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS
these/those drivers
el hīwanāt dee these/those animals
es-settat dōl
these/those women
When the gender of a demonstrative is uncertain, then either dee or da may be used: dee/da ahsan momkin akhod dee/da?
that’s better
can I have that one?
Possessives
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Possessive adjectives are not separate words in Arabic; they are in the form of suffixes that are added to the noun to indicate the possessive. They are added either to a masculine noun or to the construct form of a feminine noun (see page 260).
Demonstratives / Possessives
The possessive suffixes are:
-ee -ak -ik -oo
my your (m sing) your (f sing) his alamee
my pen
aarabayyitna
our car
-ha -na -koo -hom tazkartak
her our your (pl) their
your ticket (said to a man)
tazkartik
your ticket
(said to a woman)
bayt-hom
their house
Possession can also be expressed using btāa (of ). There are different forms of btāa, depending on whether the object possessed is masculine or feminine. These forms are also used to express the possessive pronoun (mine, yours etc):
268
es-sowā’een dōl