Arabic A2, Unit 4: Review: possession

Review: possession

Arabic A2 · Unit 4

GoalUse all the possessive endings, the construct and adjectives together, with verbs you already know.

New words

أَكْتُب فِي دَفْتَرِي (ʾaktub fī daftarī) · I write in my notebookهَذَا لَيْسَ كِتَابِي (hādhā laysa kitābī) · this is not my bookذَهَبْتُ إِلَى بَيْت صَدِيقِي (dhahabtu ʾilā bayt ṣadīqī) · I went to my friend's houseأُمُّهُم مُعَلِّمَة (ʾummuhum muʿallima) · their mother is a teacherسَيَّارَة أَبِي سَرِيعَة (sayyārat ʾabī sarīʿa) · my father's car is fastمَدْرَسَتُنَا جَدِيدَة وَنَظِيفَة (madrasatunā jadīda wa-naẓīfa) · our school is new and cleanهَل هَاتِفُكِ جَدِيد؟ (hal hātifuki jadīd?) · is your (f.) phone new?هِيَ تَقْرَأ كِتَابَهَا (hiya taqraʾ kitābahā) · she reads her book

Explanation

The endings are the same for every noun: ـِي ـُك ـُكِ ـُه ـُهَا ـنَا ـكُم ـهُم ـهُنَّ. The vowel before the ending shows the job of the noun. It is u for the subject (كِتَابُه), a for the thing someone reads or writes (كِتَابَه) and i after a word like فِي (فِي كِتَابِه); after i, ـهُم becomes ـهِم: فِي بَيْتِهِم. A ة changes to ت before an ending. In a construct the second noun may have an ending: كِتَاب أُمِّي. An adjective for a noun with an ending takes الْ: بَيْتُنَا الْجَدِيد.

Who	Ending	Example
I	ـِي	بَيْتِي
you (m.)	ـُك	بَيْتُك
you (f.)	ـُكِ	بَيْتُكِ
he	ـُه	بَيْتُه
she	ـُهَا	بَيْتُهَا
we	ـنَا	بَيْتُنَا
you (pl.)	ـكُم	بَيْتُكُم
they (m.)	ـهُم	بَيْتُهُم
they (f.)	ـهُنَّ	بَيْتُهُنَّ

Worked examples

Ahmad

هَل هَذَا دَفْتَرُك؟

Fatima

لَا، دَفْتَرِي أَزْرَق.

Ahmad

هَذَا دَفْتَر مَرْيَم.

Fatima

شُكْرًا!

Ahmad and Fatima find a notebook. Press each line.

Things and their owners. Listen and repeat.

A short text about a family car.

Class activity

Write about your home. Write five sentences with different endings: two with ـِي (my), one with ـنَا (our), one with ـهُم or ـهُنَّ (their) and one construct, for example بَيْتُنَا كَبِير or غُرْفَة أَخِي نَظِيفَة. Read them aloud, then underline each ending and each adjective.

Practice

Press Listen. Is the owner “you (m.)” or “you (f.)”?

Write in Arabic: “this is not my phone”.

The picture shows a school. Write “our school is big”.

The picture shows a family. Write “their house is beautiful”.

Say “the teacher's new car” (m. teacher). The adjective comes last and matches the first noun.

Possession and the construct

Review: possession