Arabic: An Essential Grammar

(e) The adjective form (nisbah, introduced in chapter 25) of َذا ٌت

d

̄

a ̄tun is َذا ِتي d

̄

a ̄tı ̄, ‘self-’, e.g.

ذا ِتيََّأْلـ ُح ْك ُم ل




al-h

̇

ukmu d

̄

-d

̄

a ̄tı-

self-rule (autonomy)

Note a: ُرو ٌح ru ̄h

̇

un (pl. َأ ْروا ٌح



arwa ̄h

̇

un), ‘spirit’, is used in some Arabic-

speaking countries in the same way as َن ْف ُس nafsun.

Note b: The word َع ْي ٌن



ynun ‘eye, essence’ is also sometimes used to empha-

size a noun, just like َن ْفس nafsun.

Note c: Reflexive action is often expressed by special derived verb forms, which

will be introduced in chapter 18.

16.9 Reciprocal pronoun

Arabic uses the noun َب ْع ٌض ba



d

̇

un ‘some, a few’, as the reciprocal

pronoun, ‘each other, one another’. Then َب ْع ٌض ba



d

̇

un is often

repeated. The first َب ْع ٌض ba



d

̇

un takes a suffix pronoun, e.g.

Note: A reciprocal action is often conveyed in Arabic by a special derived verb

form to be introduced in chapter 18.

Exercises

Practise your reading:

1

ه َسَلَج

ا

اَذ

2

ُزوُجَعْل

3

ذ َماَمَأ

ا

. ِباَبْل َكِل

(1) g ̆alasa ha ̄d

̄

a ̄ l-



ag ̆u ̄zu

ama ̄ma d

̄

a ̄lika l-ba ̄bi.

This

2

old man

1

sat

3

in front of that door.

ه

ا

اَذ

1

ذَو ٌحوُمْسَم

ا

َكِل

2

. ٌعوُنْمَم

(2) ha ̄d

̄

a ̄ masmu ̄h

̇

un wa-d

̄

a ̄lika mamnu ̄



un.

This is

1

permitted and that is

2

forbidden.

َل ِع َب ْ َلأ ْو َلا ُد َب ْع ُض ُه ْم َم َع َب ْع ٍض

la



iba l-

awla ̄du ba



d

̇

u-hum ma



a ba



d

̇

in.

The children played with each other.

َض َر َب َب ْع ُض ُه ْم َب ْع ًضا

d

̇

araba ba



d

̇

u-hum ba



d

̇

an.

They hit each other.

102

Demon-

strative,

reflexive

and

reciprocal

pronouns