Arabic: An Essential Grammar

sentences by using any of the four prepositions َم َع ma



a, ِع ْن َد



inda, َلـ َدى

lada ̄ or ...ِلـ (...َلـ) li... (la...) after the noun expressing the owner. The

thing owned is expressed in the nominative case as the nominal predi-

cate. The differences in the use of these prepositions often depend on

nuances.

(a) The preposition َم َع is more frequently used when referring to

available possession at a given time, e.g.

يا َر ٌةَّطاِل ِب َسَّ َم َع ل ma



a t

̇

-t

̇

a ̄libi sayya ̄ratun.

The student has a car (with him). (lit. With the student [now] a car.)

(b) The preposition ِع ْن َد is the general way of expressing possession,

both concrete and abstract, e.g.

ٌةَرا َّ يَس ِبِلا َّ طل َدْنِع



inda t

̇

-t

̇

a ̄libi sayya ̄ratun. The student has a car.

ٌةَرْكِف ِريِبَخـْل َدْنِع



inda l-h

̆

abı

• ri fikratun. The expert has an idea.

ِع ْن َد can also be used for time, e.g.

ظ ْه ِرُّ ِع ْن َ د ل^



inda d

̄ ̇

-d

̄ ̇

uhri, at (by) noon

(c) The preposition َلـ َدى lada ̄ is used in the elaborate literary style

more or less in the same way as َم َع ma



a and ِع ْن َد



inda to express

possession.

ٌريِثَك ٌلاَم ِرِجاّتل ىَدَل

lada ̄ t-ta ̄g ̆iri ma ̄lun kat

̄

ı

• run. The merchant has a lot of money.

(d) The preposition ...ِلـ(...لَـ) expresses both concrete and abstract

possession and can also be used with inanimate possessors, as well

as in the sense of ‘for, to, because of’, e.g.

ٌدِحاَو ٌباَب ِتْيَبْلِل

li-l-bayti ba ̄bun wa ̄h

̇

idun. The house has only one door.

ِمَّ لَعُمْلِل ُةَراـ َّيـَّ سلَأ




as-sayya ̄ratu li-l-mu



allimi, the car belonging to the teacher

هِل

ا

ذِل / َذ

ا

َكِل

li-ha ̄d

̄

a ̄ / li-d

̄

a ̄lika, for this reason, because of that, therefore

56

Conjunc-

tions,

preposi-

tions and

the particle

تىََّح h

̇

atta ̄