Ownership Tails

Instead of saying "The book of the teacher", we often just say "His book" or "My book". In Arabic, possessive pronouns like My, Your, His, and Her are not separate words. They are tails (Attached Pronouns) glued onto the end of a noun!

1. The Attachment Formula

The Item

كِتَابُ

Kitaabu

The Tail

هُ

(His)

The Result

كِتَابُهُ

Kitaabuhu

His Book

Did you notice? This is just another form of Idafa (Possession) from Lesson 7! The noun loses "AL" and Tanween, and the attached tail acts as the owner.

2. The 5 Essential Tails

Let's look at the 5 singular attached pronouns, attached to the word (اِسْم - Ism) which means "Name".

Meaning	Arabic Tail	Attached Example	Pronunciation	Translation
My	ـِي (ee)	اِسْمِي	Ismee	My name
Your (Masc)	ـَكَ (ka)	اِسْمُكَ	Ismuka	Your name (to a male)
Your (Fem)	ـَكِ (ki)	اِسْمُكِ	Ismuki	Your name (to a female)
His	ـُهُ (hu)	اِسْمُهُ	Ismuhu	His name
Her	ـُهَا (haa)	اِسْمُهَا	Ismuhaa	Her name

Pronunciation Exception: When adding "My" (ـِي) to a noun, the noun is forced to take a Kasra `ِ` before the 'Yee' to make it easy to pronounce. Notice how it is Ismee not Ismu-ee.

3. Dialogue Construction

Read these mini-conversations aloud to see attached pronoun tails in action!

What is your name? My name is Hamid.

مَا اِسْمُكَ؟ اِسْمِي حَامِدٌ

What is her name? Her name is Aisha.

مَا اِسْمُهَا؟ اِسْمُهَا عَائِشَةُ

Where is his book? His book is here.

أَيْنَ كِتَابُهُ؟ كِتَابُهُ هُنَا

Is this your(f) pen? No, this is his pen.

هَلْ هَذَا قَلَمُكِ؟ لَا، هَذَا قَلَمُهُ

Who is your teacher? My teacher is Muhammad.

مَنْ مُدَرِّسُكَ؟ مُدَرِّسِي مُحَمَّدٌ

Where is her house? Her house is there.

أَيْنَ بَيْتُهَا؟ بَيْتُهَا هُنَاكَ