Prepositions and Pronoun Suffixes: Pronunciation Shifts

نُطْق

root: ن-ط-ق / noun / definition: pronunciation

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We’re probably all aware that Arabic prepositions can take pronoun suffixes to denote the object. For example, we can add the suffix ـكَ (you) to مَعَ (with) to give us مَعَكَ (with you).

However, when we add (certain) pronoun suffixes to certain prepositions, the spelling and pronunciation of the combined form might be different to what we expected. Let’s take a look…

بِـ

بِـ can mean “with”, “by”, and so on. It depends on the context.

When we add a pronoun suffix to بِـ, the kasra (i sound) influences the vowelling of most third person pronoun suffixes. Specifically, ـهُ / ـهُما / ـهُمْ / ـهُنَّ.

When preceded by بِـ, the damma in these pronoun suffixes is replaced by a kasra for the sake of harmony:

• بِهِ (by him)
• بِهِما (by them (2))
• بِهِمْ (by them (m))
• بِهِنَّ (by them (f))

So we’d never encounter something like بِهُمْ!

بِـ doesn’t change the pronunciation of the other suffixes, though. For instance, we have بِها (by her), بِكَ (by you (m)), etc.

في

The same principle applies when it comes to في (“in”), as it ends in an ii sound:

• فيهِ (in it/him)
• فيهِما (in them (2))
• فيهِم (in them (m))
• فيهِنَّ (in them (f))

Also, note that when we add the first person singular suffix (ـي) to في, we don’t write it as فيي—nor do we pronounce it as fii-ii! Instead, the يs merge and are crowned with both a shadda and fatha: فِيَّ (pronounced fiyya).

لِـ

لِـ means “to” or “for”. The interesting thing about this preposition is that it doesn’t alter the pronunciation of the suffixes that attach to it—it, itself, gets altered.

Other than with the first person singular suffix ـي (which, combined, gives us لي), the kasra of لِـ becomes a fatha (لَـ, la).

So we get, for example:

• لَكُم (to you (pl. m.))
• لَكِ (to you (f))
• لَنا (to us)
• لَهُ (to him)

عَلى / إلى

As we can see, على (“on”) and إلى (“to, towards”) both end in alif maqsoora, ى.

When a pronoun suffix is added to either one of these prepositions, the ى (aa) changes to a ي (y). This gives us a diphthong (ay sound) because there’s a preceding fatha: عَلَيْـ / إلَيْـ.

And now that this ي sound is there, we have to follow the same principle that was applied to بِـ and في, where ـهُ / ـهُما / ـهُم / ـهُنَّ become ـهِ / ـهِما / ـهِم / ـهِنَّ.

For example:

• عَلَيْكَ (on you (m))
• عَلَيْنا (on us)
• عَلَيْهِ (on him)
• إلَيْكُم (to you (pl))
• إلَيْهِنَّ (to them (f))

And as with في, when we have the first person singular suffix (ـي) added to either على or إلى, it forms عَلَيَّ or إلَيَّ, respectively.

Oh, and the rules for على and إلى also apply to لَدى (“with”, often denoting possession).

مِن / عَن

Finally, we have مِن (“from”) and عَن (“from, about”). Notice how they both end in ن.

We only encounter pronunciation changes with these two prepositions when they’re combined with the first person singular suffix, ـي.

What happens is that their final ن receives a shadda, which doubles the n sound.

• مِنّي (from me), pronounced minnii
• عَنّي (about me), pronounced ‘annee

It’s little details like these that help you to sound more fluent when you’re speaking Arabic!

What other explanations would you like to see in the future? Let me know in the comments below…

!إلى اللقاء

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