Mine, yours: the possessive endings
There is no separate word "my" here — and none is needed: the ending glues straight onto the word. raas — a head, raasii — my head, raasuk — your head. The word "zamiilii" — my colleague — is built exactly so. For example: “رأسي يؤلمني” — My head hurts. A rule from the Arabic course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
There is no separate word "my" here — and none is needed: the ending glues straight onto the word. raas — a head, raasii — my head, raasuk — your head. The word "zamiilii" — my colleague — is built exactly so.
There are eight endings, and they are short: "-ii" — my; "-uk" — your (to a man); "-uki" — your (to a woman); "-uhu" — his. Then come "-haa" — her, "-naa" — our, "-kum" — your (pl.), "-hum" — their. The vowel between the stem and the ending is held long, and the word is said in one breath.
The phrase "it hurts" only gains from this: raasii yuʾlimnii — literally "my-head hurts me my-head". "Me" and "my" sit in the endings, and no separate words are required.
One trap: the article and the ending do not live together. "My head" is raasii, without "al-"; "the head in general" is al-raas. One or the other.
Table
| Whose | Ending | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| my | رأسي | raasii |
| your | رأسك | raasuk |
| her | رأسها | raasuhaa |
| his | رأسه | raasuhu |
| our | رأسنا | raasunaa |
| your (pl.) | رأسكم | raasukum |
| their | رأسهم | raasuhum |
By example
- رأسي يؤلمنيрааси юʾлимниMy head hurts
- يدك على الطاولةйадук аля ат-таавилаYour hand is on the table
- بيتها كبيرбайтуха кябирHer house is big
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Possessive suffixes in Arabic?
There are eight endings, and they are short: "-ii" — my; "-uk" — your (to a man); "-uki" — your (to a woman); "-uhu" — his. Then come "-haa" — her, "-naa" — our, "-kum" — your (pl.), "-hum" — their. The vowel between the stem and the ending is held long, and the word is said in one breath.
How to say my head in Arabic?
There are eight endings, and they are short: "-ii" — my; "-uk" — your (to a man); "-uki" — your (to a woman); "-uhu" — his. Then come "-haa" — her, "-naa" — our, "-kum" — your (pl.), "-hum" — their. The vowel between the stem and the ending is held long, and the word is said in one breath.
Arabic possessive endings ik hu haa?
There are eight endings, and they are short: "-ii" — my; "-uk" — your (to a man); "-uki" — your (to a woman); "-uhu" — his. Then come "-haa" — her, "-naa" — our, "-kum" — your (pl.), "-hum" — their. The vowel between the stem and the ending is held long, and the word is said in one breath.
No article with a possessive in Arabic?
One trap: the article and the ending do not live together. "My head" is raasii, without "al-"; "the head in general" is al-raas. One or the other.
What does it look like in a Arabic example sentence?
“رأسي يؤلمني” (рааси юʾлимни) — My head hurts. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.