The idafa: whose it is — possession without a preposition
Possession is built here with no preposition at all: two nouns simply stand side by side. "Bayt al-jadd" — the house of the grandfather. The English "of" and "'s" are not needed — the pair holds by itself. For example: “بيت الجد كبير” — The grandfather's house is big. A rule from the Arabic course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Possession is built here with no preposition at all: two nouns simply stand side by side. "Bayt al-jadd" — the house of the grandfather. The English "of" and "'s" are not needed — the pair holds by itself.
The second word defines the first, so the article lives only on it: "kitaab al-waalid" — the father's book. Put the article on the first and the sense falls apart: it is the article that shows whose is what.
The idafa dislikes middlemen: a feature cannot be slipped between the pair. "The big house of the grandfather" is assembled differently — "al-bayt al-kabiir li-l-jadd" — and there the "li-" appears.
And possession by a person glues on as an ending: "akhii" — my brother, "akhuk" — your brother, "akhuuhu" — his brother. You have already carried these endings: "zamiilii" — my colleague. The idafa is the same possession, only between two things.
Table
| who | ending | example |
|---|---|---|
| I | ـي — -ii | أخي — akhii (my brother) |
| you (m.) | ـك — -ka | أخوك — akhuk (your brother) |
| he | ـه — -hu | أخوه — akhuuhu (his brother) |
| she | ـها — -haa | أختها — ukhtuhaa (her sister) |
| we | ـنا — -naa | والداننا — waalidaanunaa (our parents) |
| they | ـهم — -hum | أطفالهم — atfaaluhum (their children) |
By example
- بيت الجد كبيرбейт аль-джадд кябирThe grandfather's house is big
- كتاب الوالدين هناкитааб аль-ваалидейн хунаThe parents' book is here
- غرفة الأم صغيرةгурфат аль-умм сагиираThe mother's room is small
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
The idafa: how does it work in Arabic?
Possession is built here with no preposition at all: two nouns simply stand side by side. "Bayt al-jadd" — the house of the grandfather. The English "of" and "'s" are not needed — the pair holds by itself.
What does it look like in a Arabic example sentence?
“بيت الجد كبير” (бейт аль-джадд кябир) — The grandfather's house is big. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.