Possessive pronouns in standard and Egyptian Arabic


Possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our, their) are used to indicate ownership of something. In Arabic, as with object pronouns, these take the form of suffixes; they are attached to the noun that's owned.

بيتي (beiti)
my house

كتابه (kitaabu)
his book

أختهم (uxtuhum)
their sister

Note: If the noun that's owned ends in a taa' marbuuTa (ـة), the taa' marbuuTa must be "untied" and made into a ت before the pronoun suffix is added:

خالة (xaala) - maternal aunt
Untie the taa' marbuuTa to get خالت and then add the pronoun suffix:
خالتي (xalti) - my maternal aunt

The object and possessive pronoun suffixes are exactly the same except for the first person singular.

Possessive pronouns in standard and Egyptian Arabic:


 EnglishStandard ArabicEgyptian Arabic
Singularmy
ـي (-i)
your (masc.)ـكَ (-ka)ـك (-ak)
your (fem.)ـكِ (-ki)ـك (-ik)
his
ـه (-u)
her
ـها (-ha)
Dualourـنا (-na) 
yourـكما (-kuma) 
theirـهما (-huma) 
Pluralour
ـنا (-na)
your (masc.)ـكم (-kum)ـكو\ـكم (-ku/-kum)
your (fem.)ـكن (-kunna)
their (masc.)ـهم (-hum)ـهم (-hom)
their (fem.)ـهن (-hunna)

Note: In standard Arabic, if the noun that's owned is dual (ends in ـان -aan or ـين -ein), or if the noun has a sound masculine plural suffix (ـون -uun or ـين -iin), you need to drop the final ـن before adding the pronoun suffix.

والدان (waalidaan)والداهم (waalidaahum)مؤيدون (mu'ayyiduun)مؤيدوه (mu'ayyiduuh)
two parentstheir parentssupportershis supporters
 
يدين (yadein)يديها (yadeiha)مدرسين (mudarrisiin)مدرسيّ (mudarrisiyya)
two handsher handsteachersmy teachers

Note: In Egyptian Arabic, if a noun, verb, or preposition ends in a vowel that is not a taa' marbuuTa, some of the pronoun suffixes you'll need to use with it will change. For object/possessive pronouns:

ـني (-ni) stays the same.
ـي (-i)ـيا (-ya)
ـك (-ak)ـك (-k)
ـك (-ik)ـكي (-ki)
ـه (-u)ـه (-h)

Also, the final vowel in the noun/verb/whatever will need to be lengthened. Some examples:

ورا (wara)ورايا (waraaya)حوالي (Hawaali)حواليّ (Hawaleiyya)
behindbehind mearoundaround me
 
لـ (li-)ليك (liik)ورّا (warra)ورّاك (warraak)
forfor you (masc. sing.)to showhe showed you (masc. sing.)
 
على (3ala)عليكي (3aleiki)بابا (baaba)باباكي (babaaki)
onon you (fem. sing.)dadyour dad (fem. sing.)
 
مع (ma3a)معاه (ma3aah)في (fi)فيه (fiih)
withwith himinin him

Note: In colloquial Arabic, when used with possessive suffixes, the words أب (ab), "father," and أخ (ax), "brother," take the form أبو (abu) and أخو (axu). Again, the final -u vowel is lengthened before the suffix is added.

أبويا (abuuya)أخويا (axuuya)
my fathermy brother
 
أبوك (abuuk)أخوك (axuuk)
your (masc. sing.) fatheryour (masc. sing.) brother
 
أبوكي (abuuki)أخوكي (axuuki)
your (fem. sing.) fatheryour (fem. sing.) brother
 
أبوه (abuuh)أخوه (axuuh)
his fatherhis brother
 
etc.

Note: Usually, you do not use possessive pronoun suffixes with dual nouns in Egyptian Arabic. Instead, you say "il-[noun]ein bituu3[possessive pronoun suffix]."

my two bookswrongكتابيني
 correctالكتابين بتوعي (il-kitabein bituu3i)

There are, however, a few exceptions:

عينيّ (3eineiyya)رجليّ (rigleiyya)ايديّ (iideiyya)
my (two) eyesmy (two) legsmy (two) hands
 
عينيك (3eineik)رجليك (rigleik)ايديك (iideik)
your eyesyour legsyour hands
 
etc.


Main grammar page Demonstrative & relative pronouns