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ARABIC ONLINE اللّغة العربيّة |
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Sound Masculine Plural Nouns Irregular Perfective Conjugation Irregular Imperfective Conjugation Inactive Particles Vocative Particles Praise & Disparagement Participle-like Adjectives Place-nouns Tool-nouns Diminutives
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Relative Pronouns (continued)
3. The Relative Pronoun "What"
Unlike "who," the relative pronoun "what" in English is similar to the Arabic one in that the antecedent is omitted in English too. Therefore, it should be easy here.
Example: أَعْرِفُ مَاْ فَعَلْتَ 'a"rif(u) maa fa"alt(a) = (I) know what (you) did Translation: I know what you did
N.B. the word maathaa مَاْذَاْ is related to maa and it works exactly like it, including as a relative pronoun. More information is here.
A final point about relative pronouns is the idea of restrictiveness. An English non-restrictive relative clause is preceded by a pause in speech or a comma in writing, whereas a restrictive clause normally is not. Compare the following sentences, which have two quite different meanings in English:
(1) The builder, who erects very fine houses, will make a large profit. (2) The builder who erects very fine houses will make a large profit.
In Arabic, there are NO restrictive relative clauses. The only possible form of relative clauses is the second one.
A summary of relative pronouns in Arabic:
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