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To Have

 

Arabic and Semitic languages in general do not have a verb "to have" like the English one. There is a verb "to own" but not a verb "to have."

The Verb "to Own"

Perfective

Indicative Imperfective

Imperative

مَلَكَ

يَمْلِكُ

اِمْلِكْ

malak(a)

yamlik(u)

'imlik

(he) owned

(he) owns / will own

(you) own!

 

The meaning "to have" is expressed in Arabic by a variety of prepositions. The simplest of which are the following particle-prepositions:

Prepositions Used to Signify Possession

For li-

لِـ

In / with bi-

بِـ

With ma"a

مَعَ

N.B. these particles can have other meanings. The meanings mentioned here are the ones related to the subject of this page. See prepositions for more information.

For information on how to add pronouns to different particles, you may click here.

Examples:

لِيْ خَمْسَةُ أَوْلادٍ

l-ee khamsa(tu) 'awlaad(in)

= for me five (of) children (are)

Translation: I have (got) five children

 

لَهُ مَاْلٌ عَظِيْمٌ

la-h(u) maal(un) "azeem(un)

= for him a money/fortune a great (is)

Translation: he has (got) a great fortune

 

بِهِ دَاْءٌ عُضَاْلٌ

bi-h(i) daa'(un) "udaal(un)

= in/with him a disease a malignant (is)

Translation: he has (got) a malignant disease

 

مَاْ مَعَكَ ؟

  maa ma"a-k(a)

= what with you (is)

Translation: what is with you?

what do you have?

what have you got?

what are you carrying?

 

جَاْءَ وَمَعَهُ سَيْفٌ كَبِيْرٌ

 jaa'(a) wa-ma"a-h(u) sayf(un) kabeer(un)

= (he) came and with him a sword a large (is)

Translation: he came with a large sword

he came carrying a large sword

 

The other, more important, way to express possession is by using noun-prepositions. The following are the ones usually used:

Prepositions Used to Signify Possession

(At the) place/time (of)

"ind(a)

عِنْدَ

ladaa

لَدَىْ

These two words do not have exact matches in English, although they are somewhat close in meaning to the preposition "at." They can be used for place, and here they will mean something close to the French word chez . They also can be used for time, and will mean there something close to "at" like in "at the sunset" or "at 8 o'clock."

These noun-prepositions will be used only to form genitive constructions, and the nouns following them will be always in the genitive or 'al-jarr case. The two words themselves will be always in the accusative or 'an-nasb case (the case of the noun-prepositions) unless they where preceded by a particle-preposition (ablative particle), in which case they should be in the ablative case ('al-jarr).

Examples:

عِنْدَ مُحَمَّدٍ خَمْسَةُ إِخْوَةٍ

"ind(a) muhammad(in) khamsa(tu) 'ikhwat(in)

= (at the) place (of) Muhammad (are) five (of) brothers

Translation: Muhammad has (got) five brothers

 

لَدَىْ الْمُعَلِّمِ صَبْرٌ كَثِيْرٌ

ladaa ('a)l-mu"allim(i) sabr(un) katheer(un)

= (at the) place (of) the teacher a patience a plentiful (is)

Translation: the teacher has (got) a lot of patience

 

Examples of the two noun-prepositions where they are not denoting possession:

سَقَطَتِ الْكُرَةُ عِنْدَ الْجِيْرَاْنِ

saqatat(i) ('a)l-kura(tu) "ind(a) ('a)l-jeeraan(i)

= fell the ball (at the) place (of) the neighbors

Translation: the ball fell into the neighbors'

 

وَصَلْنَاْ عِنْدَ شُرُوْقِ الْشَّمْسِ

wasalnaa "ind(a) shurooq(i) ('a)sh-shams(i)

= (we) arrived (at the) time (of) (the) rise (of) the sun

Translation: we arrived at the time of the sunrise

 

وَجَدْتُ الْكِتَاْبَ لَدَىْ سُعَاْدٍ

wajadt(u) ('a)l-kitaab(a) ladaa su"aad(in)

= (I) found the book (at the) place (of) Su'ad

Translation: I found the book with Su'ad

 

وَصَلُوْاْ لَدَىْ اِنْتِهَاْءِ الحَفْلِ

wasaloo ladaa ('i)ntihaa'(i) ('a)l-hafl(i)

= (they) arrived (at the) time (of) (the) ending (of) the ceremony

Translation: they arrived at the end of the ceremony

 

These two noun-prepositions are often attached to object pronouns.

Examples:

عِنْدِيْ خَمْسَةُ إِخْوَةٍ

"ind-ee khamsa(tu) 'ikhwat(in)

= (at the) place (of) me five (of) brothers (are)

Translation: I have (got) five brothers

 

لَدَيَّ خَمْسَةُ إِخْوَةٍ

laday-y(a) khamsa(tu) 'ikhwat(in)

= (at the) place (of) me five (of) brothers (are)

Translation: I have (got) five brothers

 

Here is a scheme for the attachment of object pronouns to preposition "ind(a).

Attachment of 'ind(a) to Object Pronouns

Possessive Meaning

Preposition + Pronoun

I have

"ind-ee

عِنْدِيْ

You (sing. masc.) have

"inda-k(a)

عِنْدَكَ

You (sing. fem.) have

"inda-k(i)

عِنْدَكِ

He has

"inda-h(u)

عِنْدَهُ

She has

"inda-haa

عِنْدَهَاْ

You (dual) have

"inda-kumaa

عِنْدَكُمَاْ

They (dual) have

"inda-humaa

عِنْدَهُمَاْ

We have

"inda-naa

عِنْدَنَاْ

You (plu. masc.) have

"inda-kum

عِنْدَكُمْ

You (plu. fem.) have

"inda-kunn(a)

عِنْدَكُنَّ

They (plu. masc.) have

"inda-hum

عِنْدَهُمْ

They (plu. fem.) have

"inda-hunn(a)

عِنْدَهُنَّ

 

Attachment of object pronouns to preposition ladaa will be a bit different. Here, we will change the final -aa first to -ay. The first person singular pronoun will be changed from -ee to -y(a), and also, the 3rd person pronouns will have some changes in vowels. These steps are like when adding pronouns to particle-prepositions 'ilaa and "alaa explained in this page.

 

Attachment of 'ind(a) to Object Pronouns

Possessive Meaning

Preposition + Pronoun

I have

laday-y(a)

لَدَيَّ

You (sing. masc.) have

laday-k(a)

لَدَيْكَ

You (sing. fem.) have

laday-k(i)

لَدَيْكِ

He has

laday-h(i)

لَدَيْهِ

She has

laday-haa

لَدَيْهَاْ

You (dual) have

laday-kumaa

لَدَيْكُمَاْ

They (dual) have

laday-himaa

لَدَيْهِمَاْ

We have

laday-naa

لَدَيْنَاْ

You (plu. masc.) have

laday-kum

لَدَيْكُمْ

You (plu. fem.) have

laday-kunn(a)

لَدَيْكُنَّ

They (plu. masc.) have

laday-him

لَدَيْهِمْ

They (plu. fem.) have

laday-hinn(a)

لَدَيْهِنَّ

 

More examples:

زَوْجَتِيْ عِنْدَهَاْ خَمْسَةُ إِخْوَةٍ

zawjat-ee "inda-haa khamsa(tu) 'ikhwat(in)

= (the) wife (of) me (at the) place (of) her five (of) brothers (are)

Translation: my wife has (got) five brothers

 

جَاْرُنَاْ لَدَيْهِ شَاْحِنَةٌ

jaaru-naa laday-h(i) shaahina(tun)

= (the) neighbor (of) us (at the) place (of) him a truck (is)

Translation: our neighbor has (got)/owns a truck

 

Finally, there might be some other nouns or styles that are used to express possession, but they are certainly not as important as the ones mentioned above.

Probably the one word that should be added is:

 

 حَوْزَةٌ

 

hawza(tun)

possession, territory

 

Example:

بِحَوْزَتِيْ خَمْسَةُ كُتُبٍ

bi-hawzat-ee khamsa(tu) kutub(in)

= in (the) possession (of) me five (of) books (are)

Translation: I have (got) five books