Relative Clauses in Arabic

In Brief

Arabic uses a relative pronoun such as الذي or التي after a definite noun: الكتاب الذي قرأته (“the book that I read”). After an indefinite noun, it normally uses the describing clause directly, with no relative pronoun: قرأت كتابًا يتحدث عن التاريخ (“I read a book that discusses history”). Unlike English, Arabic often keeps a pronoun inside the relative clause to point back to the noun being described.

Overview

A relative clause is a group of words that describes a noun. In “the student who succeeded,” the noun is “student,” and “who succeeded” tells us which student we mean. Arabic calls this kind of clause جملة صلة الموصول. The noun being described is sometimes called the antecedent—in plain language, the noun that the relative clause points back to.

Relative clauses are introduced at A2 because they let you combine short statements into more natural sentences. Instead of saying هذا هو الكتاب. قرأت الكتاب. (“This is the book. I read the book.”), you can say هذا هو الكتاب الذي قرأته. (“This is the book that I read.”)

Two features make the Arabic system different from English. First, the presence or absence of a relative pronoun depends on whether the noun is definite: compare “the book” with “a book.” Second, when the described noun is an object, follows a preposition, or shows possession inside the clause, Arabic normally uses a resumptive pronoun—a pronoun inside the clause that refers back to that noun. In الكتاب الذي قرأته, the final ـه means “it” and points back to الكتاب.

How It Works

The beginner rule: definite noun or indefinite noun?

Start by looking at the noun immediately before the describing clause.

Type of noun	Pattern	Example	Meaning
Definite	definite noun + relative pronoun + clause	الكتاب الذي قرأته	the book that I read
Indefinite	indefinite noun + clause, with no relative pronoun	قرأت كتابًا أعجبني	I read a book that I liked

A noun is definite when it identifies a particular person or thing. Common signs include the definite article الـ (“the”), a possessive ending, or a proper name. An indefinite noun usually means “a” or “an” and often has tanwīn, the final -n sound shown in fully vowelled writing: كتابٌ، كتابًا، كتابٍ.

With a definite noun, the relative pronoun is part of the normal Modern Standard Arabic pattern:

• الطالب الذي نجح — the student who succeeded
• الطالبة التي نجحت — the student who succeeded
• السيارة التي اشتريناها — the car that we bought

With an indefinite noun, do not insert الذي or التي:

• جاء طالب يريد مساعدتك. — A student who wants to help you came.
• رأيت امرأة تعمل في المستشفى. — I saw a woman who works at the hospital.
• نبحث عن شقة فيها غرفتان. — We are looking for an apartment that has two rooms.

The clause after an indefinite noun functions much like an adjective: it describes the noun without a separate word for “who” or “that.”

Choosing the relative pronoun

For definite nouns, the relative pronoun agrees with the noun in gender and number. The main Modern Standard Arabic forms are:

Noun described	Relative pronoun	Basic meaning
masculine singular	الذي	who, which, that
feminine singular	التي	who, which, that
masculine dual, nominative	اللذان	the two who/that
masculine dual, accusative or genitive	اللذين	the two who/that
feminine dual, nominative	اللتان	the two who/that
feminine dual, accusative or genitive	اللتين	the two who/that
masculine human plural	الذين	who, that
feminine human plural	اللاتي or اللواتي	who, that

The nominative is the form commonly used for the subject of a sentence; the accusative commonly marks a direct object (the person or thing directly affected by an action); and the genitive is used after a preposition or in a possessive construction. These distinctions visibly change the dual relative pronouns. At A2, concentrate first on الذي، التي، الذين and recognise the other forms as you meet them.

Arabic does not choose separate words corresponding exactly to English “who” for people and “which” for things. Agreement matters instead:

• الرجل الذي... — the man who...
• الكتاب الذي... — the book that/which...
• المرأة التي... — the woman who...
• السيارة التي... — the car that/which...

Non-human plurals usually take feminine singular agreement

A plural referring to things or non-human beings normally behaves as feminine singular for agreement. Its relative pronoun is therefore usually التي, not الذين:

• الكتب التي اشتريتها — the books that I bought
• السيارات التي أمام البيت — the cars that are in front of the house
• الأفلام التي شاهدناها — the films that we watched

Use الذين for masculine human plurals: الطلاب الذين نجحوا (“the male or mixed group of students who succeeded”). For a feminine human plural, formal Arabic can use اللاتي or اللواتي: الطالبات اللواتي نجحن.

When no resumptive pronoun is needed

If the described noun is the subject of the relative clause—the person or thing performing the action—there is normally no extra pronoun inside the clause:

• الرجل الذي يعمل هنا — the man who works here
• الطالبة التي نجحت — the female student who succeeded
• الأصدقاء الذين زاروني — the friends who visited me

In the last example, ـني means “me”; it does not refer back to the friends. The friends are already understood as the subject of زاروا (“they visited”).

When Arabic uses a resumptive pronoun

If the noun has another role inside the clause, Arabic commonly represents it with an attached pronoun. This linking pronoun, traditionally called العائد, must agree with the noun it points back to.

The noun is the direct object

• الكتاب الذي قرأته — the book that I read
• الرسالة التي كتبتها — the message that I wrote
• الأفلام التي شاهدناها — the films that we watched

In قرأته, the ending ـه means “it.” English leaves an empty position after “read,” but Arabic’s normal beginner pattern says, literally, “the book that I read it.” The English translation should still be natural: “the book that I read,” not “the book that I read it.”

The noun follows a preposition inside the clause

Arabic keeps the preposition and attaches the matching pronoun:

• الصديق الذي تحدثت معه — the friend whom I spoke with
• المدينة التي وُلدت فيها — the city where I was born
• الموضوع الذي فكرنا فيه — the subject that we thought about

The endings in معه، فيها، فيه provide the link back to the noun. This is very different from conversational English, which can leave a preposition at the end: “the friend I spoke with.”

The noun is a possessor or part of a noun phrase

The linking pronoun may attach to another noun:

• المرأة التي سيارتها حمراء — the woman whose car is red
• البيت الذي بابه أزرق — the house whose door is blue
• الطلاب الذين أسماؤهم في القائمة — the students whose names are on the list

Arabic does not need a direct equivalent of “whose” here. The endings ـها، ـه، ـهم express the relationship.

The same linking rule applies after indefinite nouns

Omitting the relative pronoun does not mean deleting every pronoun that points back to the noun. Compare:

• هذا هو الكتاب الذي اشتريته. — This is the book that I bought.
• اشتريت كتابًا أعجبني غلافه. — I bought a book whose cover I liked.
• قرأت مقالًا أرسله صديقي. — I read an article that my friend sent.

In أرسله, ـه still refers to مقالًا, even though no الذي appears. Keep the two decisions separate: definiteness controls the relative pronoun; the noun’s role inside the clause controls whether a resumptive pronoun is needed.

Examples in Context

Arabic	English	Note
الكتاب الذي قرأته مفيد.	The book that I read is useful.	Definite masculine singular; ـه is the object link.
الطالبة التي نجحت أختي.	The female student who succeeded is my sister.	The student is the subject inside the relative clause.
الأصدقاء الذين زاروني من تونس.	The friends who visited me are from Tunisia.	Masculine or mixed human plural.
الطالبات اللواتي شاركن في المشروع مجتهدات.	The female students who took part in the project are hardworking.	Feminine human plural in formal Arabic.
الكتب التي اشتريتها غالية.	The books that I bought are expensive.	Non-human plural takes feminine singular التي.
هذه هي المدينة التي وُلدت فيها.	This is the city where I was born.	فيها links the clause to the city.
أعرف الرجل الذي يعمل في المخبز.	I know the man who works in the bakery.	No resumptive pronoun: the man performs the action.
أين الهاتف الذي كنت أبحث عنه؟	Where is the phone that I was looking for?	The preposition عن takes ـه.
رأيت رجلًا يحمل حقيبة.	I saw a man carrying a bag.	Indefinite noun, so there is no relative pronoun.
نريد شقةً لها شرفة كبيرة.	We want an apartment that has a large balcony.	Indefinite noun; ـها in لها points back to it.
قابلت المعلمتين اللتين تدرّسان العربية.	I met the two female teachers who teach Arabic.	Dual feminine accusative form اللتين.
وصل القطاران اللذان يأتيان من المطار.	The two trains that come from the airport arrived.	Dual masculine nominative form اللذان.

Common Mistakes

Using a relative pronoun after an indefinite noun

• Wrong: رأيت رجلًا الذي يحمل حقيبة.
• Right: رأيت رجلًا يحمل حقيبة.
• Why: رجلًا means “a man” and is indefinite. Arabic places the describing clause directly after it.

Omitting the relative pronoun after a definite noun

• Wrong: الرجل يعمل هنا طبيب. (intended: “The man who works here is a doctor.”)
• Right: الرجل الذي يعمل هنا طبيب.
• Why: الرجل is definite because it begins with الـ. In this meaning, it needs الذي to connect it to the describing clause.

Copying the English object gap

• Wrong: الكتاب الذي قرأت
• Right: الكتاب الذي قرأته
• Why: In the normal modern pattern, ـه resumes “the book” as the object of “read.” English says “the book that I read,” but Arabic commonly has the internal pronoun.

Dropping the pronoun after a preposition

• Wrong: الصديق الذي تحدثت مع
• Right: الصديق الذي تحدثت معه
• Why: A preposition such as مع needs an object. The attached ـه both completes the phrase and points back to الصديق.

Using a human plural form for things

• Wrong: الكتب الذين قرأتها
• Right: الكتب التي قرأتها
• Why: Non-human plurals normally take feminine singular agreement, including التي and the singular resumptive ـها.

Matching the pronoun to the nearest word instead of the antecedent

• Wrong: المرأة التي سيارته حمراء when referring to one woman but using a mismatched masculine link
• Right: المرأة التي سيارتها حمراء
• Why: The attached pronoun must agree with the person or thing being described: ـها points back to the feminine singular المرأة.

Usage Notes

These patterns describe Modern Standard Arabic, the variety used in formal writing, education, news, and much cross-regional communication. Spoken dialects often use a smaller set of relative markers and may not show the same gender, number, or case distinctions. For example, a dialect may use one common form where formal Arabic distinguishes الذي، التي، الذين. When writing or studying formal Arabic, keep the standard forms.

English allows the object relative pronoun to disappear: both “the book that I bought” and “the book I bought” are possible. With a definite antecedent, standard Arabic normally keeps الذي or its agreeing form. Do not treat English omission as a model for Arabic.

The full feminine plural has several accepted forms, including اللاتي، اللواتي and, in elevated usage, اللائي. Learning one productive form is enough at first, but recognising the alternatives will help you read formal texts.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master every detail below at A2, but these points explain forms you will encounter later.

The dual relative pronouns are unusual because they change for grammatical case. Use اللذان and اللتان when the two people or things are in the nominative role, but اللذين and اللتين in accusative and genitive roles:

• جاء الطالبان اللذان نجحا. — The two students who passed came.
• قابلت الطالبين اللذين نجحا. — I met the two students who passed.
• تحدثت مع الطالبين اللذين نجحا. — I spoke with the two students who passed.

The relative clause itself does not normally take the definite article merely because it follows a definite noun. Its verbs and internal nouns follow their own rules: البيت الذي بابه أزرق (“the house whose door is blue”), not a mechanically “definite” version of every word in the clause.

Arabic can also use relative expressions without a stated antecedent. الذي may mean “the one who” or “that which” in context:

• هذا ما أريده. — This is what I want.
• الذي وصل أولًا أخي. — The one who arrived first is my brother.

Here ما can function as a general relative expression meaning “what” or “that which.” This is a broader topic than the basic noun-modifying pattern, but it is common in real Arabic.

In classical, highly formal, or compressed styles, a resumptive object pronoun can sometimes be omitted under specific grammatical conditions. Learners should not generalise this too early. Using the explicit link in forms such as الذي رأيته and التي قرأتها is clear, standard, and dependable.

Relative clauses can provide essential identifying information or simply add information about someone already identified. Arabic uses the same relative-pronoun system for both; meaning and punctuation in modern writing show the difference:

• الطلاب الذين درسوا نجحوا. — The students who studied passed. (identifies which students)
• أخي، الذي يعيش في عمّان، سيزورنا. — My brother, who lives in Amman, will visit us. (adds extra information)

Practice Tips

1. Combine pairs of sentences. Start with هذه هي السيارة. اشترينا السيارة أمس. Then combine them as هذه هي السيارة التي اشتريناها أمس. Underline both التي and the linking ـها.
2. Sort nouns into two columns. Put definite nouns such as الكتاب and صديقي in one column, and indefinite nouns such as كتابٌ and صديقٌ in another. Build a short describing clause for each, checking whether a relative pronoun is required.
3. Listen for the ending, not only الذي. When reading or hearing Arabic, notice forms such as قرأته، فيها، معه، بابها. Ask what each attached pronoun points back to; this makes resumptive pronouns much easier to produce.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Nominal Sentences — helps you understand noun-based statements and relative clauses whose internal structure has no present-tense form of “to be.”