نحن

See also: نجن and نخن

Arabic

Etymology 1

Compare Hebrew אֲנַחְנוּ (anákhnu) and Classical Syriac ܐܢܚܢܢ (ʾənaḥnan).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naħ.nu/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

نَحْنُ • (naḥnu) m pl or f pl (enclitic form ـنَا (-nā))

1. we (subject pronoun)

See also

Arabic personal pronouns
Isolated nominative pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		أَنَا (ʔanā)	نَحْنُ (naḥnu)
2nd person	m	أَنْتَ (ʔanta)	أَنْتُمَا (ʔantumā)	أَنْتُمْ (ʔantum)
	f	أَنْتِ (ʔanti)		أَنْتُنَّ (ʔantunna)
3rd person	m	هُوَ (huwa)	هُمَا (humā)	هُمْ (hum), هُمُ (humu)1
	f	هِيَ (hiya)		هُنَّ (hunna)
Isolated accusative pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		إِيَّايَ (ʔiyyāya)	إِيَّانَا (ʔiyyānā)
2nd person	m	إِيَّاكَ (ʔiyyāka)	إِيَّاكُمَا (ʔiyyākumā)	إِيَّاكُم (ʔiyyākum)
	f	إِيَّاكِ (ʔiyyāki)		إِيَّاكُنَّ (ʔiyyākunna)
3rd person	m	إِيَّاهُ (ʔiyyāhu)	إِيَّاهُمَا (ʔiyyāhumā)	إِيَّاهُمْ (ʔiyyāhum)
	f	إِيَّاهَا (ʔiyyāhā)		إِيَّاهُنَّ (ʔiyyāhunna)
Enclitic accusative and genitive pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		ـنِي (-nī), ـنِيَ (-niya), ـي (-y), ـيَ (-ya)2	ـنَا (-nā)
2nd person	m	ـكَ (-ka)	ـكُمَا (-kumā)	ـكُم (-kum)
	f	ـكِ (-ki)		ـكُنَّ (-kunna)
3rd person	m	ـهُ (-hu), ـهِ (-hi)3	ـهُمَا (-humā), ـهِمَا (-himā)3	ـهُم (-hum), ـهِم (-him)3
	f	ـهَا (-hā)		ـهُنَّ (-hunna), ـهِنَّ (-hinna)3
1. هُمْ (hum) becomes هُمُ (humu) before the definite article الـ (al--). 2. Specifically, ـنِي (-nī, “me”) is attached to verbs, but ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya, “my”) is attached to nouns. In the latter case, ـيَ (-ya) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while ـِي (-ī) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before ـيَ (-ya) (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Prepositions use ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya), even though in this case it has the meaning of “me” rather than “my”. The sisters of inna can use either form (e.g. إِنَّنِي (ʔinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʔinnī)). 3. ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).

Usage notes

As Arabic does not use dual forms in the first person, نَحْنُ (naḥnu) is used in cases where there are two people involved in addition to the usual three or more required for plural number.

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “نحن”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naħ.nu/

Verb

نَحْنُ • (naḥnu) (form I)

1. first-person plural non-past active jussive of حَنَا (ḥanā)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naħ.ni/

Verb

نَحْنِ • (naḥni) (form I)

1. first-person plural non-past active jussive of حَنَى (ḥanā)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nuħ.na/

Verb

نُحْنَ • (nuḥna) (form I)

1. first-person plural non-past passive jussive of حَنَا (ḥanā)
2. first-person plural non-past passive jussive of حَنَى (ḥanā)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “نحن”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN