The English expression “to have” actually refers to a number of different situations which are expressed with different words in Arabic.
For example, in English you can “have a cold” as easily as you can “have thirty years” or “have a cigarette”, or even “have someone else’s hat.”
In Arabic, these different situations are expressed with different words. We’ll go through them today so that you can use the right word at the right time.
Possessive Prepositions
In particular, we’ll be discussing prepositions that represent possession of something. These prepositions will always be joined with a suffix (an attached pronoun) that determines who the possessor is.
The most common preposition is 3ind عَنْد
Using عَنْد (‘3ind) For Ownership or Conditions
عَنْدِي بِنْتِينْ
‘Andi bintein
I have two daughters
عَنْدِي قُطَّة بِيضَا
‘Andi ’oṭṭa beiḍa
I have a white cat
The word عَنْد (3ind) generally means “having” in an ownership sense, for example: It can also refer to a condition or a person’s age:
عَنْدِي بَرْد
‘Andi bard
I have a cold
عَنْدِي سِتَّةْ وعِشْرين سَنَة
‘Andi sitta wa 3isherīn sana
I am 26 years old
Did you notice that the examples above used the suffix ي (i) to show personal possession?
Let’s look at what happens when others “have”:
أنا عَنْدِي
I have
أنت عَنْدَك
inta3indak
You have (masc.)
إنتي عَنْدِك/ج
‘inty 3indich
You have (fem.)
إحنا عَنْدِنَا
‘i7naa3 indina
We have
هو عَنْدُهْ
‘howa 3indu
He has
إهيا عَنْدَهَا
‘ehya 3andaha
She has
هم عَنْدُكُم
‘hom 3indukum
You have (plural)
Let’s look at some more examples here.
عَنْدِي كُمْبِيُوتَر
‘3indi kombyuutar
I have a computer
عَنْدِكْ قَهْوَة؟
‘3indik ahwa?
Do you (fem.) have coffee?
عَنْدَهَا حَسَاسِيَّة
‘3indaha 7asasiyyah
She has an allergy
عَنْدَكْ كَامْ سَنَة؟
‘3indak kam sana?
How old are you? (masc.)
Negating With عَنْد (3ind)
To negate possession using عَنْد (‘and), we add both a prefix مَا (ma) to the forms you learned above.
مَا عَنْدِي
Ma ‘3indi
I don’t have
Sometimes we need to add an extra vowel before the suffix for easy flow.
Let’s see how the different forms are changed when we “don’t have”.
مَا عَنْدَكْ
Ma ‘andak
You don’t have (masc.)
مَا عَنْدِكِ
Ma ‘3indich
You don’t have (fem.)
مَا عَنْدُكُمْ
Ma ‘3indukum
You don’t have (plural)
مَا عَنْدِنَا
Ma ‘3indindahaa
We don’t have
مَا عَنْدُهُمْ
Ma ‘3induhum
They don’t have
مَا عَنْدُو
Ma ‘3indu
He doesn’t have
مَا عَنْدَهَا
Ma ‘andahā
She doesn’t have
3ind عند
Definite antecedent noun:
a poor man who has not any money miskiin maa 3indah fluusالمسكين اللي ما عنده فلوس
ʻThe rich who got tens of thousands il-aghniyaa illi 3indhum likuuk …الأغنياء اللي عندهم لكوك
– indefinite antecedent noun:
miskíin maa 3indah fluus …
ʻAn unfortunate who hasnʼt any money
Uses of abu and umm