Water > Taste > An Introduction to Lebanese > Chapter 7: Possessives

1. Possessive suffixes

We don't use possessive pronouns, but possessive suffixes (added at the end of the word). The suffixes do not vary in gender or number. Sometimes they vary for "ear" reasons but generally they are the following:

His: -o (rasso – "his head")
Her: -a (rassa)
Their: -on (rasson)
Your (talking to a male): -ak (rassak)
Your (talking to a female): -ik (rassik)
Your (talking to more than one): -kon (rasskon)
My: -e (rasse)
Our: -na (rassna)

When the word is in the plural the suffix doesn't change. However, some words are used in the dual rather than in the plural. In Lebanese you will rarely need to use a possessive suffix after a dual form (see note as to why), but you will when speaking of body parts that come in pairs. The hands for instance: instead of using the plural iyed, we use dual eedén (two hands). When a word ends with the dual –én, the addition of a possessive suffix turns the dual -n into a connective -y-:

His: eedéy, eedéyo
Her: eedéyya
Their: eedéyon
Your (talking to a male): eedéyk
Your (talking to a female): eedéyke
Your (talking to more than one): eedéykon
My: eedéyye
Our: eedéyna.

Many nouns end with an –a or -e sound, such as sa77a (health), 7orryye (freedom), etc. Usually, but not always, this final sound is due to a "short t" that is not pronounced (in Arabic it would be pronounced –at). When a suffixe is added, the short t can no longer remain mute, so it suddenly shows up instead of the –a or-e between the end of the word and the suffix:

His health: sa77to or sa77eto (it's the same thing, the short e sound is added for convenience of pronounciation)
Her health: sa77ta or sa77eta
Their health: sa77ton or sa77eton
Your health (talking to a male): sa77tak or sa77etak
Your health (talking to a female): sa77tik or sa77etik
Your health (talking to more than one): sa77etkon (here the e is definitely added so as not to have 3 consonants in a row)
My health: sa77te (no e here!)
Our health: sa77etna (as sa77etkon)
As you can see, other than the sudden apparition of the t, there is no change in the suffixes themselves.


Note: In Arabic the dual is widely used. If you want to say "The kids went home" and you're talking about two kids, the sentence will be in the dual form no matter what. In Lebanese we just use the plural even if we know that there are two kids, because in this particular sentence it's useless to insist on the fact there is two of them. We use the dual only for body parts as mentioned above, or when the fact there are two objects is part of what we are trying to say. For instance:
I'd like to order two sandwiches – use of dual.
There were only two students in class – use of dual.
Watch your feet – use of dual.
There were a bunch of adults and two kids (use of dual). The kids went home – use of plural.
The reason you're not likely to ever use a possessive suffix after a dual is the implied notion that if two objects belongs to somebody, there is no point in informing the person that there are two of them. The waiter replying to the first example doesn't need to say " Here are your two sandwiches". And inversely, if they were late the customer wouldn't ask "Where are my two sandwiches?" If the waiter knows the sandwiches are for him, then he necessarily knows there are two of them and that piece of info is redundant.

2. Possessive nouns

When referring to ownership in the absence of the object, English uses the words mine, yours, theirs, etc. Lebanese uses one word, tab3, to which the appropriate possessive suffix is appended. However, this word does vary in both gender and number – think of it as a replacement of the object itself, which it must faithfully reflect. Tab3 therefore takes these forms:

Masculine singular: Tab3 (for instance if you’re talking about a book, a masculine word)
Feminine singular: Tab3eet (for instance if you’re talking about a cup, a feminine word)
Masculine plural: Tab3ool (books)
Feminine plural: Tab3oolet (cups)

For “mine” for instance, we would have the four above as tab3e, tab3eete, tab3oole, tab3oolete.
To the above you add the appropriate suffix to specify whose book/books/cup/cups it is.

Tab3 and its derivatives are never used alone: they either come with a suffix attached or they are followed by the owner of the object:
Tab3ool John: John’s [books or another masculine plural thing]
Tab3eet meen? Whose [cup or feminine thing]?
Tab3 el estez: the teacher’s [book].

Note: Often people simplify the word tab3 by ejecting the b. It then becomes té3, té3t or té3eet, té3ool, té3oolet. Personally I don’t care for this pronunciation, too loose for my taste.

3. Possessive adjective

The possessive adjective (or at least what I refer to as such) is form by adding a possessive suffix to the word el-:
El- + -ak = elak = yours.
El- + -e = ele = mine.

By now you probably don't need me to lay out the different forms anymore, but here they are anyway:

His: Elo
Hers: Ela
Theirs: Elon
Yours (male singular): Elak
Yours (female singular): Elik
Yours (plural): Elkon
Mine: Ele
Ours: Elna

El- doesn't vary in number or gender, which makes it easier to use than the tab3 series. But the two are not interchangeable! Let's take the two sentences:
Héy elak.
Héy tab3oolak.
Both of them translate into English as "This is yours". However, in the first, elak is an adjective. In the second, tab3oolak is a noun. Let's take a closer look at their meaning:

Héy elak = this is for you, here is something for you. Héy tab3oolak = this is your object, this is the one that belongs to you.
Implied: the person did not know there was something for him, therefore the speaker has to be qualifying the thing he's talking about. Implied: the person knows that an object belongs to him and the speaker is referring to it.
Other examples where we'd use el-:
"Who is this for?" "It's for you!"
Other examples where we'd use tab3:
"Which phone is ringing?" "Yours"
There are so many coats on this holder, which one is mine?

El- can be used to mean literally "for ..." (in the sense of "you/I/etc have"), for instance in the following common sentences:
Elak telefón: "For you phone", or "You have a phone call".
Keef elik jlédeh? "How for you patience?", or "How do you have the patience for this?" (in English better translated as "How can you be bothered?")
Ele 7aqq: "For me right", which can mean one of two things: "I am right" or "I have the right to". The two concepts are more or less identical in Lebanese and context determines how to understand it.
Shaghle ma ela ma3na: "Thing for it no meaning", or "Something meaningless, that has no sense".
Elna zamén ma shefnék! "For us long time no see you", or "We haven't seen you in ages!"

You can do no wrong by memorizing these examples (keeping in mind that el- would vary depending on the person involved), as they are very commonly used "as is".

Chapter 8: Relatives

HomeFireWaterAirCentreContact
Tutorials and articles © Joumana Medlej