هن
Arabic
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hun.na/
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). |
Pronunciation 1
- IPA(key): /han/
Verb
هَنْ • (han) (form I)
Pronunciation 2
- IPA(key): /hin/
Pronunciation 3
- IPA(key): /han.na/
Verb
هَنَّ • (hanna) (form I)
Pronunciation 4
- IPA(key): /hin.na/
Etymology 3
Alteration of هَمّ (hamm, “concern”).
Noun
هَن • (han) m (construct state هَنُو (hanū) or هَنُ (hanu), dual هَنَان (hanān) or هَنَوَان (hanawān), plural هَنُون (hanūn), feminine هَنَة (hana)) (obsolete)
Declension
Singular | singular long construct | ||
---|---|---|---|
Indefinite | Definite | Construct | |
Informal | هَن han |
الْهَن al-han |
هَنُو hanū |
Nominative | هَنٌ hanun |
الْهَنُ al-hanu |
هَنُو hanū |
Accusative | هَنًا hanan |
الْهَنَ al-hana |
هَنَا hanā |
Genitive | هَنٍ hanin |
الْهَنِ al-hani |
هَنِي hanī |
Dual | Indefinite | Definite | Construct |
Informal | هَنَيْن; هَنَوَيْن hanayn; hanawayn |
الْهَنَيْن; الْهَنَوَيْن al-hanayn; al-hanawayn |
هَنَيْ; هَنَوَيْ hanay; hanaway |
Nominative | هَنَانِ; هَنَوَانِ hanāni; hanawāni |
الْهَنَانِ; الْهَنَوَانِ al-hanāni; al-hanawāni |
هَنَا; هَنَوَا hanā; hanawā |
Accusative | هَنَيْنِ; هَنَوَيْنِ hanayni; hanawayni |
الْهَنَيْنِ; الْهَنَوَيْنِ al-hanayni; al-hanawayni |
هَنَيْ; هَنَوَيْ hanay; hanaway |
Genitive | هَنَيْنِ; هَنَوَيْنِ hanayni; hanawayni |
الْهَنَيْنِ; الْهَنَوَيْنِ al-hanayni; al-hanawayni |
هَنَيْ; هَنَوَيْ hanay; hanaway |
Plural | sound masculine plural | ||
Indefinite | Definite | Construct | |
Informal | هَنِين hanīn |
الْهَنِين al-hanīn |
هَنِي hanī |
Nominative | هَنُونَ hanūna |
الْهَنُونَ al-hanūna |
هَنُو hanū |
Accusative | هَنِينَ hanīna |
الْهَنِينَ al-hanīna |
هَنِي hanī |
Genitive | هَنِينَ hanīna |
الْهَنِينَ al-hanīna |
هَنِي hanī |
Derived terms
- هُنَيَّة (hunayya), هُنَيْن (hunayn, diminutive)
- هَنَى (hanā, “to do”)
- هِنْو (hinw, “time”)
See also
Etymology 4
Alteration of حَنَّ (ḥanna).
Verb
هَنَّ • (hanna) I, non-past يَهِنُّ (yahinnu) (obsolete, dialectal)
Conjugation
verbal nouns الْمَصَادِر |
هَنّ or هَنِين hann or hanīn | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
active participle اِسْم الْفَاعِل |
hānn | |||||||||||
passive participle اِسْم الْمَفْعُول |
مَهْنُون mahnūn | |||||||||||
active voice الْفِعْل الْمَعْلُوم | ||||||||||||
singular الْمُفْرَد |
dual الْمُثَنَّى |
plural الْجَمْع | ||||||||||
1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم |
2nd person الْمُخَاطَب |
3rd person الْغَائِب |
2nd person الْمُخَاطَب |
3rd person الْغَائِب |
1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم |
2nd person الْمُخَاطَب |
3rd person الْغَائِب | |||||
past (perfect) indicative الْمَاضِي |
m | هَنَنْتُ hanantu |
هَنَنْتَ hananta |
hanna |
هَنَنْتُمَا hanantumā |
hannā |
هَنَنَّا hanannā |
هَنَنْتُمْ hanantum |
hannū | |||
f | هَنَنْتِ hananti |
هَنَّتْ hannat |
هَنَّتَا hannatā |
هَنَنْتُنَّ hanantunna |
hananna | |||||||
non-past (imperfect) indicative الْمُضَارِع الْمَرْفُوع |
m | ʔahinnu |
tahinnu |
yahinnu |
تَهِنَّانِ tahinnāni |
يَهِنَّانِ yahinnāni |
nahinnu |
tahinnūna |
yahinnūna | |||
f | tahinnīna |
tahinnu |
تَهِنَّانِ tahinnāni |
تَهْنِنَّ tahninna |
يَهْنِنَّ yahninna | |||||||
subjunctive الْمُضَارِع الْمَنْصُوب |
m | ʔahinna |
tahinna |
yahinna |
tahinnā |
يَهِنَّا yahinnā |
nahinna |
tahinnū |
yahinnū | |||
f | tahinnī |
tahinna |
tahinnā |
تَهْنِنَّ tahninna |
يَهْنِنَّ yahninna | |||||||
jussive الْمُضَارِع الْمَجْزُوم |
m | ʔahinna or ʔahinni or ʔahnin |
tahinna or tahinni or tahnin |
yahinna or yahinni or yahnin |
tahinnā |
يَهِنَّا yahinnā |
nahinna or nahinni or nahnin |
tahinnū |
yahinnū | |||
f | tahinnī |
tahinna or tahinni or tahnin |
tahinnā |
تَهْنِنَّ tahninna |
يَهْنِنَّ yahninna | |||||||
imperative الْأَمْر |
m | hinna or hinni or ihnin |
hinnā |
hinnū |
||||||||
f | hinnī |
اِهْنِنَّ ihninna | ||||||||||
passive voice الْفِعْل الْمَجْهُول | ||||||||||||
singular الْمُفْرَد |
dual الْمُثَنَّى |
plural الْجَمْع | ||||||||||
1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم |
2nd person الْمُخَاطَب |
3rd person الْغَائِب |
2nd person الْمُخَاطَب |
3rd person الْغَائِب |
1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم |
2nd person الْمُخَاطَب |
3rd person الْغَائِب | |||||
past (perfect) indicative الْمَاضِي |
m | هُنِنْتُ hunintu |
هُنِنْتَ huninta |
hunna |
هُنِنْتُمَا hunintumā |
hunnā |
هُنِنَّا huninnā |
هُنِنْتُمْ hunintum |
hunnū | |||
f | هُنِنْتِ huninti |
هُنَّتْ hunnat |
هُنَّتَا hunnatā |
هُنِنْتُنَّ hunintunna |
huninna | |||||||
non-past (imperfect) indicative الْمُضَارِع الْمَرْفُوع |
m | ʔuhannu |
tuhannu |
yuhannu |
تُهَنَّانِ tuhannāni |
يُهَنَّانِ yuhannāni |
nuhannu |
tuhannūna |
yuhannūna | |||
f | tuhannīna |
tuhannu |
تُهَنَّانِ tuhannāni |
تُهْنَنَّ tuhnanna |
يُهْنَنَّ yuhnanna | |||||||
subjunctive الْمُضَارِع الْمَنْصُوب |
m | ʔuhanna |
tuhanna |
yuhanna |
tuhannā |
يُهَنَّا yuhannā |
nuhanna |
tuhannū |
yuhannū | |||
f | tuhannī |
tuhanna |
tuhannā |
تُهْنَنَّ tuhnanna |
يُهْنَنَّ yuhnanna | |||||||
jussive الْمُضَارِع الْمَجْزُوم |
m | ʔuhanna or ʔuhanni or ʔuhnan |
tuhanna or tuhanni or tuhnan |
yuhanna or yuhanni or yuhnan |
tuhannā |
يُهَنَّا yuhannā |
nuhanna or nuhanni or nuhnan |
tuhannū |
yuhannū | |||
f | tuhannī |
tuhanna or tuhanni or tuhnan |
tuhannā |
تُهْنَنَّ tuhnanna |
يُهْنَنَّ yuhnanna |
References
- Freytag, Georg (1835) “هن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 411b
- Freytag, Georg (1837) “هن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 414b–415a
- Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “هن”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, page 1450a
- Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “هن”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, pages 1454a–b
Iraqi Arabic
North Levantine Arabic
Etymology 1
Partly a continuation of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna, “they”, feminine), but considerably influenced by a pronoun borrowed from Western Aramaic[1][2] and cognate to Classical Syriac ܗܢܘܢ (hennon, “they”). The final e vowel may have also arisen in analogy to the development of the other third-person pronouns: هو (huwwe, “he”), هي (hiyye, “she”), and هم (humme, “them”, now obsolete).
هن (hinne) superficially resembles Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) enough that any other origin might appear questionable. However, some problems show up if we discard the Aramaic altogether:
- هن (hinne) is a gender-neutral pronoun, even though Arabic originally distinguished هُنَّ (hunna, feminine) from هُم (hum, masculine). North Levantine Arabic varieties aren't alone in having replaced both with one common pronoun, but this common pronoun typically developed from Arabic هُم (hum, masculine): see South Levantine Arabic هم (humme) and Egyptian Arabic هم (humma) for examples from closely related varieties. What would have made North Levantine speakers settle on Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) gender-neutrally instead?
- The initial u in Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) differs from the i in هن (hinne). This could be explained by North Levantine Arabic's general tendency to merge u into i in initial closed syllables, but Behnstedt observes that the pronoun has i even in dialects that keep the two vowels distinct. These dialects would be expected to have preserved the u of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna).
- A variant of this pronoun found widely in Syria is هنن (hinnon, hinnen). The two pronunciations are nearly identical to the surviving Western Neo-Aramaic [script needed] (hinnun, “they”, masculine) and [script needed] (hinnin, “they”, feminine), but conspicuously different from Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), which lacks a second ن (n).
- Additionally, there are Syrian varieties that do gender this pronoun, but in a strikingly Aramaic-like manner. Two examples from Hama are هنن (hinnon, masculine) & هنن (hinnen, feminine) in as-Suqaylibiyyah and هنو (hinno, masculine) & هني (hinni, feminine) in Morek.
Behnstedt points out that Aramaic offers an elegant solution to these problems, but notes that modern Syrian forms like هني (hunni) from the vicinity of Homs and هنن (hunnin) in nearby Manin provide reason to account for influence from the Arabic pronoun as well.
The spelling هن is in direct association with Standard Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), while the alternative spellings follow the word's pronunciation.
See also
North Levantine Arabic personal pronouns | |||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | ||
1st person | أنا (ʔana) | نحنا (niḥna) | |
2nd person | m | انت (ʔinta, ʔinte) | انتو (ʔintu) |
f | انتي (ʔinti) | ||
3rd person | m | هو (huwwe) | هن (hinne) / هنن (hinnen) |
f | هي (hiyye) |
Alternative forms
Suffix
ـهن • (-un, -hun, -wun, -yun) pl
Usage notes
- The pronunciation in careful speech is “-hun”, but the “h” is in the process of being lost. Some speakers currently use “-un” after a consonant and “-hun” after a vowel or diphthong, and some others use “-yun” after vowels and diphthongs instead, but it's most-common for it to assimilate to the preceding sound:
- “-un” after a consonant
- “-hun” or “-un” after the vowel “a”
- “-wun” after the vowel “o”/“u”
- “-yun” after the vowel “e”/“i” and the diphthong “ay”
- It might also be spelled as ـن when it's pronounced as “-un”, “-wun” or “-yun”.
- The form with “h” attracts stress to the syllable before it automatically. The form with a dropped “h” still behaves this way for some speakers, but others allow the automatic stress rules to take precedent:
- In Lebanon, some speakers (typically older, rural speakers) realize this enclitic pronoun as hinne in some cases.
See also
North Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
after consonant | after vowel | |||
1st person | after verb | ـني (-ni) | ـنا (-na) | |
else | ـِي (-i) | ـي (-y) | ||
2nd person | m | ـَك (-ak) | ـك (-k) | ـكُن (-kun) |
f | ـِك (-ek) | ـكِ (-ki) | ||
3rd person | m | ـُه (-o) | ـه (-h) | ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un) |
f | ـها (-(h/w/y)a) |
References
- Peter Behnstedt (1991) “Noch einmal zum Problem der Personalpronomina hənne (3. Pl.), -kon (2. Pl.) und -hon (3. Pl.) in den syrisch-libanesischen Dialekten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, volume 141, number 2, pages 235-252
- Stephan Procházka (2014) “Feminine and Masculine Plural Pronouns in Modern Arabic Dialects”, in Tal Davidovich, Ablahad Lahdo, and Torkel Lindquist, editors, From Tur Abdin to Hadramawt: Semitic Studies Festschrift in Honour of Bo Isaksson on the occasion of his retirement, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pages 129–148
South Levantine Arabic
Etymology 1
Partially borrowed from an Aramaic pronoun cognate to Classical Syriac ܗܢܘܢ (hennon). Compare with North Levantine Arabic هن (hinne).
The lack of a second ـن (-n), unlike the Aramaic, is due to influence from the form of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna, “they”, feminine plural) and analogy with the final vowels of other third-person pronouns: هو (huwwe, “he”), هي (hiyye), and possibly the aforementioned هم (humme).
The spelling هن is in direct association with Standard Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), while the alternative spellings follow the word's pronunciation.