שشHebrabic

Grammar · Nouns & the Noun Phrase · 6 min

Possessive Suffixes: ביתי, ביתך, ביתו — in Arabic

The system Hebrew speakers already own, except Arabic uses it every single day

Hebrew speakers meet possessive suffixes in school and then mostly retire them to formal writing — you say הבית שלי, not ביתי, at the grocery store. Arabic never retired them. There is no של in MSA: the suffix is the only way to say "my house". The wonderful news: the suffixes are the ones you already know.

SuffixArabicLatinHebrew lettersHebrew
ـِيبَيْتِيbaytīביתיבֵּיתִי
ـكَبَيْتُكَbaytukaביתךבֵּיתְךָ
ـكِبَيْتُكِbaytukiביתךבֵּיתֵךְ
ـهُبَيْتُهُbaytuhuביתהבֵּיתוֹ
ـهَابَيْتُهَاbaytuhāביתהאבֵּיתָהּ
ـنَابَيْتُنَاbaytunāביתנאבֵּיתֵנוּ
ـكُمبَيْتُكُمbaytukumביתכםבֵּיתְכֶם
ـكُنَّبَيْتُكُنَّbaytukunnaביתכןבֵּיתְכֶן
ـهُمبَيْتُهُمbaytuhumביתהםבֵּיתָם
ـهُنَّبَيْتُهُنَّbaytuhunnaביתהןבֵּיתָן
The full paradigm on بَيْت (house)

About that little u in baytuka: it is a case vowel that formal Arabic slips in before the suffix, and it changes with the noun's role in the sentence (baytuka / baytaka / baytika all occur in classical text). Do not memorize that now — spoken Arabic drops it entirely, leaving the bare suffixes you will meet below: bētak, bētik, bēto. Hebrew speakers can safely think of it as a grammatical garnish.

Suffixes in the wild

  • اِسْمِي دَاوُد
    אסמי דאודismī Dāwūd

    my name is David

    שמי דוד شْمِي دَاڤِيدshmi david

    اِسْم is שֵׁם (Hebrew ש ↔ Arabic س). ismī ↔ שְׁמִי, morpheme for morpheme.

  • مَا اسْمُكَ؟
    מא אסמך?mā ismuka?

    what is your name?

    מה שמך? مَا شِمْخَا؟ma shimkha?

    מַה שִּׁמְךָ ↔ mā ismuka — the entire sentence is cognate, word by word.

  • أُمِّي وَأَبِي
    אמי ואביummī wa-abī

    my mother and my father

    אמי ואבי إِيمِي ڤِئَاڤِيimi ve'avi

    Written in Hebrew letters, the Arabic is identical to the Hebrew: אמי ואבי. Not similar — identical.

  • صَدِيقِي
    צדיקיṣadīqī

    my friend

    חבר שלי خَاڤِر شِلِيkhaver sheli

    صَدِيق (friend) is from ص-د-ق, Hebrew צ-ד-ק: a friend is literally your honest one, your צדיק.

Hebrew keeps it formal; Arabic has no choice

Modern Hebrew built itself an escape hatch — של — and everyday speech walked through it: הבית שלי, השם שלך. MSA has no such word. Possession is the suffix, full stop. This is why the suffixes are the single highest-value habit to build early: every conversation, every text, every form you fill will use them. Think of it as speaking the Hebrew of the טקס all day long.

How Levantine says it

  • بِيتُه
    ביתוbēto

    his house (Levantine)

    בֵּיתוֹ بِيتُوbeito

    The spoken form collapses -uhu to -o. Result: bēto, written ביתו — literally identical to Hebrew ביתוֹ, sound and all.

  • بِيتَك
    ביתךbētak

    your (m.) house (Levantine)

    בֵּיתְךָ بِيتْخَاbeitkha

    And to a woman: bētik (بِيتِك) — the a/i distinction lands on the same syllable as Hebrew ־ְךָ vs. ־ֵךְ.

  • تَبَعِي
    תבעיtabaʿī

    mine (Levantine)

    שלי شِلِيsheli

    Spoken Levantine did invent a של of its own: تَبَع (tabaʿ). il-bēt tabaʿi = הבית שלי. MSA still refuses.