Demonstratives — forms, syntax and usage

1. Definition from the book

فَصْلٌ: مَا وُضِعَ لِيَدُلَّ عَلَى مُشَارٍ إِلَيْهِ، وَهِيَ خَمْسَةُ أَلْفَاظٍ لِسِتَّةِ مَعَانٍ.
Translation: These are forms instituted to point to a referent. The author organizes five basic form families across six gender-and-number meanings.

The referent (mushār ilayh) is the person or thing pointed to. In «هَذَا», the book being indicated can be the referent.

2. Masculine singular and dual

وَذَلِكَ «ذَا» لِلْمُذَكَّرِ، وَ«ذَانِ» وَ«ذَيْنِ» لِمُثَنَّاهُ.
Translation: «ذَا» points to one masculine referent; its dual uses «ذَانِ» and «ذَيْنِ».

ذَانِ serves nominative contexts; ذَيْنِ serves accusative/genitive contexts. Compare «هَذَانِ طَالِبَانِ» with «رَأَيْتُ هَذَيْنِ الطَّالِبَيْنِ».

3. Feminine singular forms

وَ«تَا» وَ«تِي» وَ«ذِي» وَ«تَهْ» وَ«تَهِي» وَ«ذَهْ» وَ«ذَهِي» لِلْمُؤَنَّثِ.
Translation: For the feminine singular, the author lists the forms tā, tī, dhī, tah, tahī, dhah, and dhahī.

These are attested forms listed by this text, not a claim that all are equally common today. Learn the familiar «هَذِهِ» for active use and recognize the remaining classical forms.

4. Feminine dual

وَ«تَانِ» وَ«تَيْنِ» لِمُثَنَّاهُ.
Translation: The feminine dual uses tāni and tayni.

هَاتَانِ is nominative; هَاتَيْنِ is accusative or genitive. Compare «هَاتَانِ طَالِبَتَانِ» with «رَأَيْتُ هَاتَيْنِ الطَّالِبَتَيْنِ».

5. The plural demonstrative

وَ«أُولَاءِ» بِالْمَدِّ وَالْقَصْرِ لِجَمْعِهِمَا.
Translation: «أُولَاءِ», with extended or shortened pronunciation in the source tradition, is used for both masculine and feminine plurals.

Compare هَؤُلَاءِ الطُّلَّابُ and هَؤُلَاءِ الطَّالِبَاتُ. The same demonstrative serves both plural genders.

6. The attention particle hāʾ

بِأَوَائِلِهَا هَاءُ التَّنْبِيهِ، نَحْوُ: «هَذَا وَهَذَانِ وَهَؤُلَاءِ».
Translation: The attention particle hāʾ can be prefixed, as in hādhā, hādhāni, and hāʾulāʾi.

هَا draws attention and is a particle, not itself the case-bearing demonstrative. In «هَذَا», the demonstrative element is «ذَا».

7. The addressee suffix kāf

وَتَتَّصِلُ بِأَوَاخِرِهَا حَرْفُ الْخِطَابِ.
Translation: An addressee-marking particle can attach to the end of a demonstrative.

The kāf of address in «ذَاكَ» addresses the listener. It does not describe the gender/number of the object pointed to, and is not a genitive pronoun in this construction.

8. Five addressee forms

وَهُوَ أَيْضًا خَمْسَةُ أَلْفَاظٍ لِسِتَّةِ مَعَانٍ.
Translation: Addressee marking likewise uses five expression types to cover six person/gender/number meanings.

كَ (one male), كِ (one female), كُمَا (two of either gender), كُمْ (male/mixed plural), كُنَّ (female plural). The listener and the indicated referent are different dimensions.

9. Why the author counts 25 combinations

فَذَلِكَ خَمْسَةٌ وَعِشْرُونَ، الْحَاصِلُ مِنْ ضَرْبِ خَمْسَةٍ فِي خَمْسَةٍ.
Translation: Five form groups combined with five addressee groups yield 25 patterns.

This is the author’s combinatorial rule, not a complete paradigm on this slide. Selected illustrations: «ذَاكَ، ذَاكِ، ذَاكُمَا، ذَاكُمْ، ذَاكُنَّ». Address marking changes while the core pointing function remains.

10. Near, intermediate, distant

وَاعْلَمْ: أَنَّ «ذَا» لِلْقَرِيبِ، وَ«ذَلِكَ» لِلْبَعِيدِ، وَ«ذَاكَ» لِلْمُتَوَسِّطِ.
Translation: In the author’s scheme, dhā marks the near referent, dhālika the distant one, and dhāka an intermediate distance.

This is the three-distance scheme used by the text. Actual usage varies with context; learn the book’s contrast first.

11. Original text: address combinations

وَهِيَ «ذَاكَ» إِلَى «ذَاكُنَّ»، وَ«ذَانِكَ» إِلَى «ذَانِكُنَّ»، وَكَذَلِكَ الْبَوَاقِي.
Translation: The book illustrates patterns from «ذاكَ» to «ذاكنَّ», and from «ذانكَ» to «ذانكنَّ», with analogous combinations in the other families.

The book gives the starting and ending examples, not a complete written enumeration of all 25 forms.

12. The six referent categories

All six referent classes in the book are:
1. Masculine singular: ذَا.
2. Feminine singular: تَا / تِي / ذِي and variants.
3. Masculine dual: ذَانِ / ذَيْنِ.
4. Feminine dual: تَانِ / تَيْنِ.
5. Masculine plural: أُولَاءِ.
6. Feminine plural: أُولَاءِ.

“Five expressions” refers to core families, not every written variant.

13. How to parse demonstratives

A standalone «هَذَا» has no assigned syntactic position until used in a sentence.

Most demonstratives are indeclinable and occupy nominative, accusative, or genitive positions. But هَذَانِ / هَذَيْنِ behave like the dual with visible alif/yāʾ case distinctions.

14. Parsing: This student is diligent

هَذَا الطَّالِبُ مُجْتَهِدٌ.
Translation: This student is diligent.

هَذَا: demonstrative, indeclinable, in the nominative position as mubtadaʾ. الطَّالِبُ: identifying apposition (badal or ʿaṭf bayān), nominative with ḍamma. مُجْتَهِدٌ: nominative predicate.

The demonstrative and identifying noun refer to the same student; the predicate gives information about him.

15. Parsing: accusative position

رَأَيْتُ هَذَا الطَّالِبَ.
Translation: I saw this student.

رَأَيْتُ: past verb + subject tāʾ. هَذَا: demonstrative, indeclinable, in the accusative position as object. الطَّالِبَ: identifying apposition, accusative with fatḥa.

The demonstrative remains unchanged, even though its syntactic position is accusative.

16. Parsing: genitive position

مَرَرْتُ بِهَذَا الطَّالِبِ.
Translation: I passed by this student.

مَرَرْتُ: verb + subject. بِـ: preposition. هَذَا: indeclinable demonstrative in a genitive position. الطَّالِبِ: apposition, genitive with kasra.

Distinguish the demonstrative’s syntactic position from the following noun’s visible case ending.

17. Masculine dual: nominative

هَذَانِ طَالِبَانِ.
Translation: These are two students.

هَذَانِ: dual demonstrative, nominative subject with alif. طَالِبَانِ: nominative dual predicate with alif.

In this dual pair the ending changes with case, unlike singular «هَذَا».

18. Masculine dual: accusative

رَأَيْتُ هَذَيْنِ الطَّالِبَيْنِ.
Translation: I saw these two students.

هَذَيْنِ: accusative dual demonstrative, object marked by yāʾ. الطَّالِبَيْنِ: accusative apposition with yāʾ.

Yāʾ here marks the accusative because the verb makes the demonstrative its object.

19. Masculine dual: genitive

سَلَّمْتُ عَلَى هَذَيْنِ الطَّالِبَيْنِ.
Translation: I greeted these two students.

عَلَى: preposition. هَذَيْنِ: genitive dual demonstrative marked by yāʾ. الطَّالِبَيْنِ: genitive apposition with yāʾ.

The form hādhayni occurs in both accusative and genitive; the governing context decides which.

20. Feminine singular in a sentence

هَذِهِ الطَّالِبَةُ مُجْتَهِدَةٌ.
Translation: This female student is diligent.

هَذِهِ: indeclinable demonstrative in nominative position. الطَّالِبَةُ: nominative apposition. مُجْتَهِدَةٌ: nominative feminine predicate.

The demonstrative itself stays fixed, although the identifying noun and predicate visibly carry nominative endings.

21. Feminine dual: nominative vs accusative

هَاتَانِ مُعَلِّمَتَانِ.
Translation: These are two female teachers.
هَاتَانِ: nominative dual subject with alif; مُعَلِّمَتَانِ: nominative predicate with alif.

رَأَيْتُ هَاتَيْنِ الْمُعَلِّمَتَيْنِ.
Translation: I saw these two female teachers.
هَاتَيْنِ: accusative dual demonstrative with yāʾ; الْمُعَلِّمَتَيْنِ: accusative apposition with yāʾ.

22. Plural demonstrative and apposition

هَؤُلَاءِ الطُّلَّابُ مُجْتَهِدُونَ.
Translation: These students are diligent.
هَؤُلَاءِ: indeclinable demonstrative in nominative position. الطُّلَّابُ: nominative apposition. مُجْتَهِدُونَ: nominative sound-masculine-plural predicate (wāw).

هَؤُلَاءِ الطَّالِبَاتُ مُجْتَهِدَاتٌ.
Translation: These female students are diligent. The demonstrative is unchanged; the predicate is feminine plural.

23. Parsing the distant form dhālika

ذَلِكَ الرَّجُلُ صَادِقٌ.
Translation: That (distant) man is truthful.

ذَا: demonstrative base in nominative syntactic position. ل: distance marker. كَ: addressee particle, no syntactic case. الرَّجُلُ: nominative apposition. صَادِقٌ: nominative predicate.

Do not parse this kāf as a genitive possessor.

24. Parsing the feminine distant form

تِلْكَ الْفَتَاةُ حَاضِرَةٌ.
Translation: That girl is present.

تِلْكَ: indeclinable feminine demonstrative in nominative position; its kāf marks address. الْفَتَاةُ: nominative apposition. حَاضِرَةٌ: nominative predicate.

The feminine form refers to the girl, while the kāf concerns the addressee.

25. Understanding the intermediate form

ذَاكَ الْبَيْتُ كَبِيرٌ.
Translation: That house (at intermediate distance in the book’s scheme) is large.

ذَاكَ: demonstrative in nominative position, with addressee kāf. الْبَيْتُ: nominative apposition. كَبِيرٌ: nominative predicate.

The text contrasts ذَا (near), ذَاكَ (intermediate), and ذَلِكَ (far).

26. Demonstrative with indefinite vs definite noun

هَذَا كِتَابٌ.
Translation: This is a book.
هَذَا: subject; كِتَابٌ: nominative predicate.

هَذَا الْكِتَابُ مُفِيدٌ.
Translation: This book is useful.
هَذَا: subject; الْكِتَابُ: nominative apposition; مُفِيدٌ: predicate.

Definiteness and clause structure change the function of “kitāb”.

27. The plural form keeps its ending

جَاءَ هَؤُلَاءِ. — These people came; the demonstrative is subject in a nominative position.

رَأَيْتُ هَؤُلَاءِ. — I saw these people; it is the direct object in an accusative position.

مَرَرْتُ بِهَؤُلَاءِ. — I passed by these people; it stands in a genitive position.

The final form stays fixed across all three syntactic roles: that is the effect of indeclinability.

28. Address kāf vs attached pronoun

In ذَلِكَ الْبَيْتُ, kāf is a particle of address with no syntactic case.

In كِتَابُكَ جَدِيدٌ, kāf is an attached pronoun in the genitive position as muḍāf ilayh.

Their surface shapes look similar; their grammatical functions are different.

29. Attention hāʾ vs object pronoun

In هَذَا, hāʾ is a particle of attention, without a syntactic case position.

In رَأَيْتُهَا, hā is an attached object pronoun in the accusative position.

Similar sounds do not imply identical syntax.

30. Rare forms and practical priority

The text includes alternative feminine singular forms such as «تَا، تِي، ذِي، تَهْ، تَهِي، ذَهْ، ذَهِي».

Pedagogical priority: master the common demonstrative «هَذِهِ» first, then learn to recognize the rarer classical variants. In this section these are demonstrative forms, not verb or pronoun forms.

31. Analyze role before choosing the case

Do not identify «هَذَيْنِ» as automatically accusative: the same form is genitive after a preposition.

رَأَيْتُ هَذَيْنِ: accusative object.
مَرَرْتُ بِهَذَيْنِ: genitive after bi-.

By contrast, «هَذَا» itself remains unchanged; describe its syntactic position.

32. Applied comparison across six forms

Compare all six referent categories:
هَذَا الْمُعَلِّمُ — masculine singular.
هَذِهِ الْمُعَلِّمَةُ — feminine singular.
هَذَانِ الْمُعَلِّمَانِ — masculine dual, nominative.
هَاتَانِ الْمُعَلِّمَتَانِ — feminine dual, nominative.
هَؤُلَاءِ الْمُعَلِّمُونَ — masculine plural.
هَؤُلَاءِ الْمُعَلِّمَاتُ — feminine plural.

First identify the referent’s gender and number; then determine syntactic case from the clause.

33. Lesson mastery checklist

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
1. Identify the referent and all six gender/number classes.
2. Select basic singular, dual, and plural demonstratives.
3. Explain attention hāʾ versus addressee kāf.
4. Distinguish syntactic case position from the dual alif/yāʾ changes.
5. Apply the author’s near–intermediate–far scheme.