Lesson 23 · الَّذِي
Joining sentences: who, which, that
To describe a noun with a whole sentence, Arabic uses الَّذِي (alladhii) after a masculine noun and الَّتِي (allatii) after a feminine one: الرَّجُلُ الَّذِي يَعْمَلُ هُنَا (the man who works here). They come only after a noun with الـ. You met الَّذِينَ (those who) in Al-Fatiha and Al-Asr.
Learn with pictures
Tap a picture to hear the sentence.
Examples
الرَّجُلُ الَّذِي يَعْمَلُ هُنَا مِنْ مِصْرَar-rajulu lladhii yaʿmalu hunaa min miṣraThe man who works here is from Egypt.
الْمَرْأَةُ الَّتِي تَتَكَلَّمُ طَبِيبَةٌal-mar’atu llatii tatakallamu ṭabiibatunThe woman who is speaking is a doctor.
أَيْنَ الْكِتَابُ الَّذِي اشْتَرَيْتَهُ؟ayna l-kitaabu lladhii shtaraytahuu?Where is the book that you bought? (to a man)
هٰذِهِ السَّيَّارَةُ الَّتِي أُرِيدُهَاhaadhihi s-sayyaaratu llatii uriiduhaaThis is the car that I want.
الطُّلَّابُ الَّذِينَ نَجَحُوا سُعَدَاءُaṭ-ṭullaabu lladhiina najaḥuu suʿadaa’uThe students who passed are happy.
عِنْدِي صَدِيقٌ يَسْكُنُ فِي الرِّيَاضِʿindii ṣadiiqun yaskunu fir-riyaaḍiI have a friend who lives in Riyadh.
الْبُيُوتُ الَّتِي فِي هٰذَا الشَّارِعِ جَدِيدَةٌal-buyuutu llatii fii haadha sh-shaariʿi jadiidatunThe houses on this street are new.
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِalladhiina aamanuu wa-ʿamiluu ṣ-ṣaaliḥaatithose who believe and do good deeds (from Surah Al-Asr)
Key points
- الَّذِي who, which (masculine) · الَّتِي who, which (feminine, and plural things) · الَّذِينَ who (plural people)
- After a noun without الـ, leave the word out: رَجُلٌ يَعْمَلُ هُنَا (a man who works here).
- If the noun is the object of the verb, add an ending that points back to it: الْكِتَابُ الَّذِي قَرَأْتُهُ (the book that I read, literally “that I read it”).
Practice
Tap a question to see the answer.
Say “the teacher who teaches us” (teaches us: يُدَرِّسُنَا).
الْمُدَرِّسُ الَّذِي يُدَرِّسُنَا al-mudarrisu lladhii yudarrisunaa
Say “the car that I bought”.
السَّيَّارَةُ الَّتِي اشْتَرَيْتُهَا as-sayyaaratu llatii shtaraytuhaa
The noun is feminine, so الَّتِي; the ending ـهَا on the verb points back to the car.
Say “a man who works in a hospital” (hospital: مُسْتَشْفًى).
رَجُلٌ يَعْمَلُ فِي مُسْتَشْفًى rajulun yaʿmalu fii mustashfan
There is no الـ on رَجُلٌ, so there is no الَّذِي.