Demonstratives: This and That
Point out people and things with this, that, these, and those.
Demonstrative pronouns
These words can stand on their own to refer to people or things. Choose a masculine, feminine, or plural form as appropriate.
| English | Darija | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| this (masculine) | hada | هدا |
| this (feminine) | hadi | هدي |
| these (plural) | hadu | هدو |
| that (masculine) | hadak | هداك |
| that (feminine) | hadik | هديك |
| those (plural) | haduk | هدوك |
Examples and questions
| English | Darija | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| This is a chair. | hada kursi. | هدا كرسي. |
| This is a table. | hadi ṭbla. | هدي طبلة. |
| This is Abdallah. | hada Abdallah. | هدا عبد الله. |
| This is Aicha. | hadi Aicha. | هدي عيشة. |
| What is this? (masculine object) | shnu hada? / ash hada? | شنو هدا؟ / أش هدا؟ |
| What is this? (feminine object) | shnu hadi? / ash hadi? | شنو هدي؟ / أش هدي؟ |
| Who is this? (masculine) | shkun hada? | شكون هدا؟ |
| Who is this? (feminine) | shkun hadi? | شكون هدي؟ |
| What is that? (masculine object) | shnu hadak? / ash hadak? | شنو هداك؟ / أش هداك؟ |
| Who is that? (feminine) | shkun hadik? | شكون هديك؟ |
Demonstrative adjectives
The source also lists these shorter forms used with nouns. Keep this set separate from the stand-alone forms above.
| English | Darija | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| this / these (all genders and plural) | had | هد |
| that (masculine) | dak | داك |
| that (feminine) | dik | ديك |
| those (plural) | duk | دوك |
Practice
Compare hada with hadi, then hadak with hadik. Point to a chair and a table while reading the two example sentences. Ask a “what” question and a “who” question from the list.
Reading guide
Transliteration key: 3 = ع, 7 = ح, sh = ش, kh = خ, gh = غ. A dot under a consonant marks an emphatic consonant. Latin spellings are reading aids; they do not fully capture pronunciation.
Source and audio
Adapted from Peace Corps/Morocco, Basic Introduction to Arabic, lesson 8 (PDF page 9). Formatting, English dialogue glosses where present, and practice prompts are LearnLahja adaptations.
Audio is not currently available for this lesson.