Relative Clauses with Indefinite Heads | Arabic (Levantine) Grammar

In the core Beirut pattern, an integrated restrictive relative after an indefinite head has no يلي: بدي حدا بيفهم بالكمبيوتر “I want someone who understands computers,” عم دور على شقة فيها ضو “I’m looking for an apartment that gets light.” The modifying clause follows the head directly.

This does not mean that the clause loses Lebanese relative syntax. A subject can be null, while an object, possessor, or prepositional complement is still resumed by the appropriate suffix. Definiteness controls the external marker; grammatical role controls what appears inside the clause.

The basic definite–indefinite contrast

Head	Pattern	Example
definite	head + يلي + clause	الشخص يلي بيفهم “the person who understands”
indefinite	head + clause	شخص بيفهم “a person who understands”

بدي حدا بيفهم بالكمبيوتر يساعدني.

badde ḥada byifham bil-kombyūtar ysēʿedne.

I want someone who understands computers to help me. (informal; indefinite subject relative without يلي)

الشخص يلي بيفهم بالكمبيوتر مش هون اليوم.

esh-shakhṣ yalle byifham bil-kombyūtar mish hōn el-yōm.

The person who understands computers isn't here today. (informal; definite head requires يلي)

بدنا مطعم بيفتح بكير نهار الأحد.

bidna maṭʿam byiftaḥ bkīr nhār el-aḥad.

We need a restaurant that opens early on Sunday. (informal; nonspecific indefinite subject relative)

The indefinite head often has a nonspecific reading: any suitable person or restaurant will do. The definite version tells the listener which already identifiable person or restaurant is meant.

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Ask first whether the head is presented as identifiable. If it is definite, use yalle. If it is a new indefinite member of a class, attach the descriptive clause directly.

Subject relatives: a compact descriptive unit

With an indefinite head serving as the relative subject, the following verb agrees with that head and no separate pronoun appears.

في بنت بتشتغل هون بتحكي فرنسي.

fī bint btishtaghel hōn btiḥke franse.

There's a woman who works here who speaks French. (informal; indefinite feminine subject relatives)

شفنا ولاد عم يلعبوا بالشارع.

shifna wlād ʿam yilʿabo bish-shāreʿ.

We saw children who were playing in the street. (informal; indefinite plural subject description)

بدي كتاب بيشرح القاعدة بطريقة واضحة.

badde ktēb byishraḥ el-ʾāʿde b-ṭarīʾa wāḍḥa.

I want a book that explains the rule clearly. (informal; inanimate masculine subject relative)

In بنت بتشتغل هون, feminine بتشتغل supplies the subject agreement. In ولاد عم يلعبوا, plural يلعبوا does the same. An inserted هي/هني would create contrast or a looser afterthought, not the neutral integrated relative.

Non-subject roles still need resumption

Omitting يلي does not license an English-style gap after a preposition, inside a possessive phrase, or in the core direct-object pattern.

عم دور على كتاب قريته بالجامعة.

ʿam dawwer ʿala ktēb ʾrēto bil-zhēmʿa.

I'm looking for a book that I read at university. (informal; indefinite object head resumed by ـه)

لقينا شقة ساكنين فيها رفقاتنا.

lʾīna shaʾʾa sāknīn fīha rifʾātna.

We found an apartment that our friends are living in. (informal; indefinite prepositional head resumed by ـها)

تعرفت على زلمة بنته بتدرس معي.

tʿarrafet ʿala zalame binto btidros maʿe.

I met a man whose daughter studies with me. (informal; masculine possessor resumed by ـه on بنته)

This suffix is obligatory for the intended relation: بنته means “his daughter,” linking the indefinite man to a possessor position. The mechanics match those in prepositional relatives and object resumption.

Descriptive versus identifying readings

An indefinite restrictive relative usually helps define the kind of new referent wanted or introduced.

بدنا موظفة بتحكي عربي وإنجليزي.

bidna mwaẓẓafe btiḥke ʿarabe w-inzhlīze.

We need an employee who speaks Arabic and English. (informal; descriptive requirement, no particular person presupposed)

Once a particular employee is established, a definite head plus يلي identifies her:

الموظفة يلي بتحكي عربي وإنجليزي بلشت اليوم.

el-mwaẓẓafe yalle btiḥke ʿarabe w-inzhlīze ballashit el-yōm.

The employee who speaks Arabic and English started today. (informal; identifying definite relative)

Specificity and definiteness are related but not identical. عم دور على موظفة حكيت معها مبارح “I’m looking for a woman I spoke with yesterday” can refer to one specific but still newly introduced woman. In the conservative Beirut structural baseline, the indefinite head still appears without يلي, while معها resumes it inside the clause.

Pauses create looser discourse structures

With no pause, بنت بتشتغل هون is one tight nominal description: “a woman who works here.” A clear pause can turn the next clause into an afterthought or a separate assertion: “a woman—she works here.” That looser structure may contain an overt pronoun.

تعرفت على بنت بتشتغل بالمستشفى.

tʿarrafet ʿala bint btishtaghel bil-mostashfa.

I met a woman who works at the hospital. (informal; integrated indefinite relative, no pause)

تعرفت على بنت، هي بتشتغل بالمستشفى.

tʿarrafet ʿala bint, hiyye btishtaghel bil-mostashfa.

I met a woman—she works at the hospital. (informal; two discourse units, overt resumed subject)

The second may be useful when the information is added after the speaker has already completed the noun phrase. Do not treat punctuation as ornamental: in speech, the intonational break changes the syntax and information packaging.

When يلي appears after a formally indefinite head

Across contemporary Levantine speech, illi/yalle after an indefinite head is heard for some speakers, especially with a specific referent, a presentational construction, or an appositive afterthought. Syrian, Palestinian, and Jordanian varieties differ internally, and some Lebanese speakers are more permissive than the conservative baseline described here.

For active Beirut production, use the stable contrast: integrated indefinite restrictive relative without يلي; definite relative with يلي. Do not label every naturally occurring في واحد يلي... as “bad Arabic,” but recognize it as variable (regional/speaker-dependent) rather than the safest course form.

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Definiteness rules the baseline, while specificity and prosody explain many apparent exceptions. A formally indefinite expression can still denote a specific person and can be reanalyzed as a discourse topic by some speakers.

Near, far, masculine, feminine, and plural

Adding a demonstrative makes the head definite, so يلي returns. This provides a useful three-way contrast.

	Indefinite	Near definite	Far definite
masculine	زلمة عم ينطر	هاد الزلمة يلي عم ينطر	هيداك الزلمة يلي عم ينطر
feminine	بنت عم تنطر	هاي البنت يلي عم تنطر	هيديك البنت يلي عم تنطر
plural	ناس عم ينطروا	هودي الناس يلي عم ينطروا	هيدوليك الناس يلي عم ينطروا

The demonstrative supplies gender, number, and distance. Invariable يلي marks the definite relative; it does not inherit those contrasts.

A deictic mini-dialogue

في حدا هون بيعرف يصلح كمبيوترات؟

fī ḥada hōn byaʿref yṣalleḥ kombyūtarāt?

Maya: Is there anyone here who knows how to repair computers? (informal; indefinite subject relative without يلي)

إيه، هيدا الشاب يلي حد الباب؛ وإذا مش فاضي، هيداك يلي برا.

ēh, hayda sh-shēb yalle ḥadd el-bēb; w-iza mish fāḍe, haydāk yalle barra.

Nour: Yes, this young man by the door; and if he's busy, that one outside. (informal; the answer converts the search set into definite deictic choices)

Common Mistakes

Automatically inserting يلي after every noun

❌ بدنا مطعم يلي بيفتح بكير.

Not the conservative Beirut baseline for a nonspecific indefinite restrictive head; this pattern is speaker-variable elsewhere in the Levant.

✅ بدنا مطعم بيفتح بكير.

bidna maṭʿam byiftaḥ bkīr.

We need a restaurant that opens early. (informal; integrated indefinite relative without يلي)

Dropping an object suffix because يلي is absent

❌ عم دور على كتاب قريت بالجامعة.

Incomplete for the intended object-relative reading — the absence of يلي does not remove the object clitic.

✅ اشتريت كتاب قريته أيام الجامعة.

ishtarēt ktēb ʾrēto ayyēm el-zhēmʿa.

I bought a book I had read during university. (informal; masculine object resumption)

Dropping a prepositional suffix

❌ لقينا شقة ساكنين في رفقاتنا.

Incorrect — في must carry a feminine suffix resuming شقة.

✅ استأجرنا شقة كنا ساكنين فيها قبل.

istaʾzharna shaʾʾa kinna sāknīn fīha ʾabl.

We rented an apartment we had lived in before. (informal; prepositional resumption)

Omitting يلي once a demonstrative makes the head definite

❌ هاي البنت بتشتغل هون جارتنا.

Not the intended integrated definite relative; without يلي, this tends toward a topic–comment sequence.

✅ هيدي البنت يلي بتشتغل معنا أخت رامي.

hayde l-bint yalle btishtaghel maʿna okht Rāme.

This woman who works with us is Rami's sister. (informal; demonstrative definite head plus يلي)

Using a masculine demonstrative with a feminine head

❌ هاد الشقة يلي لقيناها.

Incorrect in the course baseline — شقة is feminine, so the near demonstrative must be feminine.

✅ هاي الشقة يلي لقيناها.

hāy esh-shaʾʾa yalle lʾīnēha.

This apartment that we found. (informal; feminine demonstrative and feminine object clitic)

Key Takeaways

In the Beirut production baseline, a restrictive clause follows an indefinite head directly, without يلي. Subject agreement identifies a subject gap; object, possessor, and prepositional roles still require their resumptive suffixes. A demonstrative makes the head definite and brings يلي back. Pauses and specificity can create looser or variable patterns, which should be recognized without replacing the stable baseline.

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