A subject relative is one where the head noun performs the action inside the relative clause: الزلمة يلي وصل “the man who arrived,” البنت يلي بتشتغل هون “the woman who works here.” After definite heads, Lebanese uses invariable يلي yalle, followed by a clause whose subject position is normally empty. The verb’s agreement points back to the head.
English distinguishes who for people from that/which for things. Lebanese does not. The important distinction is syntactic: subject relatives use a gap, while object and prepositional relatives normally use resumptive clitics.
The core pattern: head + يلي + agreeing predicate
| Head | Relative | Agreement cue |
|---|---|---|
| الزلمة | يلي وصل | masculine singular وصل |
| البنت | يلي وصلت | feminine singular وصلت |
| الطلاب | يلي وصلوا | human plural وصلوا |
الزلمة يلي وصل بكير جاب القهوة.
ez-zalame yalle wiṣel bkīr zhēb el-ʾahwe.
The man who arrived early brought the coffee. (informal; masculine subject gap)
البنت يلي وصلت بكير جابت القهوة.
el-bint yalle wiṣlet bkīr zhēbet el-ʾahwe.
The woman who arrived early brought the coffee. (informal; feminine subject gap)
الطلاب يلي وصلوا بكير جابوا القهوة.
eṭ-ṭollāb yalle wiṣlo bkīr zhēbo l-ʾahwe.
The students who arrived early brought the coffee. (informal; human plural subject gap)
No independent هو، هي، هني is needed inside these neutral relatives. Agreement on وصل/وصلت/وصلوا already identifies the missing subject.
Why the subject stays null
Lebanese is a null-subject language: ordinary verbs can identify their subjects through agreement. The same resource works inside relative clauses.
هاي الموظفة يلي بتحل كل المشاكل.
hāy el-mwaẓẓafe yalle btiḥell kill el-mashēkel.
This is the employee who solves all the problems. (informal; feminine b-imperfect identifies the subject)
هيدا الولد يلي كسر الكاسة.
hayda l-walad yalle kasar el-kēse.
This is the boy who broke the glass. (informal; masculine perfect verb, no هو)
An overt strong pronoun can occur in marked discourse, especially to contrast or reassert the subject, but it is not the neutral equivalent of English who. البنت يلي هي وصلت sounds like “the woman who she arrived,” with special focus on هي, rather than the ordinary relative.
This differs from non-subject resumption. In البنت يلي شفتها, feminine ـها is required in the core pattern because البنت is the object of “saw.” Subject gap and object clitic are not stylistic alternatives; they encode different roles.
Agreement tells you who the missing subject is
Verb agreement should match the relative head’s person-relevant gender and number. With human singular and plural heads, the contrast is especially clear.
الدكتور يلي حكى معنا رح يرجع بكرا.
ed-doktōr yalle ḥaka maʿna raḥ yirzhaʿ bokra.
The doctor who spoke with us will come back tomorrow. (informal; masculine singular subject agreement)
الدكتورة يلي حكيت معنا رح ترجع بكرا.
ed-doktōra yalle ḥikyit maʿna raḥ tirzhaʿ bokra.
The female doctor who spoke with us will come back tomorrow. (informal; feminine singular subject agreement)
الدكاترة يلي حكيوا معنا رح يرجعوا بكرا.
ed-dakētre yalle ḥikyo maʿna raḥ yirzhaʿo bokra.
The doctors who spoke with us will come back tomorrow. (informal; human plural subject agreement)
For nonhuman plurals, real Lebanese agreement varies with individuation, lexical class, and speaker; do not mechanically import a single MSA rule. The dedicated agreement pages handle that system. The relative marker itself remains unchanged.
Tense and aspect belong inside the relative
يلي carries no tense. The verb phrase after it can locate the relative event as completed, habitual, ongoing, or future.
| Viewpoint | Relative | Natural reading |
|---|---|---|
| completed | يلي وصل مبارح | who arrived yesterday |
| habitual/general | يلي بيجي كل يوم | who comes every day |
| ongoing | يلي عم يحكي هلأ | who is speaking now |
| future | يلي رح يجي بكرا | who will come tomorrow |
بعرف الشب يلي بيجي كل يوم عهالقهوة.
baʿref esh-shabb yalle byizhe kill yōm ʿa-hal-ʾahwe.
I know the young man who comes to this café every day. (informal; habitual b-imperfect)
مين السيدة يلي عم تحكي مع مايا؟
mīn es-sayyde yalle ʿam tiḥke maʿ Māya?
Who is the woman talking with Maya? (informal; ongoing progressive relative)
الشخص يلي رح يجي بكرا معه المفتاح.
esh-shakhṣ yalle raḥ yizhe bokra maʿo l-miftāḥ.
The person who will come tomorrow has the key. (informal; future relative)
English tense translation follows the entire context. A Lebanese b-imperfect may express habit, general property, or a scheduled event; do not translate it mechanically as English simple present in every relative.
People and things use the same structure
Head animacy does not select a different relative marker. A person can call; a phone can ring. In both cases, the head is the subject of the relative predicate.
الجار يلي اتصل تركلك رقمه.
el-zhār yalle ttaṣal traklak raʾmo.
The neighbor who called left you his number. (informal; animate subject)
التلفون يلي رن كان بغرفة مايا.
et-tilifōn yalle rann kēn b-ghorfet Māya.
The phone that rang was in Maya's room. (informal; inanimate subject)
English requires who versus that/which in some styles. Lebanese يلي is indifferent to that contrast.
Do not confuse a subject gap with obligatory resumption
Compare these roles:
السايق يلي ناطر برا رح يوصلنا.
es-sēyeʾ yalle nāṭer barra raḥ ywaṣṣelna.
The driver who is waiting outside will take us. (informal; head is relative subject, gap)
السايق يلي حكيت معه رح يوصلنا.
es-sēyeʾ yalle ḥkēt maʿo raḥ ywaṣṣelna.
The driver I spoke with will take us. (informal; obligatory ـه on مع resumes the prepositional complement)
In the second example, I is the subject of حكيت. The driver occupies the “with him” role, so the clause must retain معه. More detail appears in prepositional relatives.
Near, far, masculine, feminine, and plural
The demonstrative locates and agrees with the head. The relative subject agreement matches that head too; يلي stays fixed.
| Near | Far | |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | هاد السايق يلي ناطر | هيداك السايق يلي ناطر |
| feminine | هاي السيدة يلي ناطرة | هيديك السيدة يلي ناطرة |
| plural | هودي السواق يلي ناطرين | هيدوليك السواق يلي ناطرين |
Common Lebanese هيدا، هيدي can replace near هاد، هاي in the same structure. The course keeps those systems explicit rather than silently alternating them.
A deictic mini-dialogue
مين رح يوصلنا، هاد السايق يلي ناطر هون ولا هيداك يلي عم يحكي عالتلفون؟
mīn raḥ ywaṣṣelna, hād es-sēyeʾ yalle nāṭer hōn walla haydāk yalle ʿam yiḥke ʿat-tilifōn?
Maya: Who's taking us, this driver waiting here or that one talking on the phone? (informal; near/far masculine subject relatives)
هيداك يلي عم يحكي، وهيدي السيدة يلي ماسكة المفتاح صاحبة السيارة.
haydāk yalle ʿam yiḥke, w-hayde s-sayyde yalle māske l-miftāḥ ṣāḥbet es-sayyāra.
Nour: That one who's talking; and this woman holding the key owns the car. (informal; far masculine and near feminine subject relatives)
Common Mistakes
Inserting a neutral strong pronoun in the subject gap
❌ البنت يلي هي وصلت بكير جارتنا.
Overmarked as a neutral relative — هي creates contrastive or resumed-subject force.
✅ البنت يلي وصلت بكير جارتنا.
el-bint yalle wiṣlet bkīr zhāretna.
The woman who arrived early is our neighbor. (informal; subject gap)
Using masculine agreement for a feminine head
❌ الدكتورة يلي حكى معنا.
Incorrect in the intended subject reading — حكى is masculine singular.
✅ الدكتورة يلي حكيت معنا اليوم.
ed-doktōra yalle ḥikyit maʿna l-yōm.
The female doctor who spoke with us today. (informal; feminine agreement)
Omitting يلي after a definite head
❌ السايق ناطر قدام الفندق رح يوصلنا.
Not the intended integrated ‘the driver who is waiting outside’; this tends to be parsed as a topic followed by predicates.
✅ السايق يلي ناطر قدام الفندق رح يوصلنا.
es-sēyeʾ yalle nāṭer ʾoddām el-fondoʾ raḥ ywaṣṣelna.
The driver who is waiting in front of the hotel will take us. (informal; definite subject relative)
Treating a prepositional head like a subject gap
❌ السايق يلي حكينا مع رح يوصلنا.
Incorrect — the driver is the complement of مع, not the missing subject.
✅ السايق يلي حكينا معه رح يوصلنا.
es-sēyeʾ yalle ḥkēna maʿo raḥ ywaṣṣelna.
The driver we spoke with will take us. (informal; prepositional resumption)
Using one demonstrative for every gender
❌ هاد السيدة يلي ماسكة المفتاح.
Incorrect in the course baseline — هاد is masculine, but السيدة is feminine.
✅ هاي السيدة يلي ماسكة المفتاح.
hāy es-sayyde yalle māske l-miftāḥ.
This woman who is holding the key. (informal; feminine demonstrative)
Key Takeaways
A definite subject relative uses يلي yalle followed by a gap whose features are expressed through agreement or the predicate. The same marker serves humans and things. Aspect belongs to the relative verb phrase, not to يلي. Use an independent pronoun only for marked contrast, and switch to a resumptive clitic whenever the head is actually an object, possessor, or prepositional complement.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- يلّي as the Core Relative MarkerA2 — Use invariable Lebanese يلي yalle after definite heads, and keep the right gap or resumptive pronoun inside the relative clause.
- Relative Clauses with Indefinite HeadsB1 — Build Beirut Lebanese restrictive relatives after indefinite heads without يلي, while retaining required resumptive suffixes inside the clause.
- Object Relatives and Resumptive CliticsB1 — Form Lebanese object relatives by attaching a resumptive clitic to the relative verb, with agreement for the head noun.
- Person, Gender, and Number on VerbsA1 — Match Lebanese verbs to first, second, and third person across masculine, feminine, singular, and plural subjects.
- Choosing عم Progressive or b-ImperfectA2 — Choose between Beirut عم progressive and the plain b-imperfect for ongoing events, habits, states, and temporary patterns.
- When Subject Pronouns Are Omitted or ExpressedA1 — Let Lebanese verb marking carry a continuing subject, and express an independent pronoun for contrast, topic shifts, ambiguity, or verbless predicates.