A known direct object normally appears as a suffix on the Lebanese verb: شفته “I saw him/it,” شفتها “I saw her/it,” شافني “he saw me.” The suffix answers “whom?” or “what?” directly; it does not replace a preposition required by the verb.
The ending and the verb form make one written and spoken word. Attachment can insert a vowel, merge with a final subject vowel, or expose a special stem shape, so object suffixes must be learned with real verbs rather than as detached English pronouns.
Complete paradigm with شاف “he saw”
| Object | Form | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | شافني | shāfne | he saw me |
| 2nd masculine singular | شافك | shāfak | he saw you |
| 2nd feminine singular | شافك | shāfik | he saw you |
| 3rd masculine singular | شافه | shāfo | he saw him/it |
| 3rd feminine singular | شافها | shāfa | he saw her/it |
| 1st plural | شافنا | shāfna | he saw us |
| 2nd plural | شافكن | shāfkon | he saw you all |
| 3rd plural | شافهن | shāfon | he saw them |
The first-person object is ـني -ne, not possessive ـي -e. Masculine and feminine singular “you” share the unvocalized spelling ـك, pronounced -ak versus -ik. Beirut plural -kon/-hon does not distinguish gender (informal/neutral spoken Lebanese).
شافني بالمحل وسألني عنك.
shāfne bil-maḥall w-saʾalne ʿannak.
He saw me at the shop and asked me about you. (informal; two first-person objects, then prepositional complement)
شافكن بالجامعة بس ما لحق يسلم عليكن.
shāfkon bil-zhēmʿa bass ma laḥeʾ ysallim ʿalēkon.
He saw you all at the university but didn't get a chance to say hello to you. (informal; plural object and prepositional suffix)
Perfect and imperfect hosts
The suffix attaches to whichever finite or nonfinite verb form carries the direct object. Tense and aspect belong to the verb; object person belongs to the suffix.
عرفته من صوته.
ʿarafto min ṣawto.
I recognized him from his voice. (perfect verb plus masculine object)
بعرفه من أيام المدرسة.
baʿrfo min ayyēm el-madrase.
I've known him since our school days. (b-imperfect state plus masculine object)
عم دور عليها، وإذا لقيتها بخبرك.
ʿam dawwir ʿalēya, w-iza lʾēta bkhabbirak.
I'm looking for it/her, and if I find it/her I'll tell you. (progressive prepositional complement, then perfect and imperfect objects)
The pronoun after دور على belongs to the preposition because that verb selects على. The pronouns after لقي and خبر are direct objects. English position alone cannot decide which construction Lebanese uses.
Linking vowels and consonant clusters
After a consonant-final verb, suffixes supply or trigger the vowel that makes the boundary pronounceable: شفتك shiftak, شفتو as spelled شفته shifto, خبركن khabbar-kon. The exact surface syllables belong to the whole word.
شفتك مبارح بس كنت مستعجل.
shiftak mbēreḥ bass kint mistaʿzhel.
I saw you yesterday, but I was in a hurry. (addressed to one man)
بخبركن أول ما يوصل الجواب.
bkhabbirkon awwal ma yūṣal el-zhawēb.
I'll tell you all as soon as the answer arrives. (informal; object suffix integrated into the stress word)
Do not pronounce a pause before the ending. The suffix participates in stress: bkhabbírkon, not English-like bkhábbir … kon. See stress with suffixes.
Vowel-final subject forms
When the verb form already ends in a subject vowel, the object attaches compactly. With third-person plural شافوا shāfo “they saw,” ـك produces شافوك shāfūk “they saw you.” The written word contains both subject and object information.
شافوك بالسوق وما عرفوك؟
shāfūk bis-sūʾ w-ma ʿarafūk?
They saw you at the market and didn't recognize you? (addressed to one man; plural subject plus singular object)
نادوني من آخر الشارع.
nādūne min ākhir esh-shēreʿ.
They called to me from the end of the street. (informal; plural subject plus first-person object)
This compactness can create ambiguity in unvocalized writing, but context and the verb's sound resolve it. Do not split شافوك into two Arabic words.
Geminate and weak stems
Geminate verbs preserve their doubled consonant before the object ending. حبّ “love/like” gives بحبه bḥebbo. A final-weak verb such as عطى “give” ends in a vowel before many object suffixes: عطاني ʿaṭāne, عطاك ʿaṭāk.
بحبه بس ما بشوفه كتير.
bḥebbo bass ma bshūfo ktīr.
I like him, but I don't see him often. (informal; geminate then hollow verb with -o)
عطاني العنوان، وأنا حفظته عالتلفون.
ʿaṭāne l-ʿonwēn, w-ana ḥafiẓto ʿat-telefōn.
He gave me the address, and I saved it on my phone. (informal; final-weak verb plus first-person object, then masculine object)
There is no safe rule that preserves one citation stem unchanged before every suffix. Learn principal parts and verify weak or geminate forms rather than manufacturing them from MSA spelling.
Animate and inanimate objects use the same gender system
Lebanese has no separate suffix meaning English it. A masculine noun is resumed by masculine ـه/-o and a feminine noun by feminine ـها/-a, whether the referent is a person or a thing.
قريت الكتاب ورجعته عالرف.
ʾrēt el-ktēb w-razzhaʿto ʿar-raff.
I read the book and put it back on the shelf. (masculine inanimate -o)
طلبت القهوة وشربتها عالواقف.
ṭlibt el-ʾahwe w-shiribta ʿal-wāʾef.
I ordered the coffee and drank it standing up. (feminine inanimate -a)
English-speaker “it” transfer causes real agreement errors because the English pronoun hides the noun's gender.
Clitic doubling and topical objects
A full noun phrase can occur together with a matching object suffix when it is established as a topic. The clearest learner pattern puts the topic first and resumes it on the verb.
مايا شفتها مبارح، بس ما حكيت معها.
Māya shifta mbēreḥ, bass ma ḥkēt maʿa.
Maya—I saw her yesterday, but I didn't speak with her. (informal; topical object doubled, then prepositional suffix)
The suffix is not redundant: it marks Maya's grammatical role inside the clause after مايا has been placed in the topic position. Postverbal doubling, focus, definiteness, and regional distribution require more detail; see Clitic Doubling.
With and without an independent subject pronoun
شافني مبارح.
shāfne mbēreḥ.
He saw me yesterday. (neutral; subject recovered from verb and context)
هو شافني مبارح، مش رامي.
huwwe shāfne mbēreḥ, mish Rāme.
He saw me yesterday, not Rami. (overt contrastive subject)
The overt هو affects subject focus. The object ـني stays attached in both versions.
A two-turn dialogue packed with natural objects
لقيت تلفوني؟ تركته هون.
lʾēt telefōne? tarakto hōn.
Maya: Did you find my phone? I left it here. (informal; possessive and masculine object suffixes)
إيه، لقيته وحطيته بشنطتك.
ē, lʾēto w-ḥaṭṭēto b-shanṭtik.
Rami: Yes, I found it and put it in your bag. (informal; addressed to one woman; repeated masculine object, then feminine possessive suffix)
Common Mistakes
Detaching the object in Arabic spelling
❌ شفت ه مبارح.
Incorrect — ـه is a bound object suffix and joins the verb.
✅ شفته مبارح.
shifto mbēreḥ.
I saw him yesterday. (attached object suffix)
Using possessive -e for object “me”
❌ شافي بالمحل.
Incorrect for ‘he saw me’ — the first-person direct-object suffix is ـني.
✅ شافني بالمحل.
shāfne bil-maḥall.
He saw me at the shop. (first-person object -ne)
Copying English object word order with an independent pronoun
❌ شفت هو بالمكتب.
Incorrect for ‘I saw him’ — هو is an independent subject form, not the direct-object form.
✅ شفته بالمكتب.
shifto bil-maktab.
I saw him at the office. (masculine object suffix)
Attaching directly when the verb requires a preposition
❌ حكيتها الصبح.
Incorrect for ‘I spoke with her’ — حكى takes مع for the conversational partner.
✅ حكيت معها الصبح.
ḥkēt maʿa ṣ-ṣoboḥ.
I spoke with her this morning. (prepositional complement)
Ignoring the gender of inanimate “it”
❌ طلبت القهوة وشربته.
Incorrect — feminine قهوة is resumed with ـها, not masculine ـه.
✅ طلبت القهوة وشربتها.
ṭlibt el-ʾahwe w-shiribta.
I ordered the coffee and drank it. (feminine inanimate object)
Key Takeaways
Direct-object suffixes join perfect, imperfect, progressive, imperative, and participial hosts. First-person -ne, gendered second-singular -ak/-ik, third-person -o/-a, and plural -na/-kon/-hon form the core Beirut set. Vowel-final, weak, and geminate hosts reshape the boundary. Animate and inanimate objects use the same gender system, and a verb-governed preposition must keep its own suffix instead of being replaced by a direct object.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- The Lebanese Suffix-Pronoun InventoryB1 — Map the Beirut suffix-pronoun system across nouns, verbs, and prepositions, including its major host-conditioned forms and stress effects.
- Possessive Suffixes on NounsA2 — Attach Beirut possessive pronouns to consonant-final, feminine, vowel-final, and plural nouns, and contrast them with analytic possession.
- Pronoun Suffixes after PrepositionsB1 — Use Beirut suffixed forms of مع، من، على، في، لـ, and بـ, including their irregular stems and verb-selected meanings.
- Clitic Doubling with Full Noun PhrasesC1 — Recognize and use Beirut clitic doubling when a bound pronoun and a specific full noun phrase identify the same topical complement.
- Two Objects and Clitic OrderingB2 — Package a theme and recipient in urban Lebanese with full noun phrases, one verb-bound clitic, or a recipient clitic followed by the independent object carrier ya-.
- Transitive, Intransitive, and Prepositional Verb FramesA2 — Learn whether a Lebanese verb takes a direct object, no object, or a required preposition.