الذي or No Relative Pronoun? | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Arabic chooses the shape of a relative clause from the definiteness of the whole antecedent. A definite antecedent normally takes an agreeing form of الذي: الخبير الذي يفهم النظام “the expert who understands the system.” An indefinite antecedent takes a descriptive clause directly: خبير يفهم النظام “an expert who understands the system.”

English uses who, which, or that after both kinds of noun, and it often omits object that. Those English choices do not predict Arabic. First decide whether the completed Arabic noun phrase is definite; only then decide how the antecedent is represented inside the relative clause.

The two architectures are described separately under definite relative clauses and indefinite adjective clauses. This guide supplies the choice algorithm and resumptive tests.

The decision algorithm

Complete the antecedent noun phrase. Include its article, demonstrative, possessive suffix, or iḍāfa before judging definiteness.
If the antecedent is definite, use the matching الذي-series form. Match gender, number, rationality, and—on dual forms—case.
If the antecedent is indefinite, use no relative pronoun. Attach the adjective-like clause directly.
Find the antecedent's role inside that clause. A subject needs no resumptive suffix; an object often takes one; a prepositional or possessive role requires one.
Keep aspect and time inside the relative clause independent. Perfect, imperfect, future, and nominal predicates can occur after either architecture.
Check the discourse reading. A bare clause after a definite noun is often circumstantial—“while doing”—rather than an identifying relative clause.

تحدثت إلى خبير يفهم هذا النظام جيدا

taḥaddathtu ʾilā khabīrin yafhamu hādhā n-niẓāma jayyidan

I spoke to an expert who understands this system well. (Indefinite antecedent; no relative pronoun.)

تحدثت إلى الخبير الذي يفهم هذا النظام جيدا

taḥaddathtu ʾilā l-khabīri lladhī yafhamu hādhā n-niẓāma jayyidan

I spoke to the expert who understands this system well. (Definite antecedent; الذي required.)

The clause يفهم النظام is identical. The article on الخبير changes the antecedent's discourse status and therefore changes the relative architecture.

💡

Look left, not at the English relative word. The most reliable first test is whether the entire Arabic antecedent is definite.

What counts as a definite antecedent?

The article الـ is only one source of definiteness. Demonstrative phrases, nouns with possessive suffixes, proper names in suitable appositive structures, and iḍāfas whose final term is definite also count as definite.

Antecedent type	Definiteness	Relative strategy
كتاب	indefinite	كتاب يشرح...
الكتاب	definite by article	الكتاب الذي يشرح...
هذا الكتاب	definite demonstrative phrase	هذا الكتاب الذي يشرح...
كتابي	definite by possessive suffix	كتابي الذي فقدته...
موعد الاجتماع	definite iḍāfa	موعد الاجتماع الذي تغير...

The demonstrative contrast is especially useful because English translates both sentences with this:

هذا تطبيق يساعدك على تنظيم المواعيد

hādhā taṭbīqun yusāʿiduka ʿalā tanẓīmi l-mawāʿīd

This is an app that helps you organize appointments. (تطبيق is an indefinite predicate.)

هذا التطبيق الذي اقترحته يعمل بلا اتصال بالشبكة

hādhā t-taṭbīqu lladhī qtaraḥtahu yaʿmalu bi-lā ttiṣālin bi-sh-shabaka(h)

This app that you suggested works without a network connection. (هذا التطبيق is one definite phrase.)

In هذا تطبيق, the demonstrative is the subject and indefinite تطبيق is its predicate; the following clause describes that indefinite predicate. In هذا التطبيق, the demonstrative and definite noun form one antecedent, so الذي follows.

كتابي الذي فقدته ظهر تحت المقعد الأمامي

kitābiya lladhī faqadtuhu ẓahara taḥta l-maqʿadi l-ʾamāmiyy

My book, which I had lost, turned up under the front seat. (The possessive suffix makes كتابي definite.)

Choose the matching relative pronoun

After a definite antecedent, match its grammatical features. Nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular التي. The dual alone visibly distinguishes nominative from accusative/genitive in the relative paradigm.

Antecedent	Relative form	Diagnostic
masculine singular	الذي	الرجل الذي
feminine singular	التي	المرأة التي
masculine dual nominative	اللذان	المهندسان اللذان
masculine dual accusative/genitive	اللذين	المهندسين اللذين
feminine dual nominative	اللتان	المهندستان اللتان
feminine dual accusative/genitive	اللتين	المهندستين اللتين
masculine/mixed rational plural	الذين	الموظفون الذين
feminine rational plural	اللاتي / اللواتي	الموظفات اللاتي
nonhuman plural	التي	الوثائق التي

راجعت الوثائق التي وصلت من الفروع صباحا

rājaʿtu l-wathāʾiqa llatī waṣalat mina l-furūʿi ṣabāḥan

I reviewed the documents that arrived from the branches this morning. (Nonhuman plural takes feminine singular التي and وصلت.)

سلمت على المهندسين اللذين صمما النظام الجديد

sallamtu ʿalā l-muhandisayni lladhayni ṣammamā n-niẓāma l-jadīd

I greeted the two engineers who designed the new system. (Genitive dual antecedent and relative pronoun.)

The preposition على makes the antecedent genitive dual المهندسينِ, so the relative form is اللذينِ, not nominative اللذانِ. The verb inside the relative clause is dual because the two engineers performed the design.

The resumptive diagnostic

The relative pronoun marks the clause as related to a definite antecedent; it does not by itself fill every grammatical role inside that clause. Ask what the antecedent would be doing if the clause stood alone.

Antecedent as subject: no extra suffix

وصلت الموظفة التي ستدير الجلسة المسائية

waṣalati l-muwaẓẓafatu llatī satudīru l-jalsata l-masāʾiyya(h)

The employee who will lead the evening session arrived. (The antecedent is the understood subject of ستدير.)

No object suffix is added because the employee is the actor inside the relative clause.

Antecedent as direct object: an overt suffix is the safest pattern

أعدت التقرير الذي أرسلته إلي صباح الاثنين

ʾaʿadtu t-taqrīra lladhī ʾarsaltahu ʾilayya ṣabāḥa l-ithnayn

I returned the report that you sent me on Monday morning. (Addressing one man; ـه resumes التقرير.)

Formal Arabic can omit a recoverable direct-object resumptive in some environments, as in الكتاب الذي قرأت. Overt قرأته is the dependable productive choice and usually reduces processing effort. This limited optionality does not extend to stranded prepositions or missing possessive links.

Antecedent after a preposition: suffix required

هذه هي الشركة التي نعمل معها منذ بداية المشروع

hādhihi hiya sh-sharikatu llatī naʿmalu maʿahā mundhu bidāyati l-mashrūʿ

This is the company that we have worked with since the beginning of the project. (معها completes the preposition.)

The verb's valency decides which preposition appears: عمل مع “work with,” تحدث عن “speak about,” اعتمد على “rely on.” English preposition stranding does not alter the Arabic frame.

Antecedent as possessor: suffix required

قابلت مهندسة أعجبني تصميمها للمحطة

qābaltu muhandisatan ʾaʿjabanī taṣmīmuhā lil-maḥaṭṭa(h)

I met an engineer whose design for the station impressed me. (Indefinite antecedent; possessive ـها provides the link.)

The clause has no التي because مهندسة is indefinite, but it still needs ـها on تصميمها. “No relative pronoun” never means “no internal link.”

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Make two independent choices: definiteness determines whether الذي appears; syntactic role inside the clause determines whether a resumptive suffix appears.

A bare clause after a definite noun can mean something else

After an indefinite noun, a bare clause naturally describes that noun. After a definite noun, the same bare clause is often circumstantial: it tells how the already identified participant performed the main event.

دخل رجل يضحك بصوت مرتفع

dakhala rajulun yaḍḥaku bi-ṣawtin murtafiʿ

A man who was laughing loudly came in. (Indefinite adjective clause.)

دخل الرجل يضحك بصوت مرتفع

dakhala r-rajulu yaḍḥaku bi-ṣawtin murtafiʿ

The man came in laughing loudly. (Circumstantial state, not an identifying relative clause.)

دخل الرجل الذي يضحك دائما في أثناء الاجتماعات

dakhala r-rajulu lladhī yaḍḥaku dāʾiman fī ʾathnāʾi l-ijtimāʿāt

The man who always laughs during meetings came in. (Definite identifying relative clause.)

All three are grammatical. Definiteness and the presence of الذي determine whether the clause classifies an indefinite person, describes a simultaneous state, or identifies a definite person.

Aspect and information structure remain independent

Perfect and imperfect verbs can occur inside either type of relative construction. Choose them by their own viewpoint, not by whether الذي appears.

نبحث عن باحث نشر دراسة مماثلة العام الماضي

nabḥathu ʿan bāḥithin nashara dirāsatan mumāthilatan l-ʿāma l-māḍī

We are looking for a researcher who published a similar study last year. (Indefinite antecedent; bounded perfect event.)

دعونا الباحث الذي ينشر تحليلا شهريا للسوق

daʿawnā l-bāḥitha lladhī yanshuru taḥlīlan shahriyyan lis-sūq

We invited the researcher who publishes a monthly market analysis. (Definite antecedent; habitual imperfect.)

The first speaker need not know which researcher will qualify; the indefinite description sets a property to search for. The second identifies an established researcher by a known habit. Specificity and definiteness often interact in discourse, but they are not identical: a speaker may have one particular yet still newly introduced person in mind and use an indefinite antecedent.

Contextual decision exercise

Suppose an organization first advertises for any translator meeting a requirement and later refers to the selected person. The first mention is indefinite and unlinked; the second is discourse-definite and takes الذي:

نبحث عن مترجم يتقن اليابانية، والمترجم الذي نختاره سيبدأ العمل في يونيو

nabḥathu ʿan mutarjimin yutqinu l-yābāniyyata, wa-l-mutarjimu lladhī nakhtāruhu sayabdaʾu l-ʿamala fī yūnyū

We are looking for a translator who is proficient in Japanese, and the translator we select will begin work in June.

The object suffix ـه in نختاره resumes definite المترجم. The first descriptive clause needs no suffix because its antecedent is the understood subject of يتقن.

Register

This definite–indefinite split is a core feature of formal contemporary MSA, not a literary ornament. The complete dual and feminine-plural paradigms are especially visible in (formal) writing and careful speech. Regional varieties may use a reduced relative paradigm or invariant linker, but importing that reduction into MSA loses agreement and, for duals, case information.

Common Mistakes

Adding الذي after an indefinite antecedent

❌ قابلت طبيبة التي تعمل في قسم الطوارئ

Incorrect — indefinite طبيبة takes its descriptive clause directly.

✅ قابلت طبيبة تعمل في قسم الطوارئ ليلا

qābaltu ṭabībatan taʿmalu fī qismi ṭ-ṭawāriʾi laylan

I met a doctor who works in the emergency department at night.

Omitting الذي from an identifying clause after a definite noun

❌ جاء الخبير يعمل في المختبر المجاور

Wrong for ‘the expert who works in the neighboring laboratory’; the bare clause is read as a circumstance or new event.

✅ جاء الخبير الذي يعمل في المختبر المجاور

jāʾa l-khabīru lladhī yaʿmalu fī l-mukhtabari l-mujāwir

The expert who works in the neighboring laboratory came.

Stranding a preposition

❌ هذه المؤسسة التي نتعاون مع منذ سنوات

Incorrect — مع requires a feminine singular resumptive suffix referring to المؤسسة.

✅ هذه هي المؤسسة التي نتعاون معها في تدريب المعلمين

hādhihi hiya l-muʾassasatu llatī nataʿāwanu maʿahā fī tadrībi l-muʿallimīn

This is the institution that we collaborate with in teacher training.

Using a rational plural form for nonhuman antecedents

❌ البرامج الذين اختبرناهم سريعة

Incorrect — nonhuman plural البرامج takes feminine singular التي and resumptive ـها.

✅ البرامج التي اختبرناها تعمل بسرعة ملحوظة

al-barāmiju llatī khtabarnāhā taʿmalu bisurʿatin malḥūẓa(h)

The programs that we tested run noticeably fast.

Ignoring dual case and resumptive number

❌ تحدثت مع المهندسين اللذان أرسلت إليه التقرير

Incorrect — after مع use genitive dual اللذين, and refer back to both engineers with إليهما.

✅ تحدثت مع المهندسين اللذين أرسلت إليهما التقرير الفني

taḥaddathtu maʿa l-muhandisayni lladhayni ʾarsaltu ʾilayhimā t-taqrīra l-fanniyy

I spoke with the two engineers to whom I sent the technical report.

Final diagnostic checklist

Complete the antecedent phrase before judging definiteness.
Use the matching الذي form after a definite antecedent; use no relative pronoun after an indefinite one.
Match gender, number, rationality, and dual case.
Add no resumptive when the antecedent is the clause's subject.
Prefer an overt direct-object suffix; require a suffix after a preposition or on a possessed noun.
Choose perfect or imperfect inside the relative clause by its own aspect and time context.
Test a bare clause after a definite noun for a circumstantial reading before calling it relative.

Key Takeaways

A definite antecedent takes an agreeing الذي form; an indefinite antecedent takes the descriptive clause directly.
Definiteness and the antecedent's internal role are separate decisions: the latter controls resumptive pronouns.
A bare clause after a definite noun may be circumstantial, so omitting الذي can change meaning rather than merely style.

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