Far Demonstratives: ذلك، تلك، أولئك | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Arabic far demonstratives point away from the speaker's current center of attention. The everyday core is ذلك “that” with a masculine singular noun, تلك with a feminine singular noun, and أولئك with plural people. Nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular تلك. These forms contrast with the set on Near Demonstratives. They are (formal) contemporary Modern Standard Arabic forms; regional spoken Arabic has different paradigms that should not be mixed into an MSA sentence.

“Far” is not measured in meters. A speaker can use a far demonstrative for something physically distant, for an earlier point in a discussion, or to contrast one option with a nearer or more immediate one. What remains grammatical is the match with the Arabic noun and the definiteness of the complete phrase.

The modern core

Reference	Core far form	Example phrase
masculine singular	ذلك	ذلك المبنى — that building
feminine singular	تلك	تلك النافذة — that window
plural people	أولئك	أولئك الباحثون — those researchers
nonhuman plural	تلك	تلك الوثائق — those documents

Use the noun's grammatical gender, not the shape of its English translation. مبنى is masculine despite its final ى, while نافذة is feminine. As with near demonstratives, a demonstrative followed by a noun meaning “that noun” normally requires a definite noun.

ذلك المبنى هو مقر الشركة الجديد.

dhālika l-mabnā huwa maqarru sh-sharikati l-jadīd.

That building is the company's new headquarters.

تلك النافذة لا تغلق جيدا.

tilka n-nāfidhatu lā tughlaqu jayyidā.

That window does not close properly.

The plural form أولئك normally refers to people or other rational beings. A nonhuman plural triggers feminine singular agreement, so “those documents” is تلك الوثائق, not أولئك الوثائق.

أولئك الأطباء يعملون في قسم الطوارئ.

ʾulāʾika l-ʾaṭibbāʾu yaʿmalūna fī qismi ṭ-ṭawāriʾ.

Those doctors work in the emergency department.

تلك التقارير تحتاج إلى مراجعة أخيرة.

tilka t-taqārīru taḥtāju ʾilā murājaʿatin ʾakhīra(h).

Those reports need one final review.

Both demonstrative subjects precede their verbs: the rational human plural has plural يعملون, while the nonhuman plural has feminine singular تحتاج. If an overt human plural noun follows its verb, formal MSA normally uses a singular verb instead. Literary personification can exceptionally extend rational أولئك agreement to nonhuman referents (literary); neutral factual MSA uses تلك.

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For an ordinary learner's active MSA, memorize ذلك، تلك، أولئك first. They cover the overwhelming majority of singular and human-plural uses; the dual forms below are real but much less frequent.

Near and far are a contrast chosen by the speaker

Near هذا/هذه and far ذلك/تلك can contrast visible objects, alternatives in a plan, or parts of a text. Arabic does not require an object to be literally out of reach before a far form is possible.

هذا الطريق أسرع، لكن ذلك الطريق أكثر أمانا.

hādhā ṭ-ṭarīqu ʾasraʿu, lakinna dhālika ṭ-ṭarīqa ʾaktharu ʾamānā.

This road is faster, but that road is safer.

هذه النسخة لي، وتلك النسخة لك.

hādhihi n-nuskhatu lī, wa-tilka n-nuskhatu laka.

This copy is mine, and that copy is yours. (One male addressee.)

The contrast can also organize discourse. In ذلك السبب “that reason,” the demonstrative may point back to a reason already established, not to a physical object.

انخفض الطلب خلال الصيف، ولذلك السبب أجلت الشركة التوسع.

ʾinkhafaḍa ṭ-ṭalabu khilāla ṣ-ṣayfi, wa-li-dhālika s-sababi ʾajjalati sh-sharikatu t-tawassuʿ.

Demand fell during the summer, and for that reason the company postponed its expansion.

In argumentative prose, ذلك also retrieves an entire preceding idea. This use is common in (formal) reports, journalism, and academic writing.

لم تثبت التجربة الفرضية. ومع ذلك، قدمت بيانات مفيدة.

lam tuthbiti t-tajribatu l-faraḍiyya(h). wa-maʿa dhālika, qaddamat bayānātin mufīda(h).

The experiment did not confirm the hypothesis. Nevertheless, it provided useful data.

The far dual forms

Formal Arabic has far demonstratives for exactly two. Like other dual forms, they distinguish nominative from accusative/genitive case.

Gender	Nominative	Accusative / genitive
masculine	ذانك	ذينك
feminine	تانك	تينك

These forms are grammatical (formal) MSA and remain important for careful reading, but they are uncommon in present-day speech and less frequent than the core singular and plural forms even in contemporary prose. Writers often use a definite dual noun plus هناك “over there,” or let context supply the distance, rather than force a far-dual form into every mention.

ذانك المهندسان مسؤولان عن التصميم.

dhānika l-muhandisāni masʾūlāni ʿani t-taṣmīm.

Those two engineers are responsible for the design. (Formal and uncommon.)

تحدثت مع تينك الموظفتين بعد الاجتماع.

taḥaddathtu maʿa taynika l-muwaẓẓafatayni baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.

I spoke with those two employees after the meeting. (Formal and uncommon.)

In the first example, nominative ذانك matches المهندسان. After مع, genitive تينك matches الموظفتين. English those two does not reveal this case contrast.

What the final kāf does—and does not do

Historically and in the expanded Classical system, the final ك is an addressee element, called كاف الخطاب. The full addressee series is ـكَ for one man, ـكِ for one woman, ـكُمَا for two people, ـكُمْ for a masculine or mixed group, and ـكُنَّ for a feminine group: for example, ذلكَ، ذلكِ، ذلكما، ذلكم، ذلكنّ. Parallel audience-sensitive endings occur with forms based on تلك and أولئك in inherited texts (Classical/Quranic/literary). This agreement concerns the listener, not the distant object.

In ordinary contemporary MSA, ذلك، تلك، أولئك are lexicalized core forms. The final ـك is normally left unchanged regardless of whether the listener is a man, a woman, or a group. Expanded addressee agreement is (Classical/Quranic/literary), not a requirement for a modern news article, email, or presentation.

تلك هي النتيجة التي توصلنا إليها.

tilka hiya n-natījatu llatī tawaṣṣalnā ʾilayhā.

That is the conclusion we reached.

Here تلك agrees with feminine النتيجة. It does not change according to the gender or number of the audience.

Definiteness opens the relative-clause pattern

A demonstrative plus a definite noun forms a definite antecedent: ذلك التقرير “that report.” A following relative clause therefore uses an agreeing relative pronoun. If the antecedent is governed by a preposition inside that clause, Arabic attaches a resumptive pronoun to the preposition.

ذلك هو التقرير الذي أشرت إليه في الاجتماع.

dhālika huwa t-taqrīru lladhī ʾashartu ʾilayhi fī l-ijtimāʿ.

That is the report I referred to in the meeting.

The suffix ـه in إليه resumes التقرير. English can leave to before the gap or strand it at the end; formal Arabic cannot leave إلى without an object. By contrast, an indefinite antecedent takes a directly following adjective-like clause without الذي.

ذلك تقرير يتضمن توصيات عملية.

dhālika taqrīrun yataḍammanu tawṣiyātin ʿamaliyya(h).

That is a report that contains practical recommendations.

The contrast is structural: ذلك التقرير الذي... has a definite noun phrase; ذلك تقرير يتضمن... has the demonstrative as subject and an indefinite predicate تقرير. Antecedent definiteness selects the relative architecture.

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Do not translate English that word by word. Pointing that may be ذلك/تلك; relative that may be الذي/التي after a definite antecedent; after an indefinite antecedent it is normally not translated by any separate relative word.

Common Mistakes

Using a bare noun for “that noun”

❌ ذلك تقرير على المكتب.

Incorrect for the intended meaning “that report is on the desk”; this says “that is a report.”

✅ ذلك التقرير على المكتب.

dhālika t-taqrīru ʿalā l-maktab.

That report is on the desk.

Using أولئك with nonhuman plurals

❌ أولئك المباني قديمة.

Incorrect — nonhuman plural buildings take feminine singular tilka and qadīma.

✅ تلك المباني قديمة.

tilka l-mabānī qadīma(h).

Those buildings are old.

Ignoring the dual in careful formal Arabic

❌ أولئك الطالبان فازا بالجائزة.

Incorrect — exactly two students require a dual demonstrative, not the human plural form.

✅ ذانك الطالبان فازا بالجائزة.

dhānika ṭ-ṭālibāni fāzā bi-l-jāʾiza(h).

Those two students won the prize. (Formal and uncommon.)

Inserting الذي after an indefinite antecedent

❌ تلك رسالة الذي يشرح المشكلة.

Incorrect — risāla is indefinite and feminine, so an adjective clause follows directly without alladhī.

✅ تلك رسالة تشرح المشكلة.

tilka risālatun tashraḥu l-mushkila(h).

That is a message that explains the problem.

Leaving a preposition without its resumptive object

❌ ذلك المدير الذي تحدثت مع وافق على الطلب.

Incorrect — maʿ must carry a suffix referring back to the manager.

✅ ذلك المدير الذي تحدثت معه وافق على الطلب.

dhālika l-mudīru lladhī taḥaddathtu maʿahu wāfaqa ʿalā ṭ-ṭalab.

That manager whom I spoke with approved the request.

Key Takeaways

Use ذلك with a masculine singular, تلك with a feminine singular or nonhuman plural, and أولئك with plural people.
ذانك/ذينك and تانك/تينك are case-sensitive far duals, but they are uncommon in contemporary usage.
The final ك does not normally vary with the audience in contemporary MSA; expanded agreement is Classical or literary.
“That noun” has a definite noun: ذلك الكتاب. ذلك كتاب means “that is a book.”
A definite antecedent takes a relative pronoun; an indefinite one takes an unmarked adjective-like clause.

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