A two-word iḍāfa combines a head noun (المضاف) with a noun that possesses or specifies it (المضاف إليه): كتاب الطالب “the student's book,” باب المكتب “the office door,” فنجان قهوة “a cup of coffee.” Arabic puts the head first, while English often reverses the order with 's or uses of.
The construction has a reliable shape: head without الـ or tanwīn + genitive complement. The head's case depends on its job in the sentence; the complement's case comes from the iḍāfa. This page gives you a practical building procedure, including proper names, attached pronouns, tāʾ marbūṭa, and the endings that change in construct state.
For a compact map of how all these effects belong together, see The Iḍāfa Construction.
Step 1: identify the head
Ask, “What kind of thing is the whole phrase?” In “the teacher's phone,” the entire phrase is a phone, so هاتف is the head. In “the phone's screen,” it is a screen, so شاشة is the head.
هاتف المعلمة على مكتبها.
hātifu l-muʿallimati ʿalā maktabihā.
The teacher's phone is on her desk.
هاتفُ comes first because the phrase names a phone. المعلمةِ follows in the genitive. English speakers often begin with the owner, but that would reverse the Arabic relationship.
انكسرت شاشة الهاتف في الحافلة.
ʾinkasarat shāshatu l-hātifi fī l-ḥāfila(h).
The phone screen broke on the bus.
Now شاشةُ is the head, and الهاتفِ specifies which screen. A useful English test is to expand a compound: “phone screen” means “screen of the phone,” so “screen” comes first in Arabic.
Step 2: remove what the head cannot keep
As the first term of an iḍāfa, the head takes neither the definite article الـ nor tanwīn. It still carries whatever case its sentence role requires.
| Starting nouns | Construct phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| باب + المنزل | بابُ المنزلِ | the house door |
| كوب + شاي | كوبُ شايٍ | a cup of tea |
| خريطة + المدينة | خريطةُ المدينةِ | the city map |
تركت خريطة المدينة في غرفة الفندق.
taraktu kharīṭata l-madīnati fī ghurfati l-funduq.
I left the city map in the hotel room.
Object خريطةَ is accusative but has no tanwīn because it is construct. Its final ة is pronounced t before المدينةِ. Later غرفةِ الفندقِ is another two-word iḍāfa governed as genitive by في.
طلبت كوبا من الشاي بعد الغداء.
ṭalabtu kūban mina sh-shāyi baʿda l-ghadāʾ.
I ordered a cup of tea after lunch.
This sentence deliberately uses من rather than an iḍāfa: كوبًا keeps tanwīn because it is an independent noun. The compact iḍāfa alternative is طلبت كوب شاي with construct كوبَ and genitive شايٍ.
طلبت كوب شاي بالنعناع بعد الاجتماع.
ṭalabtu kūba shāyin bi-n-naʿnāʿi baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.
I ordered a cup of mint tea after the meeting.
The two Arabic options overlap in meaning but differ structurally. كوب شاي is a tight type/content expression; كوب من الشاي explicitly says “a cup from/of the tea.”
Step 3: make the second noun genitive
The complement is genitive whether it is definite or indefinite. A regular definite noun normally has kasra; a regular indefinite noun normally has kasra plus tanwīn.
وجدنا مدخل مبنى خلف الموقف.
wajadnā madkhala mabnan khalfa l-mawqif.
We found an entrance to a building behind the parking area.
The complement مبنى is an indefinite maqṣūr noun; its genitive case is estimated, so the spelling does not show a kasra. “Genitive” names its syntactic role, not one guaranteed visible mark.
وجدنا مدخل المبنى بجانب الصيدلية.
wajadnā madkhala l-mabnā bi-jānibi ṣ-ṣaydaliyya(h).
We found the building entrance beside the pharmacy.
Final definite المبنى makes مدخل المبنى definite as a whole. The head remains articleless.
Possessors can be common nouns or proper names
A possessor with الـ identifies the whole chain. A proper name is definite by itself, so it normally needs no article.
انتظرت حافلة الجامعة أمام المكتبة.
ʾintaẓartu ḥāfilata l-jāmiʿati ʾamāma l-maktaba(h).
I waited for the university bus in front of the library.
وجدت حقيبة ياسر عند مكتب الأمن.
wajadtu ḥaqībata yāsirin ʿinda maktabi l-ʾamn.
I found Yasser's bag at the security desk.
ياسرٍ is genitive because it is the second term. It remains a definite proper name even though careful inflected MSA can give it a case ending and tanwīn. Proper-name definiteness and surface tanwīn are not always opposites.
A pronoun suffix can replace the second word
When the possessor is “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” or another pronoun, Arabic normally attaches a suffix directly to the head. Compare كتاب الطالب “the student's book” and كتابه “his book.” The suffixed noun is still construct, and the suffix makes the phrase definite.
نسيت بطاقتي في السيارة هذا الصباح.
nasītu biṭāqatī fī s-sayyārati hādhā ṣ-ṣabāḥ.
I forgot my card in the car this morning.
The spelling بطاقتي exposes the same t heard in noun–noun بطاقة الموظف. The suffix ـي occupies the possessor slot; you do not add a separate word for “my.”
أرسلت صورتها إلى قسم الموارد البشرية.
ʾarsaltu ṣūratahā ʾilā qismi l-mawāridi l-bashariyya(h).
I sent her photo to the human-resources department.
For clarity, a full noun remains better when the identity matters: صورة المرشحة “the candidate's photo.” A suffix is natural once the possessor is already clear in the conversation or text.
Pronounce tāʾ marbūṭa as t in connection
The written ending ة often sounds like -a(h) at pause: هذه تذكرة hādhihi tadhkira(h). As an iḍāfa head, it connects to the next noun and is pronounced -at- plus its case vowel.
هذه تذكرة الحفل ويمكنك حفظها على هاتفك.
hādhihi tadhkiratu l-ḥafli wa-yumkinuka ḥifẓuhā ʿalā hātifik.
This is the event ticket, and you can save it on your phone.
The subject complement is تذكرةُ الحفلِ, pronounced tadhkiratu l-ḥafli. The visible spelling stays ة; construct pronunciation does not replace it with ت in ordinary writing.
Dual and sound masculine plural heads lose nūn
A dual or sound masculine plural normally ends in ن. Construct state removes that nūn before the possessor.
اتصل مترجما المؤتمر بالمتحدثين أمس.
ʾittaṣala mutarjimā l-muʾtamari bi-l-mutaḥaddithīna ʾams.
The conference's two interpreters contacted the speakers yesterday.
Nominative dual مترجمان becomes construct مترجما المؤتمر. The alif remains the nominative marker, while nūn disappears. The same logic gives موظفو البنك from independent موظفون.
Add an adjective only after both nouns
An adjective cannot split the iḍāfa. Put it after the two nouns and make its agreement point to the noun it describes.
استأجرت شقة الطبيب الواسعة لمدة شهر.
ʾistaʾjartu shaqqata ṭ-ṭabībi l-wāsiʿata li-muddati shahr.
I rented the doctor's spacious apartment for a month.
استأجرت شقة الطبيب الجديد قرب المستشفى.
ʾistaʾjartu shaqqata ṭ-ṭabībi l-jadīdi qurba l-mustashfā.
I rented the new doctor's apartment near the hospital.
Feminine accusative الواسعةَ modifies head شقةَ. Masculine genitive الجديدِ modifies الطبيبِ. Both follow the complete chain.
From two words to one longer example
The same rules repeat when an additional noun is attached. In مفتاح باب المكتب, begin on the right: باب المكتب “the office door,” then مفتاح باب المكتب “the key to the office door.”
أعطاني الحارس مفتاح باب المكتب قبل مغادرته.
ʾaʿṭānī l-ḥārisu miftāḥa bābi l-maktabi qabla mughādaratih.
The guard gave me the key to the office door before he left.
مفتاحَ is the accusative head of the whole phrase, بابِ is both genitive and itself construct, and final المكتبِ is genitive and makes the whole chain definite. You do not need a new rule; you repeat the two-word relationship from right to left.
Common Mistakes
Copying English possessor-first order
❌ ليلى سيارة أمام البيت.
Incorrect for “Layla's car” — the car, as head, must come first.
✅ سيارة ليلى أمام المنزل منذ الصباح.
sayyāratu laylā ʾamāma l-manzili mundhu ṣ-ṣabāḥ.
Layla's car has been in front of the house since morning.
Keeping an article on the head
❌ ضاع المفتاح المكتب مرة أخرى.
Incorrect — construct مفتاح cannot carry الـ before المكتب.
✅ ضاع مفتاح المكتب أثناء نقل الأثاث.
ḍāʿa miftāḥu l-maktabi ʾathnāʾa naqli l-ʾathāth.
The office key was lost while the furniture was being moved.
Leaving the complement outside the genitive
❌ راجعت جدول الرحلة صباحا.
rājaʿtu jadwala r-riḥlatu ṣabāḥā
Incorrect reading — the second term الرحلة must be genitive.
✅ راجعت جدول الرحلة قبل أن أحزم حقيبتي.
rājaʿtu jadwala r-riḥlati qabla ʾan ʾaḥzima ḥaqībatī.
I checked the trip schedule before packing my bag.
Reading ة as a pause inside the phrase
❌ وصلت دعوة المؤتمر بالبريد.
waṣalat daʿwa l-muʾtamari bi-l-barīd
Incorrect reading — دعوة pronounces its tāʾ in construct connection.
✅ وصلت دعوة المؤتمر إلى بريدي مساء.
waṣalat daʿwatu l-muʾtamari ʾilā barīdī masāʾ.
The conference invitation reached my email in the evening.
Retaining dual nūn
❌ عاد سائقان الحافلة؟
Incorrect — a dual construct head loses its final nūn before الحافلة.
✅ عاد سائقا الحافلة بعد انتهاء الرحلة؟
ʿāda sāʾiqā l-ḥāfilati baʿda ntihāʾi r-riḥla(h)?
Did the two bus drivers return after the trip ended?
Key Takeaways
- Identify the head—the kind of thing the phrase names—and put it first.
- Remove الـ, tanwīn, and dual/sound-masculine-plural nūn from a construct head.
- Put the complement second and assign it genitive case.
- A definite common noun, proper name, or pronoun suffix at the end makes the phrase definite.
- Pronounce final ة as t in construct connection.
- Place adjectives after both nouns and use agreement to show attachment.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Definiteness in IḍāfaA1 — Determine whether an iḍāfa is definite from its final term and keep the construct head free of the article and tanwīn.
- The Iḍāfa ConstructionA1 — Build Arabic noun–noun expressions for possession and specification with the head first and the complement genitive.
- Iḍāfa versus لـ and ملكA2 — Choose compact iḍāfa, predicative لـ, or explicit ملك expressions for ownership, association, identification, and contrast.
- Iḍāfa versus Possessive SuffixesA2 — Choose between a named possessor, an attached pronoun, and the analytic الخاص به construction according to discourse needs.