Modern Standard Arabic has two especially important first-person singular endings. ـي -ī marks a possessor after a noun or the complement of many prepositions: كتابي “my book,” عندي “with me/I have.” ـني -nī marks “me” as a verbal object: ساعدني “he helped me.” Both point to the speaker, regardless of the speaker's gender.
The n is grammatical, not an optional sound inserted for ease. In the verbal form it is traditionally called نون الوقاية, the “protective nūn.” Keeping the two endings separate immediately prevents errors such as trying to say “he saw me” with possessive -ī.
Where first person differs from the wider suffix set
Most persons use broadly similar shapes after nouns and verbs. First-person singular is the conspicuous split:
| Person | Possessor / prepositional complement | Direct object of verb |
|---|---|---|
| I / me | ـي -ī | ـني -nī |
| you (m.sg.) | ـكَ -ka | ـكَ -ka |
| you (f.sg.) | ـكِ -ki | ـكِ -ki |
| he / him | ـهُ -hu | ـهُ -hu |
| she / her | ـها -hā | ـها -hā |
| we / us | ـنا -nā | ـنا -nā |
| you two | ـكما -kumā | ـكما -kumā |
| they two / them two | ـهما -humā | ـهما -humā |
| you (m.pl.) | ـكم -kum | ـكم -kum |
| you (f.pl.) | ـكن -kunna | ـكن -kunna |
| they / them (m.pl.) | ـهم -hum | ـهم -hum |
| they / them (f.pl.) | ـهن -hunna | ـهن -hunna |
Compare three roles of the same speaker:
أنا أراجع التقرير الآن.
ʾanā ʾurājiʿu t-taqrīra l-ʾān.
I am reviewing the report now. (Independent ʾanā is an explicit subject.)
هذا تقريري.
hādhā taqrīrī.
This is my report. (Possessive -ī.)
راجعني المدير صباحا.
rājaʿanī l-mudīru ṣabāḥā.
The director consulted me in the morning. (Object -nī.)
These are not free variants. أنا can stand alone because it is an independent pronoun. Neither ـي nor ـني can be separated from its host.
Possessive -ī after nouns
Attach ـي directly to a noun to express “my.” The noun becomes definite, loses tanwīn, and comes before the possessor—the reverse of English word order.
هاتفي في الحقيبة، لكن حاسوبي على المكتب.
hātifī fī l-ḥaqība(h), lakinna ḥāsūbī ʿalā l-maktab.
My phone is in the bag, but my computer is on the desk.
When a noun ends in ة, the tāʾ marbūṭa is pronounced t before the suffix: سيارة sayyāra(h) “car,” but سيارتي sayyāratī “my car.”
سيارتي أمام المبنى.
sayyāratī ʾamāma l-mabnā.
My car is in front of the building.
Before a following word beginning with hamzat al-waṣl, careful fully inflected MSA may open the normally quiet yāʾ with a:
كتابي الجديد مفيد جدا.
kitābiya l-jadīdu mufīdun jiddā.
My new book is very useful.
The written word stays كتابي. The connecting vowel belongs to pronunciation; it does not create a different suffix or a new base letter.
-ī after prepositions—and the host changes it triggers
Several prepositions simply end in -ī with the first-person complement: بي “with/by me,” لي “for/to me,” معي “with me,” and عندي “at my place/in my possession.” Others reveal a special suffixed stem:
| Preposition | First-person form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| بـ “with/by” | بي | bī |
| لـ “for/to” | لي | lī |
| مع “with” | معي | maʿī |
| عند “at/with” | عندي | ʿindī |
| من “from” | مني | minnī |
| عن “about/from” | عني | ʿannī |
| إلى “to” | إليّ | ʾilayya |
| على “on/to” | عليّ | ʿalayya |
| في “in” | فيّ | fiyya |
The doubled consonants in مِنِّي, عَنِّي, إِلَيَّ, عَلَيَّ, and فِيَّ are real. Ordinary unvocalized spelling usually leaves the shadda unseen, so the learner must know the pronunciation.
For the rest of this paradigm, see Pronoun Suffixes after Prepositions.
عندي نسخة، فأرسل النسخة الأخرى إلي.
ʿindī nuskhatun, fa-ʾarsili n-nuskhata l-ʾukhrā ʾilayya.
I have a copy, so send the other copy to me.
لا تقلق علي، فكل شيء على ما يرام.
lā taqlaq ʿalayya, fa-kullu shayʾin ʿalā mā yurām.
Do not worry about me; everything is fine.
Object -nī and the protective nūn
With a verb, first-person singular direct object is ـني. Traditional grammar analyzes this as protective ن plus first-person ي. The nūn preserves the verb's shape before the yāʾ; whatever its historical motivation, in present-day formal grammar the full ending must be learned as -nī.
ساعدني زميلي عندما تعطلت السيارة.
sāʿadanī zamīlī ʿindamā taʿaṭṭalati s-sayyāra(h).
My colleague helped me when the car broke down.
اتصلت المديرة ودعتني إلى الاجتماع.
ʾittaṣalati l-mudīratu wa-daʿatnī ʾilā l-ijtimāʿ.
The director called and invited me to the meeting.
After a long vowel, nī remains audible: دعاني daʿānī “he invited/called me,” أعطاني ʾaʿṭānī “he gave me.” The long vowel belongs to the verb; the n still begins the object ending.
أعطاني الطبيب موعدا جديدا.
ʾaʿṭānī ṭ-ṭabību mawʿidan jadīdā.
The doctor gave me a new appointment.
After second-person masculine plural ـتم, a linking ū appears before -nī: رأيتموني raʾaytumūnī “you all saw me.” This vowel-support pattern belongs to the host ending; it does not turn -nī into -ūnī everywhere.
رأيتموني عند المدخل ثم غادرتم.
raʾaytumūnī ʿinda l-madkhali thumma ghādartum.
You all saw me at the entrance and then left. (Addressing men or a mixed group.)
Imperatives also keep the nūn: ساعدني “help me,” not ساعدي. The latter is instead a feminine singular imperative meaning “help!” with no object.
Both addressee genders before -nī
The suffix before -nī can itself mark the subject. In the past tense, masculine ـتَ and feminine ـتِ remain distinct in careful pronunciation even though the unvocalized target is identical:
هل قابلتني يا خالد؟
hal qābaltanī yā khālid?
Did you meet me, Khalid? (One male addressee.)
هل قابلتني يا مريم؟
hal qābaltinī yā maryam?
Did you meet me, Maryam? (One female addressee.)
Here the sequence is verb + subject ending + object: قابلـ + ـتَ/ـتِ + ـني.
Null subjects and resumed first-person topics
Because a finite verb marks its subject, an independent subject pronoun can be absent. In اختارني, ـني is only the object; the verb form اختار supplies the third-person masculine singular subject interpreted from context or named afterward.
اختارني المدير للمشروع الجديد.
ʾikhtāranī l-mudīru li-l-mashrūʿi l-jadīd.
The director chose me for the new project.
A detached topic must be linked back to the clause. أما أنا sets up “as for me,” and ـني resumes that topic in the object position:
أما أنا، فاختارني المدير للفريق الأول.
ʾammā ʾanā, fa-khtāranī l-mudīru li-l-farīqi l-ʾawwal.
As for me, the director chose me for the first team.
Unlike third-person suffixes, first-person ـي/ـني normally has an inherently clear antecedent: the current speaker. Ambiguity can still arise elsewhere in the same sentence, so do not assume every neighboring third-person suffix is equally clear.
A standard variation with إن
The particle إنّ permits both إنني and the shorter إني for “indeed I / I ….” Both are standard. The option to omit one nūn here is a property of this particle; it does not license dropping the protective nūn from ordinary verbs.
إنني مستعد لبدء العمل.
ʾinnanī mustaʿiddun li-badʾi l-ʿamal.
I am ready to begin the work. (Formal.)
إني مستعد لبدء العمل.
ʾinnī mustaʿiddun li-badʾi l-ʿamal.
I am ready to begin the work. (Also formal and standard.)
Common Mistakes
Ignoring the addressee's gender before -nī
❌ هل ساعدتني يا مريم؟
hal sāʿadtanī yā maryam?
Incorrect reading — the subject ending for one woman is -ti-.
✅ هل ساعدتني يا مريم؟
hal sāʿadtinī yā maryam?
Did you help me, Maryam?
Writing either suffix separately
❌ هذا كتاب ي، والمدير ساعد ني.
Incorrect — both -ī and -nī are bound suffixes.
✅ هذا كتابي، والمدير ساعدني.
hādhā kitābī, wa-l-mudīru sāʿadanī.
This is my book, and the director helped me.
Copying English possessor order
❌ ي كتاب على الطاولة.
Incorrect — bound -ī cannot precede the noun like English ‘my.’
✅ كتابي على الطاولة.
kitābī ʿalā ṭ-ṭāwila(h).
My book is on the table.
Omitting -nī after a first-person topic
❌ أما أنا، فاختار المدير.
Incorrect for ‘as for me, the director chose me’ — the clause has no object resuming the topic.
✅ أما أنا، فاختارني المدير.
ʾammā ʾanā, fa-khtāranī l-mudīr.
As for me, the director chose me.
Assuming another suffix has a clear antecedent
❌ أخبرني سامر أن خالدا أخذ ملفه.
Potentially unclear — malafihi may mean Samer's file or Khalid's file.
✅ أخبرني سامر أن خالدا أخذ ملف سامر.
ʾakhbaranī sāmirun ʾanna khālidan ʾakhadha milaffa sāmir.
Samer told me that Khalid took Samer's file.
Key Takeaways
- Use ـي -ī after nouns for “my” and after many prepositions for “me.”
- Use ـني -nī after verbs for the first-person singular object.
- The protective nūn is part of normal verbal -nī and remains after vowel-final hosts.
- Host-conditioned forms such as مني minnī, إليّ ʾilayya, and فيّ fiyya must be learned individually.
- Verbal subject endings come before -nī, and a detached first-person topic needs an overt suffix inside the clause when it is the object.
Now practice Arabic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Pronoun Suffixes after PrepositionsA2 — Attach pronoun complements to Arabic prepositions while choosing the base changes required by bi-, li-, maʿa, ʿinda, min, and ilā.
- Third-Person ـه and Vowel HarmonyA2 — Pronounce the same written masculine suffix ـه as -hu or -hi according to the preceding vowel or y in careful Modern Standard Arabic.
- Independent Subject PronounsA1 — Use Arabic's independent subject pronouns for nominal clauses, contrast, and emphasis while allowing verbs to carry an unspoken subject.