Commands with Object Pronouns | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Arabic object pronouns attach directly to a command: اكتبْه “write it,” اتصلْ بها “contact her,” and أعطِني الملف “give me the file.” English keeps “me,” “her,” and “it” as separate words; Arabic normally writes the corresponding suffix as part of the verb or preposition.

Attachment does not erase the command’s gender and number. اكتبه addresses one man, اكتبيه one woman, and اكتبوه a masculine or mixed group. The command stem and its addressee ending come first; the object suffix comes last. Review those endings on the imperative agreement page.

One command, five addressees, one object

Use Form I كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ “write,” root ك-ت-ب. The masculine singular imperative is اكتبْ. With third-person masculine singular ـه “him/it,” the smallest useful paradigm is:

Addressee	Without an object	With ـه	Romanization
أنتَ	اُكْتُبْ	اُكْتُبْهُ	uktubhu
أنتِ	اُكْتُبِي	اُكْتُبِيهِ	uktubīhi
أنتما	اُكْتُبَا	اُكْتُبَاهُ	uktubāhu
أنتم	اُكْتُبُوا	اُكْتُبُوهُ	uktubūhu
أنتنّ	اُكْتُبْنَ	اُكْتُبْنَهُ	uktubnahu

The changes in pronunciation are regular. After feminine-singular ـي, the suffix is pronounced -hi; after masculine-plural ـوا, the combined ending is -ūhu. Feminine-plural ـنَ remains because it is the subject marker, not the mood nūn that disappears in the imperative.

اكتبه في خانة الملاحظات

uktubhu fī khānati l-mulāḥaẓāt

Write it in the notes field. (Addressing one man; neutral instruction.)

اكتبيها بخط واضح يا مريم

uktubīhā bikhaṭṭin wāḍiḥin yā maryam

Write it clearly, Maryam. (Addressing one woman.)

اكتباه في رسالة واحدة

uktubāhu fī risālatin wāḥida

Write it in a single message. (Addressing two people.)

راجعوه قبل بدء الاجتماع

rājiʿūhu qabla badʾi l-ijtimāʿ

Review it before the meeting begins. (Addressing a masculine or mixed group.)

احفظنه في المجلد المشترك

iḥfaẓnahu fī l-majalladi l-mushtarak

Save it in the shared folder. (Addressing an all-female group.)

💡

Read a suffixed command from the inside out: اكتبوا + ه → اكتبوه. Identify the command and its addressee before interpreting the final object.

The object-suffix set

The same suffix inventory attaches to perfect, imperfect, and imperative verbs. The tense or mood belongs to the verb; the suffix only identifies the object.

Object	Suffix	Typical attached shape
me	ـني	سَاعِدْنِي
us	ـنا	سَاعِدْنَا
you (m./f. singular)	ـكَ / ـكِ	سَاعَدَكَ / سَاعَدَكِ “he helped you”
you two / you m.pl. / you f.pl.	ـكما / ـكم / ـكنّ	سَاعَدَكُمَا / سَاعَدَكُمْ / سَاعَدَكُنَّ
him/it, her/it	ـه / ـها	سَاعِدْهُ / سَاعِدْهَا
them two / them m.pl. / them f.pl.	ـهما / ـهم / ـهنّ	سَاعِدْهُمَا / سَاعِدْهُمْ / سَاعِدْهُنَّ

Forms such as ساعدْك are grammatically possible only when the implicit addressee and the object “you” refer to different people: for example, a command to one person to help another person being addressed in quoted or shifted discourse. In ordinary direct speech, “help yourself” uses the reflexive noun نفسك, not a confusing second-person object suffix.

ساعدني في نقل هذه الصناديق من فضلك

sāʿidnī fī naqli hādhihi ṣ-ṣanādīqi min faḍlik

Please help me move these boxes. (Addressing one man.)

ساعدوهم في العثور على القاعة

sāʿidūhum fī l-ʿuthūri ʿalā l-qāʿa

Help them find the hall. (Addressing a masculine or mixed group.)

Compare the same object across verbal environments:

راجعت التقرير أمس، وأراجعه الآن، فراجعه أنت مساء

rājaʿtu t-taqrīra ʾamsi, waʾurājiʿuhu l-ʾāna, farājiʿhu ʾanta masāʾ

I reviewed the report yesterday, I am reviewing it now, so you review it this evening.

Here ـه remains the direct object throughout. راجعتُه is perfect, أراجعه is indicative imperfect, and راجعه is an imperative. English word order can hide this morphological difference; Arabic cannot.

Protective nūn before “me”

When first-person singular ـي attaches to a verb, Arabic inserts ن: ـني. This is traditionally called نون الوقاية, the “protective nūn,” because it stands between the verb and the yāʾ-associated kasra. Treat -nī as the practical object ending.

أرسلني إلى الفرع الأقرب إذا احتاجوا إلى موظف إضافي

ʾarsilnī ʾilā l-farʿi l-ʾaqrabi ʾidhā ḥtājū ʾilā muwaẓẓafin ʾiḍāfiyy

Send me to the nearest branch if they need an additional employee. (Addressing one man.)

اتصلن بي إذا تأخرت الحافلة

ittaṣilna bī ʾidhā taʾakhkharati l-ḥāfila

Call me if the bus is late. (Addressing an all-female group.)

In the second example, “me” follows the required preposition بـ, so it is بي, not a verb suffix. In a direct-object form with an all-female command, two nūns can meet: ساعدْنَني “you women, help me.” The first belongs to the feminine-plural subject; the second is protective nūn.

ساعدنني في ترتيب الملفات حسب التاريخ

sāʿidnanī fī tartībi l-malafāti ḥasaba t-tārīkh

Help me arrange the files by date. (Addressing an all-female group.)

💡

Do not call every English object an Arabic verb suffix. The verb’s valency decides: ساعدني “help me,” but اتصل بي “contact/call me” because formal MSA اتصل governs بـ.

Weak and geminate commands keep their real stem

Attaching a pronoun does not restore a weak letter deleted by the jussive-based imperative. Form IV أَعْطَى / يُعْطِي “give,” root ع-ط-و, has jussive تُعْطِ and imperative أَعْطِ. Before ـني, it becomes أعطني, not أعطيني for a masculine addressee.

أعطني النسخة النهائية بعد توقيع المدير

ʾaʿṭinī n-nuskhata n-nihāʾiyyata baʿda tawqīʿi l-mudīr

Give me the final copy after the director signs it. (Addressing one man.)

Final-wāw Form I دَعَا / يَدْعُو “invite/call,” root د-ع-و, has imperative ادعُ. With ـهم, it is written ادعهم; the deleted root wāw does not return. Geminate Form I رَدَّ / يَرُدُّ “return,” root ر-د-د, remains contracted in ردَّه.

ادعهم إلى الاجتماع بعد تأكيد الموعد

udʿuhum ʾilā l-ijtimāʿi baʿda taʾkīdi l-mawʿid

Invite them to the meeting after confirming the time. (Addressing one man.)

رده إلى صاحبه إذا لم يكن لك

ruddahu ʾilā ṣāḥibihi ʾidhā lam yakun lak

Return it to its owner if it is not yours. (Addressing one man.)

Two objects: order and clarity

With verbs such as “give” and “show,” Arabic can represent a recipient and a thing. A compact command may attach both in the order recipient first, theme second: أعطنيه “give it to me.” This order is not freely reversible.

أعطنيه بعد انتهاء العرض، فأنا بحاجة إليه

ʾaʿṭinīhi baʿda ntihāʾi l-ʿarḍi, faʾanā biḥājatin ʾilayh

Give it to me after the presentation; I need it.

Formal contemporary MSA often prefers to attach one object and express the other separately, especially where two suffixes would be hard to process: سلّمها إياه “hand it to her,” with detached accusative إياه, or اشرحه لهم “explain it to them,” with the lexical preposition لـ.

اشرحه لهم بمثال من التقرير

ishraḥhu lahum bimithālin mina t-taqrīr

Explain it to them with an example from the report.

سلمها إياه بعد التحقق من هويته

sallimhā ʾiyyāhu baʿda t-taḥaqquqi min huwiyyatih

Hand it to her after checking his identity.

Common Mistakes

Separating a clitic as though it were an English word

❌ اكتب ه في الخانة الأخيرة

Incorrect — object ـه is attached directly to the command: اكتبه.

✅ اكتبه في الخانة الأخيرة من النموذج

uktubhu fī l-khānati l-ʾakhīrati mina n-namūdhaj

Write it in the last field of the form.

Losing feminine-singular agreement

❌ اكتبها يا سلمى

Incorrect for one female addressee — use اكتبيها.

✅ اكتبيها يا سلمى قبل مغادرة المكتب

uktubīhā yā salmā qabla mughādarati l-maktab

Write it, Salma, before leaving the office.

Restoring a deleted weak letter

❌ ادعوهم إلى الجلسة يا سامر

Incorrect for a masculine-singular command — دعا / يدعو has imperative ادعُ, so the suffixed form is ادعهم.

✅ ادعهم إلى الجلسة يا سامر

udʿuhum ʾilā l-jalsati yā sāmir

Invite them to the session, Samer.

Dropping protective nūn

❌ ساعدي في نقل الطاولة

Incorrect for ‘help me’ — first-person object requires protective nūn: ساعدني.

✅ ساعدني في نقل الطاولة إلى الغرفة الأخرى

sāʿidnī fī naqli ṭ-ṭāwilati ʾilā l-ghurfati l-ʾukhrā

Help me move the table to the other room.

Reversing two attached objects

❌ أعطهني بعد الاجتماع

Incorrect for ‘give it to me’ — the recipient comes before the third-person theme: أعطنيه.

✅ أعطنيه بعد الاجتماع إذا لم تعد تحتاج إليه

ʾaʿṭinīhi baʿda l-ijtimāʿi ʾidhā lam taʿud taḥtāju ʾilayh

Give it to me after the meeting if you no longer need it.

Key Takeaways

Attach an object suffix after the complete imperative stem and its addressee ending.
Keep feminine, dual, masculine-plural, and feminine-plural command agreement visible.
Use protective ن in ـني; after feminine-plural ـنَ, this can produce two adjacent nūns.
Let the verb’s valency decide between a verb suffix and a pronoun attached to a preposition.
Weak and geminate stems keep their verified imperative behavior when an object is attached.

Now practice Arabic

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Arabic →