Masculine Plural Relative Pronoun: الذين
In English, we use words like "who" or "that" to connect a noun to a phrase that describes it (for example, "The students who passed"). In Arabic, these connection words are called relative pronouns.
For groups of human males, or mixed groups of males and females, use the plural relative pronoun الذين. Just like singular relative pronouns, you must only use it when the noun it refers to is definite (having ال).
| These are the students who passed the exam. | هؤلاء هم الطلاب الذين نجحوا في الامتحان.hâ'ulâ'i humu ttullâbu lladhîna najahû fi l-imtihân |
Here is another example using the verb for "to graduate" (تخرج) and the noun for "university" (جامعة):
| Where are the students who graduated from this university? | أين الطلاب الذين تخرجوا من هذه الجامعة؟ayna at-tullâbu alladhîna takharrajû min hâdhihil-jâmi'ah |
Feminine Plural Relative Pronoun: اللواتي
When referring to an exclusively female group of people, use the feminine plural relative pronoun اللواتي.
| The female students who attended the meeting are happy. | الطالبات اللواتي حضرن الاجتماع سعيدات.at-tâlibâtu llawâtî hadarna l-ijtimâ'a sa'îdâtun |
Both الذين and اللواتي have a fixed spelling. They do not change their form based on their position in the sentence. Here is an example describing a group of female professors:
| The female professors who are in the laboratory are very busy. | الأستاذات اللواتي في المختبر مشغولات جدا.al-ustâdhâtu allawâtî fî al-mukhtabari mashghûlâtun jiddan |
Describing Academics and University Life
The noun that a relative pronoun describes can take any grammatical role in the sentence (subject, object, or after a preposition). Since the relative pronoun itself never changes its ending, only the noun it points back to will show case changes.
Notice how the noun "researchers" below is the object of a preposition and takes the ين ending (الباحثين), but the relative pronoun الذين stays exactly the same:
| I spoke with the researchers who are searching for a solution. | تكلمت مع الباحثين الذين يبحثون عن حل.takallamtu ma'a al-bâhithîna alladhîna yabhathûna 'an hallin |
You can use these relative clauses to build detailed sentences about academic life, such as discussing who received a scholarship (منحة):
| The female students who passed the exam got a scholarship. | الطالبات اللواتي نجحن في الامتحان حصلن على منحة.at-tâlibâtu allawâtî najahna fî al-imtihâni hasalna ala minhah |
| The researchers who got the city university's scholarship are hardworking. | الباحثون الذين حصلوا على منحة جامعة المدينة مجتهدون.al-bâhithûna alladhîna hasalû alâ minhati jâmi'ati al-madînati mujtahidûn |
Where: حيث
To describe a PLACE by what happens there, use حيث (where). Unlike الذي and الذين it never changes, and it is never a question word — questions use أين.
- هذه هي الجامعة حيث يدرس أخي. This is the university where my brother studies.
- ذهبنا إلى المكتبة حيث يعمل الباحثون. We went to the library where the researchers work.
