Introduction
Words that combine with a noun or pronoun to form a phrase are called prepositions.
They have a meaning of their own and affect nouns and pronouns.
Thus, their effect on the noun is that they will change the vowel of the last letter of the noun from dammah, or fatha to kasrah.
The prepositions which act on nouns
عَلَى | on/upon |
إِلَى | to/towards |
بِ | in/with |
فِي | in |
مِنْ | from/than |
عَنْ | from/about |
كَ | like/as |
حَتَى | until |
لِ | for/to |
Examples:
عَلَى + قُلُوْبٌ | = عَلَى قُلُوْبٍ |
on + hearts | = on hearts |
خَتَمَ اللَّـهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِمْ ۖ وَعَلَىٰ أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ | |
Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their vision is a veil (2:7) |
إِلَى + السَّماءُ | = إِلَى السَّمَاءِ |
Towards + the heaven | = towards heaven |
ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ | |
Then He directed Himself to heaven (2:29) |
الرَّبُّ+ بِ | = بِالرَّبِّ |
With + the people | with the people |
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ | |
Say, “I seek refuge in the Lord of humankind (114:1) |
فِيْ + دِيْنٌ | فِيْ دِيْنٍ |
In + religion | = in religion |
وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ اللَّـهِ أَفْوَاجًا | |
And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, (110:2) |
وَ + تِيْنٌ | وَ التِّيْنِ |
Swear by + the fig | swear by the fig |
وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ | |
By the fig and the olive (95:1) |
تَ + اَللَّهُ | تَاللَّهِ |
Swear by + Allah | swear by Allah |
قَالُوا تَاللَّـهِ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتُم | |
They said, “By Allah, you have certainly known (12:73) |
مِنْ + اَلْجوْعُ | = مِنَ الْجوْعِ |
In + hunger | = in hunger |
الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ | |
Who has fed them, [saving them] from hunger and made them safe, [saving them] from fear? (106:4) |
عَنْ + اَلْيَمِيْنُ | =عَنِ الْيَمِيْنِ |
From + the right | = From the right |
عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ الشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ | |
[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups? (70:37) |
كَ + عَصْفٌ | = كَعَصْفٍ |
Like + Straw | like straw |
فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍ | |
And He made them like eaten straw. (105:5) |
لِ + اَللَّهُ | = لِلَّهِ |
For + Allah | = For Allah |
لِّلَّـهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ | |
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. (2:284) |
حَتَى + مَطْلَعٌ | = حَتَى مَطْلَعٍ |
Until + break | = until break |
سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ | |
Peace it is until the emergence of dawn. (97:5) |
The pronouns which affect the prepositions
All the above-mentioned prepositions have their effect on the last letter of the nouns. However, only four of the above prepositions:
عَلَى, إِلَى, بِ, فِيْ
act on the pronouns :
هُ, هُمَا, هُمْ, هُنَّ
They give kasrah to the first letter of the pronoun.
There is no action of these prepositions on any other pronouns.
Examples:
عَلى + هُ = عَلَيْهِ
عَلَى + هُمَا = عَلَيْهِمَا
عَلَى + هُمْ = عَلَيْهِمْ
عَلى + هُنَّ = عَلَيْهِنَ
The following table displays the effet of عَلَى, إِلَى , بِ , فِيْ on the pronouns هُ, هُمَا, هُمْ, هُنَّ.

Prepositions in Arabic
عَلى
هُ Him |
هُمَا Them both |
هُمْ Them all (M) |
هُنَّ Them all (F) |
عَلَيْهِ | عَلَيْهِما | عَلَيْهِمْ | عَلَيْهِنَّ |
On him | On them both | On them all (M) | On them all (F) |
إِلى
هُ Him |
هُمَا Them both |
هُمْ Them all (M) |
هُنَّ Them all (F) |
إِلَيْهِ | إِلَيْهِمَا | إِلَيْهِمْ | إِلَيْهِنَّ |
Towards him | Towards them both | Towards them all (M) | Towards them all (F) |
بِ
هُ Him |
هُمَا Them both |
هُمْ Them all (M) |
هُنَّ Them all (F) |
بِهِ | بِهِمَا | بِهِمْ | بِهِنَّ |
With him | With them both | With them all (M) | With them all (F) |
فِيْ
هُ Him |
هُمَا Them both |
هُمْ Them all (M) |
هُنَّ Them all (F) |
فِيْهِ | فِيْهِما | فِيْهِمْ | فِيْهِنَّ |
In him | In them both | In them all (M) | In them all -(F) |
Examples of the prepositions from the Noble Quran:
فَمَن فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ |
so whoever has made Hajj obligatory upon himself (2:197) |
فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ |
there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. (2:38) |
يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ |
He misleads many thereby and guides many thereby. And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient, (2:26) |
As we have mentioned earlier, there is no action of these prepositions on other pronouns. Examples for these are stated below.
عَلى + كَ | = عَلَيْكَ | No action of على on كَ |
مَنْ + هُ | = مِنْهُ | No action of مِنْ on هُ |
Examples:
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ |
Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, (4:23) |
وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ |
and do not follow [other] ways, for you will be separated from His way. This has He instructed you that you may become righteous. (6:153) |
وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ |
And We removed from you your burden (94:2) |
وَالَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَاسْتَكْبَرُوا عَنْهَا أُولَـٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ |
But the ones who deny Our verses and are arrogant toward them – those are the companions of the Fire (7:36) |
Exception:
At one place (48:10) in the Holy Qur’an, there is no action of على on هُ, and it is read:
عَلَيْهُ
Allah says,
وَمَنْ أَوْفَىٰ بِمَا عَاهَدَ عَلَيْهُ اللَّـهَ فَسَيُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا |
And he who fulfills that which he has promised Allah – He will give him a great reward. (48:10) |
In the lesson “pronouns,” we observe that the proposition :
لِ
comes attached to pronouns as a prefix and takes the form of :
لَ
except in the first person pronoun :
ىَ
Masculine 3rd person
لَهُ | لَهُمَا | لَهُمْ |
For Him | For them both | For them all |
Masculine 2nd person
لَكَ | لَكُمَا | لَكُمْ |
For you | For you both | For you all |
Masculine 1st person
لِيْ | – | لَنَا |
For me | – | For us all |
Examples:
لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ |
To Him belongs dominion, and to Him belongs [all] praise, (64:1) |
أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ |
We will bring forth for them a creature from the earth speaking to them (27:82) |
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ |
Did We not expand for you, [O Muhammad], your breast? (94:1) |
Examples of the prepositions from the Noble Quran:
لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ |
It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. (2:286) |
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ |
|
For you is your religion, and for me, is my religion.” (109:6) |
This Arabic lesson is now finished. The next one will be insha’Allah about the adverbs in Arabic.
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[…] words have the same effect on the nouns and ponouns as the prepositions although they are not prepositions. These kind of words are used as adverb of time and […]
[…] words have the same effect on the nouns and ponouns as the prepositions although they are not prepositions. These kind of words are used as adverb of time and […]
[…] This Arabic lesson is now finished. The next one will be insha’Allah about the prepositions in Arabic. […]