Prepositions (حروف الجر) are particles that establish relationships between nouns and other parts of a sentence — indicating location, direction, cause, possession, and more. The most important grammatical rule about prepositions is that the noun following a preposition always takes the genitive case (مجرور).
Common Arabic Prepositions
- فِي (fee): In, within. فِي البَيْتِ (in the house).
- مِنْ (min): From, of. مِنَ المَدِينَةِ (from the city).
- إِلَى (ilaa): To, toward. إِلَى المَسْجِدِ (to the mosque).
- عَلَى ('alaa): On, upon. عَلَى الطَّاوِلَةِ (on the table).
- بِ (bi): With, by, in. بِالقَلَمِ (with the pen).
- لِ (li): For, to, belonging to. لِلطَّالِبِ (for the student).
- عَنْ ('an): About, from, away from. عَنِ الحَقِّ (about the truth).
- كَ (ka): Like, similar to. كَالأَسَدِ (like a lion).
Prepositions with Pronouns
When a preposition is followed by a pronoun instead of a noun, the pronoun attaches directly to the preposition as a suffix: فِيهِ (in it), مِنْهَا (from her/it), لَهُمْ (for them), بِكَ (with you). These attached pronouns are called ضمائر متصلة (connected pronouns) and are always in the genitive position.
Prepositions are among the most frequently used words in Arabic, and mastering them is essential for constructing and understanding even basic sentences. Pay close attention to which preposition each verb commonly pairs with, as Arabic verb-preposition combinations often differ from their English equivalents. For example, بَحَثَ عَنْ (he searched for — literally "searched about").