Translating relative clauses A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun. The relative pronoun links two clauses. It’s similar in function to a subordinate conjunction, however, it stands in a place of a noun. For example: this is the book which he bought.

Relative pronouns in English have some characteristics that are not presented in Arabic. In Arabic , they called the noun of the connected. (الاسم الموصول).

Relative pronouns in English: Who Which That Whichever Whoever Whom Whose whomever Relative pronoun in Arabic: الذي التي اللذان اللذين اللتان اللتين اللواتي اللاتي اللائي

(who) is specific for humans. I know who did that. The Arabic equivalent would be من This word is specific for humans and it has only this single form for all cases, numbers and genders.

Plural Dual (Acc./Gen.) (Nom.) Singular Masculine Feminine اللذين اللذان الذي Masculine اللواتي اللاتي اللائي اللتين اللتان التي Feminine

(which) has no equivalent in Arabic and this is translated to the general relative pronouns (who). I read the article which you wrote.

Types of relative clause in Arabic Indefinite He is the man who works in a factory. هو رجل يعمل في المصنع There’s no word for who because the antecedent is indefinite.

This is an article which was published in the paper. هذه مقالة نشرت في الجريدة Again the Arabic sentence contains no relative pronoun. (whenever the antecedent is indefinite , there will be no relative pronoun in Arabic.)

Definite This is the man who traveled to Egypt. هذا هو الرجل الذي سافر الى مصر. I met the writer who wrote about human rights. قابلت الكاتبة التي كتبت عن حقوق الانسان. What are the foreign languages you have studied? ما هي اللغات الاجنبية التي درستها؟

احترم الذي يتقن عمله I respect he who masters his job احترم الذي يتقن عمله I respect he who masters his job. احترم التي تتقن عملها I respect she who masters her job احترم اللذان يتقنان عملهما I respect those who master their job. احترم اللتان تتقنان عملهما I respect those who master their job. احترم اللذين يتقنون عملهم I respect those who master their job. احترم اللاتي يتقن عملهن I respect those who master their job.

Relative pronoun Who Who in English changes in form as the following : * Tom is the one who can do it. (subject) *Dan is the man whom I saw. (object) *Jenny is the woman with whom he is happy. ( adpositional complement ) *Jack is the boy whose book is this. (possessive)

The words من , الذي , ما )) can all be used as relative pronouns without antecedents. من)) only refers to people. ما))only refers to things. Here are some examples: اللذين يدرسون العربية يحصلون على اعمال جيدة. Those who study Arabic obtain good jobs. هل ذكر المدير من حضر الاجتماع ؟ Did the director mention who attend the meeting ?

من الطالب الذي من الكويت؟ It ends with prepositional phrase من الطالب الذي من الكويت؟ It ends with prepositional phrase. The clauses does not have to contain a verb.

What are the differences between Arabic and English in relative clauses?