A relative clause is a clause (i.e. part of a sentence that does make a complete meaning) that begins with a relative pronoun. It is also called adjective clause. It functions as an adjective because it provides more information (i.e. describes) the noun or pronoun that come before it. In Arabic, it is called جُمْلَة الصِّلَة, and the relative pronoun is called الاِسْمُ المَوْصُوْل. This post is about Arabic relative pronouns. Also, it provides a systematic explanation of how to form a relative clause as part of the main clause.

Relative Pronouns الأَسْمَاءُ المَوْصُولَة:

Relative pronouns in Arabic are two types: special and common. The special relative pronouns are the those that have singular, dual, plural. These are six: الَّذِي ، اللَّذَان ، الَّذِيْن ، الَّتِي ، اللَّتَان ، اللَّاتِي, as listed in the table above. اللَّذان and اللَّتَان become اللَّذَيْن and اللَّتَيْن in the accusative and genitive cases. The common relative pronouns that has the same form for the singular, dual, and plural. These are مَنْ and مَا. The first (مَنْ) is used for human, while مَا is used for non-human.

What They Refer to:

(1) الَّذِي is used for human and non-human masculine singular nouns, as in these examples:

الرَّجُل الَّذِي	‘the man who’
الكِتَاب الَّذِي	‘the book which’
الكَلْبُ الَّذِي	‘the dog which’

(2) اللَّذَان is used for human and non-human masculine dual nouns, as in these examples:

البَيْتَان اللَّذَان	‘the two house which’
الطَّبِيْبَان اللَّذَان	‘the two physicians who’
الأَسَدَان اللَّذَان	‘the two lions which’

 (3) الَّذِيْنَ is used for human masculine plural nouns only, as in these examples:

الرِّجَال الَّذِيْن	‘the men who’
الأَطْفَال الَّذِيْن	‘the men who’

(4) الَّتِي is used for human and non-human feminine singular nouns as well as for non-human masculine and feminine plural nouns, as in these examples:

البِنْتُ الَّتِي	‘the girl who’
الكُتُب الَّتِي	‘the books which’
السَّيَّارَة الَّتِي	‘the care which’
السَّيَّارَات الَّتِي	‘the cars which’
الكِلَاب الَّتِي	‘the dogs which’

(5) اللَّتَان is used for human and non-human feminine dual nouns, as in these examples:

القِطَّتَان اللَّتَان	‘the two cats which’
السَّيْدَتَان اللَّتَان	‘the two ladies who’
الطَّاوِلَتَان اللَّتَان	‘the two tables which’

(6) اللَّاتِي is used for human feminine plural nouns, as in these examples:

السَّيْدِات اللَّاتِي	‘the ladies who’
الطَّبِيْبَات اللَّاتِي	‘the female physicians who’

(7) مَنْ is used for human masculine and feminine singular, dual, and plural nouns. The kind of nouns it refers to is known from the relative clause that follows, as in these examples:

أَحْتَرِم مَنْ يَقُول الحَق.                     ‘I respect him who says the truth.’

أَحْتَرِم مَنْ يَقُولُون الحَق.                  ‘I respect them who say the truth.’

أَحْتَرِم مَنْ تَقُول الحَق.                     ‘I respect her who says the truth.’

أَحْتَرِم مَنْ قَالَتَا الحَق.                      ‘I respect the two ladies who said the truth.’

If we replace the common relative pronoun in the above sentences with the special ones, they respectively become:

أَحْتَرِم الَّذِي يَقُول الحَق.                   ‘I respect the one (man) who says the truth.’

أَحْتَرِم الَّذِيْنَ يَقُولُون الحَق.               ‘I respect the ones (men) who say the truth.’

أحَتَرِم الَّتِي تَقُول الحَق.                   ‘I respect the one (woman) who says the truth.’

أَحْتَرِم اللَّتَان قَالَتَا الحَق.                   ‘I respect the two (women) who said the truth.’

(8) مَا is used for non-human masculine and feminine singular, dual and plural nouns. Like

مَنْ, the noun it refers to is know from the context, as in these examples:

قَرَأتُ مَا كَتَبْتَ مِنْ مَقَالات.                ‘I read what you wrote (of the articles).’

هَل سَمِعْتُ مَا قَالُوا (مِنْ خَبَر)؟          ‘did you hear what they said? (of the news)’

Similarly, if replace مَا with a special pronoun, the above sentences respectively become:

قَرَأتُ المَقَالات الَّتِي كَتَبْتَ.                ‘I read the articles which you wrote.’

هَل سَمِعْتَ الخَبَر الَّذِي قَالُوا؟             ‘did you hear the news which they said.’

The Relative Clause جُمْلَة صِلَة المَوْصُول:

The relative clause جُمْلَة صِلَة المَوْصُول is the sentence that follows the relative pronoun الاِسْمُ المَوصُول to specify it and complete its meaning. It can be a verbal sentence, a nominal sentence, or a semi sentence. When verbal or nominal, it must include a pronoun (separate, attached, or implicit) that refer to the relative pronoun. A semi-sentence does not include a pronoun that refers to the relative pronoun.

Verbal Relative Clause:

In each of the sentence below, the verb that follows the relative pronoun includes a pronoun that refers to it (the relative pronoun). In (أ), the verb فَازَ includes an implied pronoun ضَمِيْر مُسْتَتِر (i.e. هُوَ) which refers to الَّذِي. In (ب), the verb فَازَتْ includes the feminine marker تَاءُ التَّأنِيْث (i.e. ت) which refers to الَّتِي. In (ج), the verb فَازَا includes أَلِفُ الاِثْنَيْن ‘the alif of the dual’ (i.e. ا) which goes back to اللَّذَان. In (د), the verb فَازَتَا includes the feminine mark (i.e. ت) as well as the alif of the dual (i.e. ا) both of which go back to اللَّتَان. In (هـ), the verb فَازُوا includes وَاوُ الجَمَاعَة ‘the waw of the masculine plural’ (i.e. ـوا) which goes back to الَّذِيْنَ. In (و), the verb فُزْنَ includes نُوْنُ النِّسْوَة ‘the nuun of the feminine plural’ (i.e. ن) which refers to اللَّاتِي.

(أ) حَضَر الَّذِي/مَنْ فَازَ بِالجَائِزَة.                    ‘he who won the prize came.’

(ب) حَضَرَت الَّتِي / مَنْ فَازَت بِالجَائِزَة                         ‘she who won the prize came.’

(ج) حَضَرَ اللَّذان فَازَا بِالجَائِزَة.                     ‘the two (male) who won the prize came.’

(د) حَضَرَت اللَّتَان فَازَتَا بِالجَائِزَة.                   ‘the two (female) who won the prize came.’

(هـ) حَضَرَ الَّذِيْنَ فَازُوا بِالجَائِزَة.                    ‘those (male) who won the prize came.’

(و) حَضَرَ اللَّاتِي فُزْنَ بِالجَائِزَة.                     ‘those (female) who won the prize came.’

Nominal Relative Clause:

In each of the sentences below, the relative pronoun is followed by a nominal sentence (i.e. subject/topic مُبْتَدَأ + predicate خَبَر). The topic is a separate pronoun ضَمِيْر مُنْفَصِل that directly refers to the preceding relative pronoun, that is هُوَ in (أ) refers to الَّذِي; in (ب) هِيَ refers to الَّتِي; and the same goes with the remaining sentence. It is worth noting that this type of sentences is not as common as verbal relative clauses.

(أ) نَجَحَ الطَّالِب الَّذِي هُو مُجْتَهد.                    ‘the male student who’s diligent passed.’

(ب) نَجَحَتِ الطَّالِبَة الَّتِي هِي مُجْتَهِدَة.              ‘the female student who’s diligent passed.’

(ج) نَجَحَ الطَّالِبَان اللَّذَان هُمَا مُجْتَهِدَان.           ‘the two male students who are diligent passed.’

(د) نَجَحَتِ الطَّالِبَتَان اللَّتَان هُمَا مُجْتَهِدَتَان.        ‘the two female students who are diligent passed.’

(هـ) نَجَحَ الطُّلَّاب الَّذِيْنَ هُم مُجْتَهِدُون.             ‘the male students who are diligent passed.’

(و) نَجَحَتِ الطَّالِبَات اللَّاتِي هُنَّ مُجْتَهِدَات.        ‘the female students who are diligent passed.’

Semi-relative Clause:

A semi-sentence / clause is called شِبْهُ جُمْلَة in Arabic. It constitutes a preposition or adverb of place followed by a noun, such as فِي البَيْت ‘in the house’ and تَحْتَ الطَّاوِلَة ‘under the table.’ If it follows the relative pronoun (to form a relative clause), it does not include a referent pronoun, as in these examples:

(أ) أَعْرِفُ الَّذِي فِي الغُرْفَة.                           ‘I know who is in the room.’

(ب) حَفِظْتَ زَيْنَب مَا فِي الكِتَاب.                    ‘Zainab memorized what is in the book.’

(ج) اِجْلِس عَلَى الكُرْسِي الَّذِي خَلْفَك.              ‘sit on the chair which is behind you.’