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The use of plural relative pronouns Posted by on Jul 8, 2011 in Grammar

In this post, I present the answer of the exercise on the dual relative pronouns and I also present a revision and some exercises on plural relative pronouns. First, here is the answer of the exercise and the translation of the sentences:

1-      هذان هما الطالبان اللذان يدرسان في جامعتي.

2-      تحدثت مع المهندستين اللتين تعملان في المشروع الجديد.

3-      قرأت كتب الكاتبين اللذين عاشا في القرن الثامن عشر.

4-      زرت المدينتين اللتين تقعان على شاطئ البحر.

5-      الأستاذان اللذان يدرسان اللغة العربية في جامعتي ممتازان.

Here is the translation of the sentences:

1 – These are the students who studied at the university.

2 – I spoke with the engineers who work on the new project.

3 – I read the books of authors who lived in the eighteenth century.

4 – I visited the two cities which are located on the shore of the sea.

5 – The professors who teach Arabic at my university are excellent

Plural relative pronouns can be tricky because we have to think whether we are dealing with human or non-human plurals. If we are talking about human plural, then we think whether it is masculine or feminine. Masculine relative pronoun is (الذين); and there are three feminine relative pronouns that can be used interchangeably (اللاتي، اللائي ، اللواتي). If we are talking about non-human plurals, the relative pronoun to use is (التي). Consider the following examples:

الأولاد الذين يدرسون في المدرسة الجديدة سعداء.

The boys who study at the new school are happy.

البنات اللائي/اللاتي/اللواتي يدرسن في المدرسة الجديدة سعيدات.

The girls who study at the new school are happy.

المدارس التي افتتحت مؤخراً ممتازة.

The schools that were opened lately are excellent.

Now, try to use this information to complete the sentences below with the appropriate form of plural relative pronouns.

1-      هؤلاء هم الطلاب ———- يدرسون في جامعتي.

2-      القصص —————— تكتبها هذه الكاتبة حزينة للغاية

3-      تحدثت مع المهندسات ———— يعملن في المشروع الجديد.

4-      معظم العمال ————- سافروا للعمل في الخارج عادوا في الصيف.

5-      زرت المدن —————- تقع على شاطئ البحر.

6-      قرأت معظم كتب الكُتاب  ———— أفضلهم.

7-      الزميلات —————– يسكن معي في البيت لطيفات.

8-      الأساتذة ————— يدرسون اللغة العربية في جامعتي ممتازون.

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Comments:

  1. Juan:

    Hello,
    I have been curious about the fact that some of the relative pronoums are written with an extra “ل” in the midle (after the initial “ال”), however, I do not notice any diference in pronunciation when I hear them.
    Is there a reason for this extra letter?
    Or it is just historical, or other.

    Many thanks Aziza, these posts are a great help. Can I suggest perhaps for a new one the utilization of ذُو, ذَات, etc, they are confusing to me and I guess for some others.

    Salam
    Juan

    • aziza:

      @Juan Thank you very much Juan. I appreciate your suggestion and I will do my best to write a post about it soon.
      Salaam,
      Aziza