Pronouns and attached endings
Arabic · Key Stage 2 · The School
The separate pronouns
أَنا (anā) I, أَنْتَ (anta) you (m), أَنْتِ (anti) you (f), هُوَ (huwa) he, هِيَ (hiya) she, نَحْنُ (naḥnu) we, هُمْ (hum) they. Arabic marks the gender of "you", which English does not — so أَنْتَ and أَنْتِ are two different words for the same English word.
Endings that mean "my", "your", "his"
Instead of a separate word, Arabic attaches possession to the end of the noun: كِتابي (my book), كِتابُكَ (your book), كِتابُهُ (his book), كِتابُها (her book), كِتابُنا (our book). One word does what English needs two for — and these endings appear on almost every page of the Quran.
Seeing it in the Quran
رَبَّنا (rabbanā) — "our Lord" — is رَبّ plus نا. That single word opens dozens of the duas in the Quran. Once the endings are familiar you will start seeing them everywhere: إِيّاكَ نَعْبُدُ, بِسْمِ اللهِ, الحَمْدُ لِلّهِ رَبِّ العالَمينَ.
كِتاب — a book. كِتابي — my book. كِتابُكَ — your book (to a man). كِتابُكِ — your book (to a woman). كِتابُهُ — his book. كِتابُها — her book. One noun, five endings, and no separate word for 'my' or 'his' anywhere. Now read بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحيم and find the same shape working in رَبِّنا — our Lord.