Essential Arabic Prepositions and How They Attach to Pronouns
The most useful Arabic prepositions, what each means, and how they take pronoun endings like 'with me' and 'for you'.
Prepositions are small words with a big job, and in Arabic they do something English prepositions don't: they merge with pronouns into a single word.
The core prepositions
- في (fi) — in, at
- من (min) — from, of
- إلى (ila) — to, toward
- على ('ala) — on, upon
- مع (ma'a) — with, together with
- عن ('an) — about, away from
- ب (bi) — with, by, in (written attached to the noun)
- ل (li) — for, to (also attached)
- ك (ka) — like, as (attached)
Some, like ب and ل, are single letters written attached to the next word: بالقلم (bil-qalam), "with the pen"; للمعلم (lil-mu'allim), "for the teacher".
Prepositions and case
All prepositions cause the noun that follows them to be in the genitive case. In everyday speech this shows up only in vowel endings that are often dropped, so learners don't need to worry about it early.
Pronoun endings
When a preposition is followed by a pronoun, the pronoun is attached as a suffix:
- معي (ma'i) — with me
- معك (ma'ak) — with you
- معه (ma'ahu) — with him
- معها (ma'aha) — with her
- معنا (ma'ana) — with us
- معهم (ma'ahum) — with them
The same pattern works for في (fiyya, in me), عن ('anni, about me) and على ('alayya, on me).
Idiomatic uses
Arabic prepositions do not always match English ones. For instance:
- تحدث مع (tahaddatha ma'a) — to talk with
- بحث عن (bahatha 'an) — to search for, literally "about"
- نظر إلى (nazara ila) — to look at, literally "to"
- يعتمد على (ya'tamid 'ala) — to depend on
Verbs are commonly paired with a specific preposition, so learn them as a unit.
Prepositions of place
Words like فوق (fawq, above), تحت (taht, below), أمام (amama, in front of), خلف (khalf, behind), بين (bayna, between) and قرب (qurb, near) behave like nouns in an idafa: أمام البيت (amama al-bayt), "in front of the house".
Common mistakes
- Translating English prepositions word for word.
- Forgetting that ب and ل attach to the next word.
- Not learning verb-plus-preposition pairs together.
Practice
- Learn each verb with its usual preposition.
- Drill the pronoun forms of مع and في until automatic.
- Write five sentences using different prepositions of place.
- Check unfamiliar pairings in a dictionary.
Look up prepositions and verb pairings with English Arabic Dictionary →
English Arabic Dictionary
Offline English–Arabic dictionary with meanings, pronunciation and script support
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