هن

Arabic

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hun.na/

Pronoun

هُنَّ • (hunna) f pl

1. they (feminine plural subject pronoun)

See also

Arabic personal pronouns
Isolated nominative1 pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		أَنَا (ʔanā)	نَحْنُ (naḥnu)
2nd person	m	أَنْتَ (ʔanta)	أَنْتُمَا (ʔantumā)	أَنْتُمْ (ʔantum)
	f	أَنْتِ (ʔanti)		أَنْتُنَّ (ʔantunna)
3rd person	m	هُوَ (huwa)	هُمَا (humā)	هُمْ (hum), هُمُ (humu)2
	f	هِيَ (hiya)		هُنَّ (hunna)
Isolated accusative pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		إِيَّايَ (ʔiyyāya)	إِيَّانَا (ʔiyyānā)
2nd person	m	إِيَّاكَ (ʔiyyāka)	إِيَّاكُمَا (ʔiyyākumā)	إِيَّاكُم (ʔiyyākum)
	f	إِيَّاكِ (ʔiyyāki)		إِيَّاكُنَّ (ʔiyyākunna)
3rd person	m	إِيَّاهُ (ʔiyyāhu)	إِيَّاهُمَا (ʔiyyāhumā)	إِيَّاهُمْ (ʔiyyāhum)
	f	إِيَّاهَا (ʔiyyāhā)		إِيَّاهُنَّ (ʔiyyāhunna)
Enclitic accusative and genitive pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		ـنِي (-nī), ـنِيَ (-niya), ـي (-y), ـيَ (-ya)3	ـنَا (-nā)
2nd person	m	ـكَ (-ka)	ـكُمَا (-kumā)	ـكُم (-kum)
	f	ـكِ (-ki)		ـكُنَّ (-kunna)
3rd person	m	ـهُ (-hu), ـهِ (-hi)4	ـهُمَا (-humā), ـهِمَا (-himā)3	ـهُم (-hum), ـهِم (-him)4
	f	ـهَا (-hā)		ـهُنَّ (-hunna), ـهِنَّ (-hinna)3
1. Also used to emphasize attached pronouns and as a copula. 2. هُمْ (hum) becomes هُمُ (humu) before the definite article الـ (al--). 3. Specifically, ـنِي (-nī, “me”) is attached to verbs, but ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya, “my”) is attached to nouns. In the latter case, ـيَ (-ya) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while ـِي (-ī) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before ـيَ (-ya) (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Prepositions use ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya), even though in this case it has the meaning of “me” rather than “my”. The sisters of inna can use either form (e.g. إِنَّنِي (ʔinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʔinnī)). 4. ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).

Pronoun

ـهُنّ or ـهِنّ • (-hunn or -hinn) f pl

1. their, them (feminine plural bound object pronoun)

Etymology 2

Verb

هن (form I)

1. هِنْ (hin) /hin/: second-person masculine singular imperative of وَهَنَ (wahana) and وَهِنَ (wahina)
2. هِنَّ (hinna) /hin.na/: second-person feminine plural imperative of وَهَنَ (wahana) and وَهِنَ (wahina)

Etymology 3

Alteration of هَمّ (hamm, “concern”).

Noun

هَن • (han) m (construct state هَنُو (hanū) or هَنُ (hanu), dual هَنَان (hanān) or هَنَوَان (hanawān), plural هَنُون (hanūn), feminine هَنَة (hana)) (obsolete)

1. thing, doofer
2. self, own
3. genital, pudendum

   هَنُوكَ يَلْزَمُ سَتْرُهُ ― hanūka yalzamu satru-hū ― Your noonie must be hidden.

Declension

Declension of noun هَن (han)

Singular	singular long construct
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	هَن han	الْهَن al-han	هَنُو hanū
Nominative	هَنٌ hanun	الْهَنُ al-hanu	هَنُو hanū
Accusative	هَنًا hanan	الْهَنَ al-hana	هَنَا hanā
Genitive	هَنٍ hanin	الْهَنِ al-hani	هَنِي hanī
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	هَنَيْن‎; هَنَوَيْن hanayn‎; hanawayn	الْهَنَيْن‎; الْهَنَوَيْن al-hanayn‎; al-hanawayn	هَنَيْ‎; هَنَوَيْ hanay‎; hanaway
Nominative	هَنَانِ‎; هَنَوَانِ hanāni‎; hanawāni	الْهَنَانِ‎; الْهَنَوَانِ al-hanāni‎; al-hanawāni	هَنَا‎; هَنَوَا hanā‎; hanawā
Accusative	هَنَيْنِ‎; هَنَوَيْنِ hanayni‎; hanawayni	الْهَنَيْنِ‎; الْهَنَوَيْنِ al-hanayni‎; al-hanawayni	هَنَيْ‎; هَنَوَيْ hanay‎; hanaway
Genitive	هَنَيْنِ‎; هَنَوَيْنِ hanayni‎; hanawayni	الْهَنَيْنِ‎; الْهَنَوَيْنِ al-hanayni‎; al-hanawayni	هَنَيْ‎; هَنَوَيْ hanay‎; hanaway
Plural	sound masculine plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	هَنِين hanīn	الْهَنِين al-hanīn	هَنِي hanī
Nominative	هَنُونَ hanūna	الْهَنُونَ al-hanūna	هَنُو hanū
Accusative	هَنِينَ hanīna	الْهَنِينَ al-hanīna	هَنِي hanī
Genitive	هَنِينَ hanīna	الْهَنِينَ al-hanīna	هَنِي hanī

Derived terms

• هُنَيَّة (hunayya), هُنَيْن (hunayn, diminutive)
• هَنَى (hanā, “to do”)
• هِنْو (hinw, “time”)

See also

• (nouns with long construct singular) الْأَسْمَاء السِّتَّة (al-ʔasmāʔ as-sitta); أَب (ʔab), أَخ (ʔaḵ), حَم (ḥam), فَم (fam), ذُو (ḏū), هَن (han) ^{(Category: Arabic nouns with long construct singular)}

Etymology 4

Alteration of حَنَّ (ḥanna).

Verb

هَنَّ • (hanna) I (non-past يَهِنُّ (yahinnu), verbal noun هَنّ (hann) or هَنِين (hanīn)) (obsolete, dialectal)

1. to groan from desire [with إِلَى (ʔilā)]

Conjugation

    Conjugation of هَنَّ (I, geminate, a ~ i, full passive (?), verbal nouns هَنّ, هَنِين)

verbal noun الْمَصْدَر						هَنّ, هَنِين hann, hanīn
active participle اِسْم الْفَاعِل						هَانّ hānn
passive participle اِسْم الْمَفْعُول						مَهْنُون mahnūn
active voice الْفِعْل الْمَعْلُوم
		singular الْمُفْرَد				dual الْمُثَنَّى			plural الْجَمْع
		1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم	2nd person الْمُخَاطَب	3rd person الْغَائِب		2nd person الْمُخَاطَب	3rd person الْغَائِب		1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم	2nd person الْمُخَاطَب	3rd person الْغَائِب
past (perfect) indicative الْمَاضِي	m	هَنَنْتُ hanantu	هَنَنْتَ hananta	هَنَّ hanna		هَنَنْتُمَا hanantumā	هَنَّا hannā		هَنَنَّا hanannā	هَنَنْتُمْ hanantum	هَنُّوا hannū
	f		هَنَنْتِ hananti	هَنَّتْ hannat			هَنَّتَا hannatā			هَنَنْتُنَّ hanantunna	هَنَنَّ hananna
non-past (imperfect) indicative الْمُضَارِع الْمَرْفُوع	m	أَهِنُّ ʔahinnu	تَهِنُّ tahinnu	يَهِنُّ yahinnu		تَهِنَّانِ tahinnāni	يَهِنَّانِ yahinnāni		نَهِنُّ nahinnu	تَهِنُّونَ tahinnūna	يَهِنُّونَ yahinnūna
	f		تَهِنِّينَ tahinnīna	تَهِنُّ tahinnu			تَهِنَّانِ tahinnāni			تَهْنِنَّ tahninna	يَهْنِنَّ yahninna
subjunctive الْمُضَارِع الْمَنْصُوب	m	أَهِنَّ ʔahinna	تَهِنَّ tahinna	يَهِنَّ yahinna		تَهِنَّا tahinnā	يَهِنَّا yahinnā		نَهِنَّ nahinna	تَهِنُّوا tahinnū	يَهِنُّوا yahinnū
	f		تَهِنِّي tahinnī	تَهِنَّ tahinna			تَهِنَّا tahinnā			تَهْنِنَّ tahninna	يَهْنِنَّ yahninna
jussive الْمُضَارِع الْمَجْزُوم	m	أَهِنَّ, أَهِنِّ, أَهْنِنْ ʔahinna, ʔahinni, ʔahnin	تَهِنَّ, تَهِنِّ, تَهْنِنْ tahinna, tahinni, tahnin	يَهِنَّ, يَهِنِّ, يَهْنِنْ yahinna, yahinni, yahnin		تَهِنَّا tahinnā	يَهِنَّا yahinnā		نَهِنَّ, نَهِنِّ, نَهْنِنْ nahinna, nahinni, nahnin	تَهِنُّوا tahinnū	يَهِنُّوا yahinnū
	f		تَهِنِّي tahinnī	تَهِنَّ, تَهِنِّ, تَهْنِنْ tahinna, tahinni, tahnin			تَهِنَّا tahinnā			تَهْنِنَّ tahninna	يَهْنِنَّ yahninna
imperative الْأَمْر	m		هِنَّ, هِنِّ, اِهْنِنْ hinna, hinni, ihnin			هِنَّا hinnā				هِنُّوا hinnū
	f		هِنِّي hinnī							اِهْنِنَّ ihninna
passive voice الْفِعْل الْمَجْهُول
		singular الْمُفْرَد				dual الْمُثَنَّى			plural الْجَمْع
		1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم	2nd person الْمُخَاطَب	3rd person الْغَائِب		2nd person الْمُخَاطَب	3rd person الْغَائِب		1st person الْمُتَكَلِّم	2nd person الْمُخَاطَب	3rd person الْغَائِب
past (perfect) indicative الْمَاضِي	m	هُنِنْتُ hunintu	هُنِنْتَ huninta	هُنَّ hunna		هُنِنْتُمَا hunintumā	هُنَّا hunnā		هُنِنَّا huninnā	هُنِنْتُمْ hunintum	هُنُّوا hunnū
	f		هُنِنْتِ huninti	هُنَّتْ hunnat			هُنَّتَا hunnatā			هُنِنْتُنَّ hunintunna	هُنِنَّ huninna
non-past (imperfect) indicative الْمُضَارِع الْمَرْفُوع	m	أُهَنُّ ʔuhannu	تُهَنُّ tuhannu	يُهَنُّ yuhannu		تُهَنَّانِ tuhannāni	يُهَنَّانِ yuhannāni		نُهَنُّ nuhannu	تُهَنُّونَ tuhannūna	يُهَنُّونَ yuhannūna
	f		تُهَنِّينَ tuhannīna	تُهَنُّ tuhannu			تُهَنَّانِ tuhannāni			تُهْنَنَّ tuhnanna	يُهْنَنَّ yuhnanna
subjunctive الْمُضَارِع الْمَنْصُوب	m	أُهَنَّ ʔuhanna	تُهَنَّ tuhanna	يُهَنَّ yuhanna		تُهَنَّا tuhannā	يُهَنَّا yuhannā		نُهَنَّ nuhanna	تُهَنُّوا tuhannū	يُهَنُّوا yuhannū
	f		تُهَنِّي tuhannī	تُهَنَّ tuhanna			تُهَنَّا tuhannā			تُهْنَنَّ tuhnanna	يُهْنَنَّ yuhnanna
jussive الْمُضَارِع الْمَجْزُوم	m	أُهَنَّ, أُهَنِّ, أُهْنَنْ ʔuhanna, ʔuhanni, ʔuhnan	تُهَنَّ, تُهَنِّ, تُهْنَنْ tuhanna, tuhanni, tuhnan	يُهَنَّ, يُهَنِّ, يُهْنَنْ yuhanna, yuhanni, yuhnan		تُهَنَّا tuhannā	يُهَنَّا yuhannā		نُهَنَّ, نُهَنِّ, نُهْنَنْ nuhanna, nuhanni, nuhnan	تُهَنُّوا tuhannū	يُهَنُّوا yuhannū
	f		تُهَنِّي tuhannī	تُهَنَّ, تُهَنِّ, تُهْنَنْ tuhanna, tuhanni, tuhnan			تُهَنَّا tuhannā			تُهْنَنَّ tuhnanna	يُهْنَنَّ yuhnanna

References

• Freytag, Georg (1835) “هن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 411b
• Freytag, Georg (1837) “هن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[2] (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 414b–415a
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “هن”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎^[3] (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 1450a
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “هن”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎^[4] (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, pages 1454a–b

Iraqi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic ـهُنَّ (-hunna) or ـهِنَّ (-hinna).

Suffix

ـهِن (hin) pl

1. Enclitic form of هنه (hinna)
2. they, them, their

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

Partly a continuation of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna, “they”, feminine), but considerably influenced by a pronoun borrowed from Western Aramaic and cognate to Classical Syriac ܗܢܘܢ (hennon, “they”). The final e vowel may have also arisen in analogy to the development of the other third-person pronouns: هو (huwwe, “he”), هي (hiyye, “she”), and هم (humme, “them”, now obsolete).

هن (hinne) superficially resembles Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) enough that any other origin might appear questionable. However, some problems show up if we discard the Aramaic altogether:

Confounding data

• هن (hinne) is a gender-neutral pronoun, even though Arabic originally distinguished هُنَّ (hunna, feminine) from هُم (hum, masculine). North Levantine Arabic varieties aren't alone in having replaced both with one common pronoun, but this common pronoun typically developed from Arabic هُم (hum, masculine): see South Levantine Arabic هم (humme) and Egyptian Arabic هم (humma) for examples from closely related varieties. What would have made North Levantine speakers settle on Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) gender-neutrally instead?
• The initial u in Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) differs from the i in هن (hinne). This could be explained by North Levantine Arabic's general tendency to merge u into i in initial closed syllables, but Behnstedt observes that the pronoun has i even in dialects that keep the two vowels distinct. These dialects would be expected to have preserved the u of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna).
• A variant of this pronoun found widely in Syria is هنن (hinnon, hinnen). The two pronunciations are nearly identical to the surviving Western Neo-Aramaic [script needed] (hinnun, “they”, masculine) and [script needed] (hinnin, “they”, feminine), but conspicuously different from Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), which lacks a second ن (n).
• Additionally, there are Syrian varieties that do gender this pronoun, but in a strikingly Aramaic-like manner. Two examples from Hama are هنن (hinnon, masculine) & هنن (hinnen, feminine) in as-Suqaylibiyyah and هنو (hinno, masculine) & هني (hinni, feminine) in Morek.

Behnstedt points out that Aramaic offers an elegant solution to these problems, but notes that modern Syrian forms like هني (hunni) from the vicinity of Homs and هنن (hunnin) in nearby Manin provide reason to account for influence from the Arabic pronoun as well.

The spelling هن is in direct association with Standard Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), while the alternative spellings follow the word's pronunciation.

Alternative forms

• هنه, هني (spellings)
• هنن

Pronoun

هن • (hinne) pl or هنن (hinnen)

1. they

   Enclitic form: ـهن (-(h/w/y)un)

See also

North Levantine Arabic personal pronouns
		Singular	Plural
1st person		أنا (ʔana)	نحنا (niḥna)
2nd person	m	انت (ʔinta, ʔinte)	انتو (ʔintu)
	f	انتي (ʔinti)
3rd person	m	هو (huwwe)	هن (hinne) / هنن (hinnen)
	f	هي (hiyye)

Etymology 2

From Arabic ـهُنَّ (-hunna) or ـهِنَّ (-hinna).

Alternative forms

• ـن

Suffix

ـهن • (-un, -hun, -wun, -yun) pl

1. Enclitic form of هن (hinne) or هنن (hinnen)
2. they, them, their

Usage notes

• The pronunciation in careful speech is “-hun”, but the “h” is in the process of being lost. Some speakers currently use “-un” after a consonant and “-hun” after a vowel or diphthong, and some others use “-yun” after vowels and diphthongs instead, but it's most-common for it to assimilate to the preceding sound:
  • “-un” after a consonant
  • “-hun” or “-un” after the vowel “a”
  • “-wun” after the vowel “o”/“u”
  • “-yun” after the vowel “e”/“i” and the diphthong “ay”
• It might also be spelled as ـن when it's pronounced as “-un”, “-wun” or “-yun”.
• The form with “h” attracts stress to the syllable before it automatically. The form with a dropped “h” still behaves this way for some speakers, but others allow the automatic stress rules to take precedent:
  • كَتَبهُن (“he wrote them”) can only be pronounced katábhun, but كَتَبُن (“he wrote them”) can be either katábun or kátabun.
  • جَرِّبهُن (“try them!”, masculine imperative) can be pronounced jarríbhun or jarríbun, and جَرّبُن (“try them!”) can be either jarríbun or járrbun.
• In Lebanon, some speakers (typically older, rural speakers) realize this enclitic pronoun as hinne in some cases.
  • كِيفهن (“he wrote them”), can be pronounced as kīf(h)un or kīfhinne.

See also

North Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns
		Singular		Plural
		after consonant	after vowel
1st person	after verb	ـني (-ni)		ـنا (-na)
	else	ـِي (-i)	ـي (-y)
2nd person	m	ـَك (-ak)	ـك (-k)	ـكُن (-kun)
	f	ـِك (-ek)	ـكِ (-ki)
3rd person	m	ـُه (-o)	ـه (-h)	ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un)
	f	ـها (-(h/w/y)a)

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

Partially borrowed from an Aramaic pronoun cognate to Classical Syriac ܗܢܘܢ (hennon). Compare with North Levantine Arabic هن (hinne).

The lack of a second ـن (-n), unlike the Aramaic, is due to influence from the form of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna, “they”, feminine plural) and analogy with the final vowels of other third-person pronouns: هو (huwwe, “he”), هي (hiyye), and possibly the aforementioned هم (humme).

The spelling هن is in direct association with Standard Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), while the alternative spellings follow the word's pronunciation.

Alternative forms

• هنه

Pronoun

هنّ • (hinne) pl

1. (Galilee) they

   Synonym: هم (humme)

   Enclitic form: ـهن (-hen)

Etymology 2

From Arabic ـهُنَّ (-hunna) or ـهِنَّ (-hinna).

Suffix

ـهن • (-hen) pl

2. Enclitic form of هن (hinne)
3. (Galilee) they, them, their

   Synonym: ـهم (-hom)