Having: عِنْدي (I have)

Frequently asked questions

When is Having: عِنْدي (I have) used?

Arabic has no everyday verb "to have". It says where a thing is: عِنْدَ means "at, with, in the keeping of", and with a pronoun ending it becomes possession. عِنْدي سَيّارَةٌ is literally "at me (is) a car": I have a car.

How is Having: عِنْدي (I have) formed?

With a noun, عِنْدَ simply comes first: عِنْدَ سامي سَيّارَةٌ - Sami has a car. English "you" is one word; Arabic hears whether you talk to a man ( عِنْدَكَ , -ka) or a woman ( عِنْدَكِ , -ki). You are announcing that something is in your keeping, so the noun takes no article: عِنْدي سَيّارَةٌ . With the article the sentence means something else: السَّيّارَةُ عِنْدي - the car (the one we are talking about) is with me. English builds "don't have" with the helper "do". Arabic has no verb here for a helper to attach to, so the negation simply goes in front of عِنْدي, and the noun does not change. عِنْدي صُداعٌ - I have a headache. مَعي مِظَلَّةٌ - I have an umbrella with me.

What are common mistakes with Having: عِنْدي (I have)?

1. Looking for a verb "to have": there is none in everyday Arabic. Use عِنْدي. 2. The article on the thing owned: *عِنْدي السَّيّارَةُ for "I have a car". Say عِنْدي سَيّارَةٌ. 3. عِنْدَكَ to a woman. Say عِنْدَكِ. 4. Negation after عِنْدي: *عِنْدي لَيْسَ. Say لَيْسَ عِنْدي or ما عِنْدي. 5. عِنْدي for what is in your pocket right now: مَعي is the natural choice there. English speakers: "have" is a verb in English, so learners try to conjugate something. Think "at me (is) a car" instead, and the article rule follows: like "there is a car", the thing is new, so it is indefinite.

Sources

1. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. II (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1898

   § 66 (pp. 178-179): عِنْدَ means "beside, near, at", and "like مَعَ (§ 57), implies possession", as in "what the people have or possess". This is the construction عِنْدي سَيّارَةٌ.

2. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. II (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1898

   § 57 (pp. 164-165): مَعَ, "with, along with", "is used to show that a person possesses something or has got it with him", with the example "hast thou got an inkbottle with thee?". This backs مَعي for what you are carrying.

3. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. II (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1898

   § 42 (d) (p. 102): لَيْسَ belongs with كانَ and its sisters and carries "the idea of negation, by which that of existence itself is absolutely denied", which is why it negates a verbless sentence such as عِنْدي وَقْتٌ.

4. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. II (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1898

   § 116 (pp. 253-254): when the predicate is a preposition with its genitive, or an adverb, and the subject is an indefinite substantive, "the predicate must necessarily be put first", with Wright's own example عِنْدَكَ رَجُلٌ, "a man is with thee". The end of § 115 (p. 253) gives the parse: most grammarians treat such a sentence as a transposed nominal sentence, the fronted phrase being the خَبَر مُقَدَّم and the noun the مُبْتَدَأ مُؤَخَّر (a minority read it as a verbal sentence with the verb suppressed). This is the parse of عِنْدي سَيّارَةٌ, and the reason the owned thing is normally indefinite comes the other way round: the predicate is fronted because the subject is indefinite.