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Demonstrative pronouns:
That

EnglishArabic
that boyذَلِكَ الولدُ
that penذلك القلمُ
that carتلك السيارةُ

'That'

The Arabic equivalent for the English 'that' is ذلك. It is usually followed by a definite noun, to which it agrees in gender and number.

Just as 'that' in English, ذلك is used to refer to a person/object that is far. It is itself definite and can be used as the first part of a nominal sentence as we will later learn.

Not pronounced as written

Though it is written as ذلك, it is actually pronounced as ذالِكَ, with the short vowel on the ذ to be considered as a long one.

Feminine form: تلك

Whereas in English 'that' is used with all genders, in Arabic ذلك is used with masculine only, and for the feminine, the feminine form تِلْكَ is used. However, it is pronounced just as it is written.

Final vowel does not change

The final vowel of each form is fixed and does not get changed if preceded for example by a preposition. Instead, it is the following noun that is affected by whatever precedes ذلك/تلك.

EnglishArabic
for that boyلذلك الولدِ
in that carفي تلك السيارةِ
I bought that carاشتريتُ تلك السيارةَ

The كَ in ذلك/تلك may be changed to كِ، كُمْ، ... depending on the gender and number of the person(s) being addressed. For the sake of simplicity, leave it as كَ

In a nominal sentence

ذلك/تلك and its accompanying definite noun together can form the first part of a nominal sentence.

EnglishArabic
that boy is intelligentذلك الولدُ ذكيٌّ
that girl is beautifulتلك البنتُ جميلةٌ

As stated earlier, ذلك is definite in itself, and can thus be used as the first part of a nominal sentence. Since the second part of a nominal sentence is indefinite, it will be followed by an indefinite noun, contrary to what is seen in the examples given so far.

EnglishArabic
that is a penذلك قلمٌ
that is a rulerتلك مِسْطَرةٌ

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Other topics availabe on this site:

Arabic alphabetIndefinite nounsDefinite nounsNominal sentences
AdjectivesFeminineSingular pronounsDual nounsDual pronouns
Basic declension of nounsDemonstrative: ThisDemonstrative: That
PluralPlural pronounsPrepositionThere is/areTo have
Possessive caseBroken PluralPossessive Adjectives