أَب father in Arabic
أَب is how you say “father” in Arabic.
Arabic
English
The audio uses AI voices.
Example sentence
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ
From Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him.
أَبِي Abu
'Father of', heading the 'father-of' nickname, in the genitive shown by the long '-i' of these special nouns. It leans on the name that follows.
The English is machine-translated.
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More example sentences
فقال رحم الله أبا سعيد،
He said: May Allah have mercy on Abu Saeed.
أَبَا Abu
This is the front of a courtesy-name ('father of...') and is the object of the mercy, so it sits in the object form. Even this honorific takes the same case-shift any object would, and it heads an 'of' pairing with the name after it.
والبنين وكم صغر قاسى الأب لأجل الصغار، فلما ترقوا فعقوا والعقوق من الذنوب الكبار،
And the children, how much hardship the father endures for the sake of the young; but when they grow up, they disobey, and disobedience is among the grave sins,
الْأَبُ the father
This is the doer of the enduring, placed after its verb in standard Arabic order and carrying the subject ending. The 'the' makes it the specific father in view, the one whose sacrifices the line is praising.
ما تأتي عبرة مثل أن أباك وأمك ماتا،
No lesson is as profound as the fact that your father and mother have passed away,
أَبَاكَ your father
This noun is the subject of the 'that' clause, forced into the accusative by the emphasis particle before it, and it carries an attached 'your' addressed to the reader. So the case is dictated by the particle, and the suffix marks the listener's own father.
اَذهَبُوا بِقَميصِي هَذا فألقُوهُ عَلى وَجهِ أبِي
Take this shirt of mine and cast it over my father's face.
أَبِي my father's
This closes the pairing as the owner, with the attached -i adding 'my', so 'of my father'. Arabic builds 'the face of my father' by setting the owned noun and this owner directly together, the possessor sitting in the -i slot.
وعلى صاحبه أبي بكر أبي،
And upon his companion, my father Abu Bakr.
أَبِي my father
The attached -i adds 'my', here used as an honorific 'my father', a respectful title rather than a literal parent. It stands in apposition to the companion just named, renaming the same person, so it shares his case.
وعلى صاحبه أبي بكر أبي،
And upon his companion, my father Abu Bakr.
أَبِي my father
The attached -i again adds 'my', repeating the honorific 'my father' for emphasis and affection. As a renaming in apposition to the same companion, it tracks his case rather than introducing a new person.
وعلى عمه الذي قال فيه الرسول عمي وصنو أبي،
And upon his uncle, of whom the Prophet said: 'He is my uncle and like my father.'
أَبِي my father
The attached -i adds 'my', closing the pairing 'the counterpart of my father'. As the owner, it sits directly after the owned noun in the possessor slot, fusing 'my' onto the word.
قال أخبرنا عبد الله بن أبي يحيى بن أبي كثير
He said, 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Yahya ibn Abi Kathir informed/narrated to us.'
أَبِي Abu (father of) in genitive/construct
A kunya element, 'father-of', here owned by the 'son of' before it, so 'son of Abu...'. It is a name-part, not a literal fatherhood claim; it heads the next name-pair.
قال أخبرنا عبد الله بن أبي يحيى بن أبي كثير
He said, 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Yahya ibn Abi Kathir informed/narrated to us.'
أَبِي Abu (father of) in genitive/construct
A second kunya element, 'father-of', owned by the 'son of' before it, 'son of Abu...'. Again a name-part rather than literal fatherhood; it heads the final name-pair.