Arabic vocabulary
How to say “itself” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
ثُمَّ إِنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَجَدَ مِنْ نَفْسِهِ خِفَّةً فَخَرَجَ بَيْنَ رَجُلَيْنِ
Then the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, felt a lightness within his self, so he went out between two men.
نَفْسِهِ — his self. A noun, 'self', with a possessive 'his' attached at its end; the suffix reaches back to the Prophet as the owner. One word thus carries the noun and whose it is.
From: Prayer During Illness →لِأَنَّهُ إِنْ كَانَ قَارِئًا بِنَفْسِهِ فَبِجَهْدِهِ أَنْ يَتَهَجَّى الأَسْمَاءَ وَالمُتُونَ
Because if he is reading by his own self, then by his effort that he spell out the names and the texts.
بِنَفْسِهِ — by his own self. Three pieces: the prefix bi- 'by/with', a noun for 'self', and -hi 'his', combining into the idiom 'by himself / on his own'. The preposition forces the 'of'-style ending, and the whole fixed phrase stresses that he does the reading unaided.
From: Humility Over Fame →فَرَحِمَ اللَّهُ امْرَأً جَعَلَ لِنَفْسِهِ خِطَامًا وَزِمَامًا
May God have mercy on the man who made for his self a bridle and a rein.
لِنَفْسِهِ — for his self. The li- prefix marks the beneficiary ('for'), with a reflexive 'himself' attached. The preposition governs the genitive, so it reads 'for himself', the man acting on his own self.
From: Patience and the Human Self →وَيَسْتَقِلُّ كَثِيرُ الْمَعْرُوفِ مِنْ نَفْسِهِ
And he regards much good deed from his self as little.
نَفْسِهِ — his self. A noun meaning 'self/soul' in the genitive after its preposition, with a '-hi' (his) fused on, giving 'his own self'. The suffix turns it reflexive, marking the deeds as his own rather than another's. It closes the humble-man contrast: his own good he counts as little.
From: On Reason and Temptation →وَمَنْ يُوَقِّ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمْ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
And whoever restrains the stinginess of his soul, those are the successful.
نَفْسِهِ — his soul. This noun bears a 'his' owner ending and is the owned-of term: 'his soul'. The suffix points back to the 'whoever', so it is each person's own soul whose stinginess is meant.
From: Charity and Stinginess →كَمَا قَالَ حَنْظَلَةُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ نَافِقٌ حَنْظَلَةُ
As Hanzala said about his self: Hanzala is a hypocrite.
نَفْسِهِ — his self. This noun carries a 'his' owner ending and sits in the genitive after the preposition; the suffix points back to the speaker, giving 'about his own self'.
From: Guarding the Heart from Heedlessness →فَقَالَ لَقَدْ أَضَاقَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ الْمَرْعَى،
He said, "Indeed, the pasture has become too narrow for him."
نَفْسِهِ — his self. A reflexive 'self' noun ending in -hi 'his', so it fuses 'self' with its owner. The -hi points back to the man, and sitting after the preposition it takes the genitive ending, reading 'upon his own self'.
From: Permissible Laughter and Conduct →وَرُبَّمَا قَالَ الْعَالِمُ الْمَحْضُ لِنَفْسِهِ
And perhaps the pure scholar said to his self:
لِنَفْسِهِ — to his self. The li- prefix is a preposition of direction ('to'), putting its noun into the genitive and marking the addressee of the speech. The noun carries -hi ('his'), so the phrase names the scholar's own self as the one he speaks to, the inner audience of his resolution.
From: Preparing for Death and Repentance →وَإِنَّمَا يَعْرِفُ الزِّيَادَةُ مِنَ النُّقْصَانِ الْمُحَاسِبُ لِنَفْسِهِ
Only the one who holds himself accountable can distinguish increase from decrease.
لِنَفْسِهِ — for his self. The 'li-' fused at the front links the holding-to-account to its object; with this agent-noun it marks whom the reckoning is of, here turned reflexively onto the self. It governs the reflexive noun after it into the 'of'-style ending, so 'accountant for himself' means one who calls his own soul to account.
From: Preparing for Death and Repentance →والتهوع بالتسهيل، وأتى بكل خلاف ونادى على نفسه أنا أبو فلان فاعرفوني فإني عارف بالسبع
He put on an ostentatious display of making things easy, entered every dispute, and cried out about his self, "I am the father of so-and-so; recognize me, for I know of the seven."
نَفْسِهِ — his self. A reflexive noun 'self' with 'his' attached, in the genitive because the preposition before it governs it. Together they mean 'about himself' - the boasting is self-directed. The attached possessor points back to the proclaimer, and Arabic uses this 'self'-noun-plus-pronoun where English would say 'himself'.
From: Sincere Worship →OpenArabic teaches words like نَفْسِهِ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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