Arabic prepositions list fully explained – 2023

Arabic Prepositions “حروف الجرّ العربية” are considered as one of the most important parts of speech, and usually put before nouns.

 In this article we are going to go through the most important and most frequently used 12 prepositions in Arabic, which are:

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
1	مِن	From, of	min
2	إلى	To, at	Ilaa
3	عن	About, from	‘An
4	على	On	‘Alaa
5	في	in a	Fi
6	بِـ	In, at, with, by	Bi
7	لِـ	For, to	Li
8	حتّى	Until	Hattaa
9	عدا	except	‘Adaa
10	كيّ	To	Kayy
11	منذ	Since, in	Munthu
12	كـ	Like, as	Ka

In the next table we are explaining each proposition with examples:

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
1	مِن	From, of	min
	أنا من الولايات المتحدة.	I am from the United States.	Ana min alwilayati almutahida.
	هم خرجوا من البيت.	They went out of the house.	Hum kharajuu min albayt.
	سافرت من الصين إلى روسيا.	I traveled from China to Russia.	Safaratu min assien ilaa russia.
	تناولت قطعة من الحلوى.	I ate a piece of cake.	Tanawalatu qit’atan min al-halwaa.

The preposition “Min مِن” is used to refer to something moved from one place to another or the origin of someone or something. In other contexts, it means “some of” as you can see in the examples.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
2	إلى	To, at	Ilaa
	انظر إلى هذا الشخص.	Look at this person.	Onthor ilaa hatha ashakhs.
	سنسافر إلى باريس يوم السبت.	We will travel to Paris on Saturday.	Sanusafiru ilaa baris yawm assabt.
	خرجت اليوم من البيت وذهبت إلى الحديقة للتنزه.	Today I got out of the house and went to the park for a walk.	Kharajtu alyawm mina albayt wa thahabtu ilaa alhadiqa lit-tanazzuh.

The preposition “Ilaa إلى” refers to the directions or destinations of the actions.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
3	عن	About, from	‘An
	بيتك مختلف جداً عن بيتي.	Your home is very different from my home.	Baytuka mukhtalifon jiddan ‘an bayti.
	حدّثني عن عملك الجديد.	Tell me about your new job.	Haddithni ‘an ‘amalik aljadid.
	هم يلعبون بعيداً عن الشارع.	They are playing away from the street.	Hum yal’abuna ba’edaan ‘an ashaar’e.

The preposition “An عن” is translated as “from”, “away from” somewhere or something. In other cases it means “about”.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
4	على	On	‘Alaa
	جلس الطفل على الصخرة.	The child sat on the rock.	Jalasa attiflu ‘alaa assakhra.
	الحقيبة على الطاولة.	The bag is on the table.	Alhaqibatu ‘alaa attaawila.
	هي تقف على قمة الجبل.	She is standing on top of the mountain.	Hiya taqifu ‘alaa qimmatu aljabal.

The preposition “Alaa على” is used to refer to the position or location of something on the top,  and means “on”.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
5	في	in, at	Fi
	وضعت الكتاب في الحقيبة.	I put the book in the bag.	Wada’tu alkitaba fi alhaqiba.
	عيد ميلاده في شهر أيار\مايو.	His birthday is in May.	E’id miladeh fi shahri ayyar\mayu.
	هناك الكثير من المجتهدين في هذه المدرسة.	There are a lot of hardworking people in this school.	Honak alkathiro min almujtahidin fi hathihi almadrasa.

The preposition “Fi في” means “in” or “inside”. It refers to something located in or action is happening inside.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
6	بِـ	In, at, with, by	Bi
	فازت الطالبة هدى بالمسابقة.	Student Huda won the competition.	Fazat at-taaliba hudaa bilmusabaqa.
	اتصلت بصديقي.	I called my friend.	Ittasaltu bisadiqi.
	نجحت بالكثير من العمل المتواصل.	I have succeeded by/with a lot of continuous work.	Najahtu bilkatheeri min al’amal almutawassel.

“Bi بِـ” is the most common and used preposition. It refers to the reason meaning “by” or “with”. In some cases it means “in” or “at” in informal Arabic, and in many other cases, it has no translation to English as you can see in the examples above.

This preposition connects the noun that follows it.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
7	لِـ	For, to	Li
	اشتريتُ لعبة لابني.	I bought a toy for my son.	Ishtrytu lu’batan libni.
	شرحت الدرس لأختي الصغيرة.	I explained the lesson to my little sister.	Sharahtu addarsa li‘ukhti assaghira.
	سافرت إلى دبي لأبحث عن عمل.	I traveled to Dubai to find a job.	Safartu ilaa Dubai li‘abhatho ‘an ‘amal.

The preposition “Li لِـ” means “for” or “to” and is used to refer to the reason of the action we are talking about and to tell that the action is happening for someone.

This preposition also connects the noun that follows it.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
8	حتّى	Until	Hattaa
	عمل جون حتى السّاعة الثّامنة ثم غادر المكتب.	John worked until eight then left the office.	‘Amila John hattaa assa’a athaamina thumma ghadara almaktab.
	بقيت في عملي من السّاعة السّابعة صباحاً حتى الثّامنة مساءً.	I stayed at work from seven in the morning until eight in the evening.	Baqaitu fi ‘amali min assa’a assaab’a sabahaan hattaa athaamina msa’an.

The preposition “Hattaa حتّى” means “until” and refers to the time when the action was finished or over.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
9	عدا	Except	‘Adaa
	جاء جميع العمال عدا سعيد.	All workers except Saeed came.	Ja’a jamee’o al-umaalo adaa saeed.
	غادر أصدقائي عدا واحد.	All my friends left except one.	Ghadara assdiqa’i adaa wahed.

The preposition “‘Adaa عدا” means “except” so it is used to refer to the exception.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
10	كيّ	To	Kayy
	جئتُ كي أساعدك.	I came to help you.	Je’tu kayy usa’idak.
	سافرت إلى ألمانيا كي أجد عملاً.	I traveled to Germany to find work.	Safaratu ilaa almanya kayy ajido ‘amlaan.

The preposition “Kayy كي” means “to” so it refers to the reason of an action (why it happened/is happening?).

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
11	منذ	Since, in	Munthu
	أعمل في هذه الشركة منذ جئت إلى هنا قبل خمس سنوات.	I have been working for this company since I came here five years ago.	A’amalu fi hathih asharika munthu je’tu ilaa huna qabla khamsi sanawat.
	أعيش في أمريكا منذ العام الماضي.	I have been living in America since last year.	A’eish fi ‘amrika munthu al’am almadi.
	لم أسافر منذ خمسة أشهر.	I haven’t traveled in five months.	Lam usafer munthu khamsati ashhur.

The preposition “Munthu منذ” means “since” or sometimes “in” and refers to the time or moment when the action started.

	Arabic	English	Pronunciation
12	كـ	Like, As	Ka
	كنت شجاعاً كالأسد.	You were as brave as a lion.	Kunta shuja’an kal’asad.
	لونه أبيض كالثلج.	It is white as snow.	Lawnuhu abyad kath-thalj.
	هم يعملون كالآلات.	They work like machines.	Hum ya’maluna kal’alat.

The preposition “Ka كـ” means “like” or “as” and is used to express simile.

This preposition connects the noun that follows it.

Some Arabic prepositions are different from English ones, while there are many other English prepositions that are not considered as prepositions in Arabic.
When you are reading a sentence to text in Arabic that has one or more prepositions, you should pay attention to the whole context, because one preposition could have many different meanings in different contexts.

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