How to Say “Me” in Arabic: A Guide to Accusative Pronouns (like إِيّايَ)

This article examines how to express the English word “me” in Arabic, focusing on less common but important constructions for direct objects and literary uses.

While direct object suffixes are standard, we will delve into the specific accusative (مَنْصُوب) and genitive (مَجْرُور) forms of personal pronouns in Arabic, such as إِيّايَ (“me”), إِيّاهُ (“him”), and إِيّاكَ (“you”), found in literature and classical expressions like إِيّاكَ نَعْبُدُ from the Qur’an.

It is very rare to come across مَنصُوب (mansub) and مَجْرُور (majzum) forms of per­sonal pronouns, but you might find it in literature, in expres­sions like: without me.

Let’s see an example:

You can find more examples and applications in the book Arabic for Nerds.

For example, the expression: إِيّاكَ نَعْبُدُ – Thee (alone) we worship – a line from probably the most famous Sura of the Qur’an: الْفاتِحة (the opening).