# هن
## Arabic
### Etymology 1
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /hun.na/

#### Pronoun

هُنَّ • (hunna) f pl
* they (feminine plural subject pronoun)

##### See also

1. Also used to emphasize attached pronouns and as a copula. 2. هُمْ (hum) becomes هُمُ (humu) before the definite article الـ (al--). 3. Specifically, ـنِي (-nī, “me”) is attached to verbs, but ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya, “my”) is attached to nouns. In the latter case, ـيَ (-ya) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while ـِي (-ī) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before ـيَ (-ya) (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Prepositions use ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya), even though in this case it has the meaning of “me” rather than “my”. The sisters of inna can use either form (e.g. إِنَّنِي (ʔinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʔinnī)). 4. ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).

#### Pronoun

ـهُنّ or ـهِنّ • (-hunn or -hinn) f pl
* their, them (feminine plural bound object pronoun)

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

هن (form I)
* هِنْ (hin) /hin/: second-person masculine singular imperative of وَهَنَ (wahana) and وَهِنَ (wahina)
* هِنَّ (hinna) /hin.na/: second-person feminine plural imperative of وَهَنَ (wahana) and وَهِنَ (wahina)

### Etymology 3

Alteration of هَمّ (hamm, “concern”).

#### Noun

هَن • (han) m (construct state هَنُو (hanū) or هَنُ (hanu), dual هَنَان (hanān) or هَنَوَان (hanawān), plural هَنُون (hanūn), feminine هَنَة (hana)) (obsolete)
* thing, doofer
* self, own
* genital, pudendum
    هَنُوكَ يَلْزَمُ سَتْرُهُ ― Your noonie must be hidden.

##### Derived terms

* هُنَيَّة (hunayya), هُنَيْن (hunayn, diminutive)
* هَنَى (hanā, “to do”)
* هِنْو (hinw, “time”)

##### See also

* (nouns with long construct singular) الْأَسْمَاء السِّتَّة (al-ʔasmāʔ as-sitta); أَب (ʔab), أَخ (ʔaḵ), حَم (ḥam), فَم (fam), ذُو (ḏū), هَن (han)

### Etymology 4

Alteration of حَنَّ (ḥanna).

#### Verb

هَنَّ • (hanna) I (non-past يَهِنُّ (yahinnu), verbal noun هَنّ (hann) or هَنِين (hanīn)) (obsolete, dialectal)
* to groan from desire [with إِلَى (ʔilā)]

##### Conjugation
### References

* Freytag, Georg (1835) “هن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 411b
* Freytag, Georg (1837) “هن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 414b–415a
* Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “هن”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎ (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C$^{ie}$, page 1450a
* Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “هن”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎ (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C$^{ie}$, pages 1454a–b

## Iraqi Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic ـهُنَّ (-hunna) or ـهِنَّ (-hinna).

### Suffix

ـهِن (hin) pl
* Enclitic form of هنه (hinna)
* they, them, their

## North Levantine Arabic
### Etymology 1

Partly a continuation of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna, “they”, feminine), but considerably influenced by a pronoun borrowed from Western Aramaic and cognate to Classical Syriac ܗܢܘܢ (hennon, “they”). The final e vowel may have also arisen in analogy to the development of the other third-person pronouns: هو (huwwe, “he”), هي (hiyye, “she”), and هم (humme, “them”, now obsolete).
هن (hinne) superficially resembles Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) enough that any other origin might appear questionable. However, some problems show up if we discard the Aramaic altogether:
* A variant of this pronoun found widely in Syria is هنن (hinnon, hinnen). The two pronunciations are nearly identical to the surviving Western Neo-Aramaic [script needed] (hinnun, “they”, masculine) and [script needed] (hinnin, “they”, feminine), but conspicuously different from Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), which lacks a second ن (n).
* Additionally, there are Syrian varieties that do gender this pronoun, but in a strikingly Aramaic-like manner. Two examples from Hama are هنن (hinnon, masculine) & هنن (hinnen, feminine) in as-Suqaylibiyyah and هنو (hinno, masculine) & هني (hinni, feminine) in Morek.
* The initial u in Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) differs from the i in هن (hinne). This could be explained by North Levantine Arabic's general tendency to merge u into i in initial closed syllables, but Behnstedt observes that the pronoun has i even in dialects that keep the two vowels distinct. These dialects would be expected to have preserved the u of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna).
* هن (hinne) is a gender-neutral pronoun, even though Arabic originally distinguished هُنَّ (hunna, feminine) from هُم (hum, masculine). North Levantine Arabic varieties aren't alone in having replaced both with one common pronoun, but this common pronoun typically developed from Arabic هُم (hum, masculine): see South Levantine Arabic هم (humme) and Egyptian Arabic هم (humma) for examples from closely related varieties. What would have made North Levantine speakers settle on Arabic هُنَّ (hunna) gender-neutrally instead?
Behnstedt points out that Aramaic offers an elegant solution to these problems, but notes that modern Syrian forms like هني (hunni) from the vicinity of Homs and هنن (hunnin) in nearby Manin provide reason to account for influence from the Arabic pronoun as well.
The spelling هن is in direct association with Standard Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), while the alternative spellings follow the word's pronunciation.

#### Alternative forms

* هنه, هني (spellings)
* هنن

#### Pronoun

هن • (hinne) pl or هنن (hinnen)
* they
    Enclitic form: ـهن (-(h/w/y)un)

##### See also

North Levantine Arabic personal pronouns :
| | | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | 1st person | أنا (ʔana) | نحنا (niḥna) |
| 2nd person | m | انت (ʔinta, ʔinte) | انتو (ʔintu) |
| 2nd person | f | انتي (ʔinti) | انتو (ʔintu) |
| 3rd person | m | هو (huwwe) | هن (hinne) / هنن (hinnen) |
| 3rd person | f | هي (hiyye) | هن (hinne) / هنن (hinnen) |

### Etymology 2

From Arabic ـهُنَّ (-hunna) or ـهِنَّ (-hinna).

#### Alternative forms

* ـن

#### Suffix

ـهن • (-un, -hun, -wun, -yun) pl
* Enclitic form of هن (hinne) or هنن (hinnen)
* they, them, their

##### Usage notes

* The pronunciation in careful speech is “-hun”, but the “h” is in the process of being lost. Some speakers currently use “-un” after a consonant and “-hun” after a vowel or diphthong, and some others use “-yun” after vowels and diphthongs instead, but it's most-common for it to assimilate to the preceding sound:
** “-un” after a consonant
** “-hun” or “-un” after the vowel “a”
** “-wun” after the vowel “o”/“u”
** “-yun” after the vowel “e”/“i” and the diphthong “ay”
* It might also be spelled as ـن when it's pronounced as “-un”, “-wun” or “-yun”.
* The form with “h” attracts stress to the syllable before it automatically. The form with a dropped “h” still behaves this way for some speakers, but others allow the automatic stress rules to take precedent:
** كَتَبهُن (“he wrote them”) can only be pronounced katábhun, but كَتَبُن (“he wrote them”) can be either katábun or kátabun.
** جَرِّبهُن (“try them!”, masculine imperative) can be pronounced jarríbhun or jarríbun, and جَرّبُن (“try them!”) can be either jarríbun or járrbun.
* In Lebanon, some speakers (typically older, rural speakers) realize this enclitic pronoun as hinne in some cases.
** كِيفهن (“how are they?”), can be pronounced as kīf(h)un or kīfhinne.

##### See also

North Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns :
| | | Singular | Singular | Plural |
| | | after consonant | after vowel | Plural |
| 1st person | after verb | ـني (-ni) | ـني (-ni) | ـنا (-na) |
| 1st person | else | ـِي (-i) | ـي (-y) | ـنا (-na) |
| 2nd person | m | ـَك (-ak) | ـك (-k) | ـكُن (-kun) |
| 2nd person | f | ـِك (-ek) | ـكِ (-ki) | ـكُن (-kun) |
| 3rd person | m | ـُه (-o) | ـه (-h) | ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un) |
| 3rd person | f | ـها (-(h/w/y)a) | ـها (-(h/w/y)a) | | ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un) |

### References

* ↑ Peter Behnstedt (1991) “Noch einmal zum Problem der Personalpronomina hənne (3. Pl.), -kon (2. Pl.) und -hon (3. Pl.) in den syrisch-libanesischen Dialekten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, volume 141, number 2, pages 235-252
* ↑ Stephan Procházka (2014) “Feminine and Masculine Plural Pronouns in Modern Arabic Dialects”, in Tal Davidovich, Ablahad Lahdo, and Torkel Lindquist, editors, From Tur Abdin to Hadramawt: Semitic Studies Festschrift in Honour of Bo Isaksson on the occasion of his retirement, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pages 129–148

## South Levantine Arabic
### Etymology 1

Partially borrowed from an Aramaic pronoun cognate to Classical Syriac ܗܢܘܢ (hennon). Compare with North Levantine Arabic هن (hinne).
The lack of a second ـن (-n), unlike the Aramaic, is due to influence from the form of Arabic هُنَّ (hunna, “they”, feminine plural) and analogy with the final vowels of other third-person pronouns: هو (huwwe, “he”), هي (hiyye), and possibly the aforementioned هم (humme).
The spelling هن is in direct association with Standard Arabic هُنَّ (hunna), while the alternative spellings follow the word's pronunciation.

#### Alternative forms

* هنه

#### Pronoun

هنّ • (hinne) pl
* (Galilee) they
    Synonym: هم (humme)
    Enclitic form: ـهن (-hen)

### Etymology 2

From Arabic ـهُنَّ (-hunna) or ـهِنَّ (-hinna).

#### Suffix

ـهن • (-hen) pl
* Enclitic form of هن (hinne)
* (Galilee) they, them, their
    Synonym: ـهم (-hom)