-u / -ha

Him and Her as Attached Objects

Level 3

For a single object, masculine -u follows a consonant and -h follows a vowel; feminine uses -ha.

How It Works

Third-person singular direct objects refer to people or things. Masculine -u/-h means ‘him’ or ‘it’; feminine -ha means ‘her’ or ‘it’. Inanimate reference follows grammatical gender: a book is masculine and a bag feminine. A feminine subject can take a masculine object: Marija xtratu, ‘Maria bought it’.

In the single-object pattern, masculine -u follows a consonant and -h follows a vowel. Use the actual suffixed stem: nesa becomes nsieh, ‘he forgot him’. Compare xtratu and xtratha: the subject remains feminine while object gender changes. Before an attached indirect object, the corresponding cluster forms are -hu- and -hie-. Preserve written h even where pronunciation reduces it.

Examples (3)

  1. Il-ktieb? Marija xtratu llum.

    The book? Maria bought it today.

    A feminine subject takes a masculine object.

  2. Il-borża? Pawlu xtraha lbieraħ.

    The bag? Paul bought it yesterday.

    -ha refers to the feminine bag.

  3. Ir-rapport? Qrah qabel il-laqgħa.

    The report? He read it before the meeting.

    -h follows the vowel-final reading stem.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-u / -haLevel 3Him and Her as Attached Objects

Learn This First

Develop singular third-person objects for people and things. Choose object gender independently of subject gender, apply -u/-h to the actual suffixed host, and introduce the distinct combining shapes used before recipients.