من
man/man/Moroccan Arabic, genitive
To say who in Arabic, use من (man), the question word for asking about a person. If unsure, use من. Wiktionary also lists مَن (man) and مين (mīn).
Meaning: who? (interrogative pronoun) (pron)
Ways to say it
| Arabic | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| من | man | /man/ | Moroccan Arabic, genitive |
| مَن | man | ||
| مين | mīn | Egyptian Arabic | |
| منو | minu | Gulf Arabic |
مَن asks who someone is, as in asking who a person's father is. It also works as a relative pronoun meaning the one who.
Which one should you use?
Written without vowel marks, من can also be the preposition from, pronounced min. The fully vowelled مَن makes clear you mean who.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
مين (mīn) is the informal spoken form, while مَن is the formal one.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Egyptian Arabic people say مين. In Gulf Arabic the usual word is منو (minu).
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
مَن does not change for gender or number, so the same word asks about a man, a woman or a group.
How do you pronounce it?
It is pronounced /man/, rhyming with the English word man said with a short open a.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not confuse مَن with the preposition from, which is spelled the same without vowel marks. Context tells them apart.
Did you know?
- In certain dialects, the word for 'who' is actually a direct borrowing from the English word 'Maine'.
Examples in context
- هل تعرف من هي؟Do you know who she is?من introduces the question who she is inside the sentence.Tatoeba #407068 by saeb, translation #308085 by CK
- من هو أب سامي؟Who is Sami's father?من opens a direct question about Sami's father.Tatoeba #6325872 by OsoHombre, translation #6324409 by OsoHombre
- هو من فعل هذا.He's the one who did this.Here من is a relative pronoun meaning the one who.Tatoeba #12268573 by dididodo, translation #12270500 by Miktsoanit
- 676 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Nour and Ahmed are looking at a photo on a phone.
- نور Nourمن هاد؟man had?Who is this?
- أحمد Ahmedهاد هو صاحبي.had huwa sahbi.This is my friend.
- نور Nourمن هاد اللي معاه؟man had elli m'ah?Who is the one with him?
- أحمد Ahmedهاديك هي أختو.hadik hiya khto.That is his sister.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “who” translations and entries من, مين, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries من, مين, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
