Arabic Nouns of Interrogation
| Nouns of Interrogation أَسْمَاْءُ الاِسْتِفْهَاْمِ | ||
| What | maa | مَاْ |
| Who | man | مَنْ |
| When | mataa | مَتَىْ |
| ‘ayyaan(a) | أَيَّاْنَ | |
| Where | ‘ayn(a) | أَيْنَ |
| How | kayf(a) | كَيْفَ |
| How many | kam | كَمْ |
| How much | ||
| How | ‘annaa | أَنَّىْ |
| When | ||
| Where | ||
| Which (of) | ‘ayy(u) | أَيُّ |
Except for ‘ayy(u), all of the interrogative nouns are “built” words, which means that they do not show case inflection. They also do not change to suit different genders or numbers.
They are used in a similar way to the interrogative particles.