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Pronouns, gender and number 3 / 9
Demonstrative and address pronoun fused: ذَٰلِكُمْ, تِلْكُمْ, تِلْكُمَا
The demonstrative of distance (ذَٰلِكَ, تِلْكَ) can agree, through its suffix, with the people being addressed: ذَٰلِكُمْ ("that, O you [pl.]"), تِلْكُمْ (feminine, to several), تِلْكُمَا (feminine, to two). The gender of the demonstrative follows the thing pointed at; the suffix follows the addressees.
The suffix كَ of ذَٰلِكَ is not an object pronoun: it is a mark of address, telling to whom the thing is being shown. The corpus varies it with the number of addressees:
- la forme ذَٰلِكُمْ, 47 times, when several are addressed: « ذَٰلِكُمْ أَزْكَىٰ لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ », "That is more pure for you, and cleaner" (2:232);
- the form تِلْكُمْ, once, a feminine thing shown to several: « أَن تِلْكُمُ ٱلْجَنَّةُ », "This is the Garden" (7:43);
- the form تِلْكُمَا, once, a feminine thing shown to two: Adam and his wife, « أَلَمْ أَنْهَكُمَا عَن تِلْكُمَا ٱلشَّجَرَةِ », "Did I not forbid you this tree?" (7:22).
The device is systematic: the base varies with the thing (ذا / تي), the suffix with the addressees (كَ / كُمْ / كُمَا). Translation has no equivalent; it renders the demonstrative and lets the context say who is addressed ("you two" in 7:22).
In the text
أَلَمْ أَنْهَكُمَا عَن تِلْكُمَا ٱلشَّجَرَةِ“Did I not forbid you this tree”
Here, تِلْكُمَا: the tree (feminine) shown to two.
أَن تِلْكُمُ ٱلْجَنَّةُ“This is the Garden”
Here, تِلْكُمْ: the Garden (feminine) shown to several.
ذَٰلِكُمْ أَزْكَىٰ لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ“That is more pure for you, and cleaner.”
Here, ذَٰلِكُمْ, the most frequent form (47 occurrences).