Arabic/Masculine and feminine

Arabic words are either masculine or feminine. For example: ‫رﺟﻞ‬ (ra-jul) which means man is
masculine. ‫( اﻣﺮأة‬im-ra-ah) which means woman is feminine. These two examples are very logical. But
just like many other languages, everyday objects have their own gender as well. For example the word for
ear, must be either masculine or feminine.
The most common way to tell a masculine word from a feminine word is the ‫ة‬ (taa' mar-boo-Tah). If a
word ends in a ‫( ة‬h/t) then it is most likely feminine. To make a masculine word feminine usually a ‫( ة‬h/t)
is added to the end of the word.
For example:

‫ﻛﻠﺐ‬
kalb
kalb
dog

‫ﻛﻠﺒﺔ‬
kalba/kalbah
kal-ba
female dog, she-dog

In Arabic nouns, as well as adjectives, have to agree in gender, as well as number.

For example:

‫اﻟﻮﻟﺪ ﻛﺒـﻴـﺮ‬
al_waladu kabeer(un)
al-wa-la-du-ka-beer
The boy is big

‫اﻟﺒﻨﺖ ﻛﺒﻴـﺮة‬
al_bint kabeerah(-tun)
al-bint-ka-bee-rah
The girl is big.

Did you notice that we called the girl "big" with ‫( ﻛﺒﻴﺮة‬ka-bee-rah) while when we want to say the boy is
big we said ‫(ﻛﺒﻴﺮ‬ka-beer). This is generally how it works for singular nouns.

‫اﻟﻮﻟﺪ ﺻﻐﻴﺮ‬
al_waladu Sagheer(un)
al-wa-la-du-Sa-gheer
The boy is small

‫اﻟﺒﻨﺖ ﺻﻐﻴﺮة‬
al_bintu Sagheerah(-tun)
al-bin-tu-Sa-ghee-rah
The girl is small.

‫اﻟﻮﻟﺪ ﻗﺼﻴﺮ واﻟﺒﻨﺖ ﻃﻮﻳﻠﺔ‬

al_waladu qaSeer wa al_bintu Taweelah(-tun)
al-wa-la-du—qa-Seer—wal-bin-tu—Ta-wee-lah
The boy is short, and the girl is tall.

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This page was last edited on 25 April 2019, at 00:31.

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