Lesson 31: The Feminine

Arabic has two genders, masculine and feminine, and every noun belongs to one of them. Living beings normally follow their sex: أَبٌ father is masculine, أُمٌّ mother is feminine. But gender in grammar is not the same as sex. Things without life are also masculine or feminine, and the language decides which: كِتَابٌ book is masculine, مَدِينَةٌ city is feminine, يَدٌ hand is feminine. Because an adjective must match its noun, you need to know the gender of every noun you learn. The good news is that three simple signs cover nearly all feminine nouns.

Rule 1: 1. Natural gender

Nouns for people and animals are masculine when they name a male and feminine when they name a female. Many such nouns come in pairs, the feminine being formed from the masculine by adding ة: طَبِيبٌ doctor (m.), طَبِيبَةٌ doctor (f.); مُعَلِّمٌ, مُعَلِّمَةٌ teacher. Others are different words: أَبٌ and أُمٌّ, أَخٌ and أُخْتٌ, اِبْنٌ and بِنْتٌ.

اَلطَّبِيبُ طَيِّبٌ وَالطَّبِيبَةُ طَيِّبَةٌ.
aṭ-ṭabību ṭayyibun wa-ṭ-ṭabībatu ṭayyibatun
The doctor (m.) is kind and the doctor (f.) is kind.
اِبْنٌ صَغِيرٌ وَبِنْتٌ صَغِيرَةٌ.
ibnun ṣaghīrun wa-bintun ṣaghīratun
A small son and a small daughter.
أَخِي قَوِيٌّ وَأُخْتِي قَوِيَّةٌ.
akhī qawiyyun wa-ukhtī qawiyyatun
My brother is strong and my sister is strong.
اَلْمُمَرِّضَةُ فِي غُرْفَةِ الْمَرِيضِ.
al-mumarriḍatu fī ghurfati-l-marīḍi
The nurse is in the patient's room.
أُمُّ الْوَلَدِ مُعَلِّمَةٌ.
ummu-l-waladi muʿallimatun
The boy's mother is a teacher.

Rule 2: 2. Feminine by the ending ة

A noun that ends in tāʾ marbūṭa ة is feminine, whether or not it names a living being. This is by far the largest group: مَدْرَسَةٌ school, غُرْفَةٌ room, مَدِينَةٌ city, حَدِيقَةٌ garden, سَاعَةٌ hour, watch.

مَدْرَسَةٌ كَبِيرَةٌ
madrasatun kabīratun
a big school
غُرْفَةٌ وَاسِعَةٌ
ghurfatun wāsiʿatun
a spacious room
مَدِينَةٌ جَمِيلَةٌ
madīnatun jamīlatun
a beautiful city
اَلسَّاعَةُ جَدِيدَةٌ.
as-sāʿatu jadīdatun
The watch is new.
اَلْحَدِيقَةُ وَاسِعَةٌ وَجَمِيلَةٌ.
al-ḥadīqatu wāsiʿatun wa-jamīlatun
The garden is spacious and beautiful.

Rule 3: 3. Feminine by meaning: lands and cities

The names of countries, lands and cities are feminine even when nothing in their form shows it: مِصْرُ Egypt, مَكَّةُ Mecca, اَلشَّامُ Syria, بَغْدَادُ Baghdad, دِمَشْقُ Damascus. Notice that most of these names take no tanwīn; they end in a single vowel, like a noun with the article.

مِصْرُ وَاسِعَةٌ.
miṣru wāsiʿatun
Egypt is vast.
مَكَّةُ مَدِينَةٌ جَمِيلَةٌ.
makkatu madīnatun jamīlatun
Mecca is a beautiful city.
اَلشَّامُ بَعِيدَةٌ.
ash-shāmu baʿīdatun
Syria is far away.
بَغْدَادُ كَبِيرَةٌ.
baghdādu kabīratun
Baghdad is big.
دِمَشْقُ قَدِيمَةٌ.
dimashqu qadīmatun
Damascus is old.

Rule 4: 4. Feminine by meaning: paired parts of the body

Parts of the body that come in pairs are feminine: يَدٌ hand, رِجْلٌ foot, leg, عَيْنٌ eye, أُذُنٌ ear, قَدَمٌ foot, كَتِفٌ shoulder. Parts that come singly are masculine: رَأْسٌ head, وَجْهٌ face, قَلْبٌ heart, فَمٌ mouth, أَنْفٌ nose.

يَدٌ قَوِيَّةٌ
yadun qawiyyatun
a strong hand
رِجْلٌ طَوِيلَةٌ
rijlun ṭawīlatun
a long leg
عَيْنٌ جَمِيلَةٌ
ʿaynun jamīlatun
a beautiful eye
أُذُنٌ صَغِيرَةٌ
udhunun ṣaghīratun
a small ear
اَلرَّأْسُ كَبِيرٌ وَالْقَلْبُ صَغِيرٌ.
ar-raʾsu kabīrun wa-l-qalbu ṣaghīrun
The head is big and the heart is small.
Single parts stay masculine.
وَجْهُ الْبِنْتِ جَمِيلٌ.
wajhu-l-binti jamīlun
The girl's face is beautiful.
The adjective agrees with وَجْهٌ, not with بِنْتٌ.

Rule 5: 5. Agreement of the adjective and the verb

A feminine noun takes a feminine adjective, formed from the masculine by adding ة: كَبِيرٌ becomes كَبِيرَةٌ. This holds whether the adjective describes the noun directly (يَدٌ قَوِيَّةٌ a strong hand, اَلْيَدُ الْقَوِيَّةُ the strong hand) or is the predicate of the sentence (اَلْيَدُ قَوِيَّةٌ the hand is strong). The verb agrees too: a feminine subject takes the ـَتْ of the perfect and the تَـ of the imperfect that you learned for she.

اَلْبِنْتُ مَرِيضَةٌ.
al-bintu marīḍatun
The girl is ill.
هِيَ طَبِيبَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ.
hiya ṭabībatun ṭayyibatun
She is a kind doctor.
اَلشَّمْسُ حَارَّةٌ الْيَوْمَ.
ash-shamsu ḥārratuni-l-yawma
The sun is hot today.
غَسَلَتْ أُخْتِي وَجْهَهَا وَيَدَهَا.
ghasalat ukhtī wajhahā wa-yadahā
My sister washed her face and her hand.
اَلْمُمَرِّضَةُ تَغْسِلُ رَأْسَ الْمَرِيضِ.
al-mumarriḍatu taghsilu raʾsa-l-marīḍi
The nurse is washing the patient's head.
مَرِضَتِ الْبِنْتُ وَمَا ذَهَبَتْ إِلَى الْمَدْرَسَةِ.
mariḍati-l-bintu wa-mā dhahabat ila-l-madrasati
The girl fell ill and did not go to school.

Masculine and feminine adjectives

The feminine adds ة to the masculine; the tanwīn and case vowel sit on the ة.
Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
كَبِيرٌ	كَبِيرَةٌ	big
صَغِيرٌ	صَغِيرَةٌ	small
جَدِيدٌ	جَدِيدَةٌ	new
قَدِيمٌ	قَدِيمَةٌ	old
مَرِيضٌ	مَرِيضَةٌ	ill
صَحِيحٌ	صَحِيحَةٌ	healthy
قَوِيٌّ	قَوِيَّةٌ	strong
ضَعِيفٌ	ضَعِيفَةٌ	weak
حَارٌّ	حَارَّةٌ	hot
طَيِّبٌ	طَيِّبَةٌ	good, kind

Rule 6: 6. The demonstratives هٰذِهِ and تِلْكَ

You know هٰذَا this and ذٰلِكَ that for masculine nouns. Their feminine partners are هٰذِهِ this and تِلْكَ that. They work exactly like the masculine forms: followed by a noun with the article they point to it (هٰذِهِ الْيَدُ this hand), followed by an indefinite noun they make a whole sentence (هٰذِهِ يَدٌ this is a hand).

هٰذِهِ طَبِيبَةٌ.
hādhihi ṭabībatun
This is a doctor (f.).
هٰذِهِ الْيَدُ قَوِيَّةٌ وَتِلْكَ الْيَدُ ضَعِيفَةٌ.
hādhihi-l-yadu qawiyyatun wa-tilka-l-yadu ḍaʿīfatun
This hand is strong and that hand is weak.
تِلْكَ الْمَدْرَسَةُ بَعِيدَةٌ.
tilka-l-madrasatu baʿīdatun
That school is far away.
هٰذِهِ الْبِنْتُ مَرِيضَةٌ وَذٰلِكَ الْوَلَدُ صَحِيحٌ.
hādhihi-l-bintu marīḍatun wa-dhālika-l-waladu ṣaḥīḥun
This girl is ill and that boy is healthy.
أَيْنَ دَوَاءُ هٰذِهِ الْمَرِيضَةِ؟
ayna dawāʾu hādhihi-l-marīḍati
Where is this patient's (f.) medicine?
هٰذِهِ never changes its form, whatever the case of its noun.

The four demonstratives

The demonstrative agrees in gender with its noun.
	Masculine	Feminine
this	هٰذَا	هٰذِهِ
that	ذٰلِكَ	تِلْكَ
this boy / girl	هٰذَا الْوَلَدُ	هٰذِهِ الْبِنْتُ
that house / room	ذٰلِكَ الْبَيْتُ	تِلْكَ الْغُرْفَةُ

Masculine and feminine side by side

هٰذَا الْوَلَدُ مَرِيضٌ.

hādha-l-waladu marīḍun

This boy is ill.

هٰذِهِ الْبِنْتُ مَرِيضَةٌ.

hādhihi-l-bintu marīḍatun

This girl is ill.

Three words change together: the demonstrative, the noun and the adjective. Once you know the gender of the noun, everything else follows.

The Feminine

Step 1 of 5: Learn

Rule 1: 1. Natural gender

Rule 2: 2. Feminine by the ending ة

Rule 3: 3. Feminine by meaning: lands and cities

Rule 4: 4. Feminine by meaning: paired parts of the body

Rule 5: 5. Agreement of the adjective and the verb

Masculine and feminine adjectives

Rule 6: 6. The demonstratives هٰذِهِ and تِلْكَ

The four demonstratives

Masculine and feminine side by side

Vocabulary

Step 2 of 5: Read

At the doctor's

Notes

Comprehension

In the Quran

Step 3 of 5: Practice

Exercises

Step 4 of 5: Quiz

Translate from Arabic to English

Translate from English to Arabic

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

How many questions would you like?

Step 5 of 5: Finish