LinguaEvery noun has a gender
Arabic nouns are masculine or feminine. Most feminines end in ة (tāʾ marbūṭa): طَالِب → طَالِبَة (a woman student), صَدِيق → صَدِيقَة (a woman friend). At the end of a sentence ة is said -a: ṭāliba. A few nouns are feminine without it: شَمْس, أُمّ, دَار.
| Masculine | Feminine | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| طَالِب | طَالِبَة | student |
| طَبِيب | طَبِيبَة | doctor |
| مُهَنْدِس | مُهَنْدِسَة | engineer |
| صَدِيق | صَدِيقَة | friend |
| طَوِيل | طَوِيلَة | tall, long |
| سَعِيد | سَعِيدَة | happy |
The adjective follows the gender of what it describes: هُوَ طَوِيلٌ – هِيَ طَوِيلَةٌ. With a feminine noun without ة, the adjective still takes it: الشَّمْسُ جَمِيلَةٌ (the sun is beautiful).
مُوسَى طَوِيلٌ، وَهُدَى قَصِيرَةٌ.Musa is tall, and Huda is short.
لَيْلَى صَدِيقَةٌ، وَهِيَ سَعِيدَةٌ.Layla is a friend, and she is happy.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| طَالِبَة | student (a woman) | هُدَى طَالِبَةٌ. Huda is a student. |
| مُدَرِّسَة | teacher (a woman) | مُدَرِّسَةٌ نَشِيطَةٌ an energetic woman teacher |
| طَبِيبَة | doctor (a woman) | أُمِّي طَبِيبَةٌ. My mother is a doctor. |
| مُهَنْدِسَة | engineer (a woman) | لَيْلَى مُهَنْدِسَةٌ. Layla is an engineer. |
| صَدِيق | friend (a man) | كَرِيمٌ صَدِيقٌ. Karim is a friend. |
| صَدِيقَة | friend (a woman) | أَمَلُ صَدِيقَةٌ. Amal is a friend. |
| طَوِيل | tall; long | سَمِيرٌ طَوِيلٌ. Samir is tall. |
| قَصِير | short | الدَّرْسُ قَصِيرٌ. The lesson is short. |
| جَدِيد | new | ثَوْب جَدِيد a new robe |
| جَمِيل | beautiful, nice | الْقَمَرُ جَمِيلٌ. The moon is beautiful. |
| سَعِيد | happy | أَنَا سَعِيدٌ. I am happy. |
| مَشْغُول | busy | الطَّبِيبُ مَشْغُولٌ. The doctor is busy. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 4
- fill the gap: 2
- match the pairs: 1
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which word means “student (a woman)”?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.