Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic 2.2. Gender

Each noun and adjective in Arabic has a gender. A noun or adjective in Arabic can have one of two genders: مُـذَكَّــر (mudhakkar) ‘masculine’ or مُـؤَنَّـث (mu’annath) ‘feminine.’ There is no neuter gender.

Gender Rules in Arabic

The adjective follows the noun it describes in gender and number. Luckily, some general rules can help us determine the gender of a noun or adjective in Arabic. However, remember that these are general rules, and there are some exceptions.

Of course, there will be some obvious masculine and feminine nouns. For instance, we can deduce that وَلَـــد (walad) ‘boy,’ زَلَــمِــة (zalameh) ‘man,’ and أَمِــيْـــر (’amīr) ‘prince’ are masculine, regardless of any rules. Similarly, words that refer to a female person are feminine, e.g., إِمّ (’imm) ‘mother,’ حَـامِــل (ḥāmil) ‘pregnant,’ أُخْـــت (’ukht) ‘sister,’ بِـنْـــت (bint) ‘girl,’ etc.

Words that are Likely Feminine in Arabic

In Arabic, a noun or adjective is likely feminine if it falls under one of the following categories:

1. Nouns ending with ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ are feminine in most cases. For example:

There are a few exceptions to this rule:

• Some male names, such as أُســامَــة (’usāmah), خَـلـيـفَـة (khalīfah), عُـبَـيْـدَة (‘ubaydah), and طَـلْـحَـة (ṭalḥah).
• Some exaggeration words, such as رَحَّـالِـة (raḥḥāleh) ‘frequent traveler,’ نـابِـغَـة (nābighah) ‘genius,’ and عَـلَّامِــة (‘allāmeh) ‘very knowledgeable,’ which can be masculine or feminine.

2. Colors and deformities ending with اء (ā’) are likely feminine. Here are some examples of colors in Arabic:

Some Palestinians, especially in villages and among older generations, pronounce the masculine colors with an initial إِ (’i), e.g., إِخْــضَـر (’ikh ḍar), إِبْــيَــض (’ibyaḍ), etc.

Most other nouns and adjectives ending with ا (’alif) are masculine, such as: دَوَا (dawa) ‘medication,’ هَــوَا (hawa) ‘air,’ and عَــشَــا (‘asha) ‘dinner.’

There are a few feminine words ending with ا (’alif) that are not colors or deformities, e.g., سَــمَــا (sama) ‘sky’ and صَــحْــرَا (ṣaḥra) ‘desert.’

3. Most names of cities and countries are feminine. For example:

The following seven Arab countries are exceptions to the rule and are masculine:

4. Many nouns that are related to nature are feminine, such as:

However, there are exceptions to this rule like:

5. Most body parts that come in pairs are feminine, whereas most other body parts are masculine. Here are some examples:

Some exceptions include:

Even though these rules are quite helpful in guiding you most of the time, it is not possible to encompass all nouns and adjectives. There are a few feminine nouns that do not fall under any of the five categories, such as:

Use of ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ as a Feminine Marker

Finally, many nouns and adjectives can be made feminine by adding a ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ to the end of the masculine form. For example:

Next: Personal Pronouns

Back to: The Definite Article الـ (il)

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