In Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic, an adjective agrees in gender and number with the noun it describes, except for dual nouns, which are described by adjectives in plural form.
Table of Contents
Adjective Patterns in Arabic
Some of the common adjective patterns in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic are:
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI |
| فَــعِــيْــل fa‘īl | فْــعِــيْــل f ‘īl | فِــعِــل † fi‘il | فَــعِــل fa‘il | فَــعَــل fa‘a l | فَــعِّــل fa‘‘il |
| VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII |
| فَــعْــل * fa‘ l | فُــعْــل fu‘ l | فَــعْــلَان fa‘ lān | فَــعَّــال fa‘‘āl | فَــعُــوْل fa‘ūl | أَفْــعَــل # ’af ‘al |
† The feminine form of فِــعِــل (fi‘il) often follows the pattern فِــعْــلِــة (fi‘ leh).
* The adjective pattern فَــعْــل (fa‘ l) is often pronounced فَــعِــل (fa‘il) in the masculine and فَــعْــلِــة (fa‘ leh) in the feminine by many speakers.
# The feminine form of أَفْــعَــل (’af‘al) often follows the pattern فَــعْــلَا (fa‘ la).
Note that the above patterns do not correspond to the past and present verb forms discussed earlier.
Here are some examples that follow these different adjective patterns:
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI |
| قَـــصِــيْـــر qaṣīr short | زْغِـــيْـــر zghīr small | خِـــشِـــن khishin rough | نَـــشِـــط nashiṭ active | غَـــلَـــط ghalaṭ wrong | طَـــيِّـــب ṭayyib tasty |
| غَـــرِيْــب gharīb strange | مْــنِــيْــح mnīḥ good | وِسِــــخ wisikh dirty | مَــــرِن marin flexible | وَسَـــط wasaṭ middle | ضَـــيِّـــق ḍayyiq tight |
| VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII |
| سَــهْــل sah(i)l easy | حُـــرّ ḥurr free | نَــعْــســان na‘sān sleepy | كَـــذَّاب kadhdhāb liar | كَــسُــوْل kasūl lazy | أَسْـــوَد ’aswad black |
| ضَــخْــم ḍakh(i)m huge | مُـــرّ murr bitter | عَــطْــشــان ‘aṭshān thirsty | فَـــعَّـــال fa‘‘āl effective | حَــسُــوْد ḥasūd envious | أَخْــضَــر ’akhḍar green |
Patterns I and II, that is, فَــعِــيْــل (fa‘īl) and فْــعِــيْــل (f‘īl), are the most common adjective patterns in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic.
In addition to the above twelve patterns, we will learn in Level V, Lessons 3 and 4 about active participles and passive participles, which can also function as adjectives.
The most common pattern of an active participle is فَــاعِــل (fā‘il). For instance, from the verb جِـــهِـــز (jihiz) ‘he got ready,’ we derive the active participle جَـــاهِـــز (jāhiz) ‘ready.’
Similarly, the most common pattern of a passive participle is مَـفْـعُـوْل (maf‘ūl). For example, from the verb كَـتَـب (katab) ‘he wrote,’ we derive the passive participle مَـكْـتُـوْب (maktūb) ‘written.’
Relative Adjectives
Relative adjectives in Arabic are formed by adding the masculine suffix ـيْ (-i) or the feminine suffix ــيِّــة (-iyyeh) to the noun. This is similar to the use of the suffix ‘-al’ in ‘central,’ ‘-ic’ in ‘Islamic,’ or ‘-i’ in ‘Iraqi’ in English.
Here are some examples of relative adjectives:
| Noun | Relative Adjective (m) | Relative Adjective (f) |
| شَــمْــس shams sun | شَــمْــسِــيْ shamsi solar (m) | شَــمْــسِـــيِّــة shamsiyyeh solar (f) |
| تَــارِيْــخ tārīkh history | تَــارِيْــخِــيْ tārīkhi historical (m) | تــاريــخـــيِّــة tārīkhiyyeh historical (f) |
| شَــهْــر shahr month | شَــهْــرِيْ shahri monthly (m) | شَــهْــرِيِّــة shahriyyeh monthly (f) |
| ذَهَــب dhahab gold | ذَهَــبِــيْ dhahabi golden (m) | ذَهَــبِـــيِّــة dhahabiyyeh golden (f) |
If the noun ends with a ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t,’ it is dropped before adding the suffix ــي (-i) or ــيِّــة (-iyyah). For example:
| Noun | Relative Adjective (m) | Relative Adjective (f) |
| سِــيَــاسِــة siyāseh policy, politics | سِــيَــاسِــيْ siyāsi political, politician (m) | سِــيَــاسِــيِّــة siyāsiyyeh political, politician (f) |
| ثَــقَــافِــة thaqāfeh culture | ثَــقَــافِــيْ thaqāfi cultural (m) | ثَــقَــافِـــيِّــة thaqāfiyyeh cultural (f) |
The suffixes ــيْ (-i) and ــيِّــة (-iyyeh) are often used with nationalities. For example:
| Country | Nationality (m) | Nationality (f) |
| اِلْــجَـــزَائِـــر il-jazā’ir Algeria | جَــزائِــرِيْ jazā’iri Algerian (m) | جَــزائِــرِيِّــة jazā’iriyyeh Algerian (f) |
| مَــصْــر maṣ(i)r Egypt | مَــصْــرِيْ maṣri Egyptian (m) | مَــصْــرِيِّــة maṣriyyeh Egyptian (f) |
| لِــبْــنَــان libnān Lebanon | لِــبْــنَــانِــيْ libnāni Lebanese (m) | لِــبْــنَــانِــيِّــة libnāniyyeh Lebanese (f) |
| اِلْــيَــمَــن il-yaman Yemen | يَــمَــنِــيْ yamani Yemeni (m) | يَــمَــنِــيِّــة yamaniyyeh Yemeni (f) |
A less-common way to form relative adjectives—which is likely derived from Aramaic and does not exist in MSA—is by adding the masculine suffix ــــانِـــيْ (-āni) or the feminine suffix ـَـــانِـــيِّـــة (-āniyyeh) to the noun.
There are a few words that follow this form, most of them refer to colors. For example:
| Noun | Relative Adjective (m) | Relative Adjective (f) |
| أَحْـــمَــر ’aḥmar red | أَحْـــمَــرَانِـــيْ ’aḥmarāni reddish (m) | أَحْـــمَــرَانِــيِّــة ’aḥmarāniyyeh reddish (f) |
| أَخْـــضَــر ’akhḍar green | أَخْـــضَــرَانِـــيْ ’akhḍarāni greenish (m) | أَخْـــضَــرَانِــيِّــة ’akhḍarāniyyeh greenish (f) |
| أَصْـــفَــر ’aṣfar yellow | أَصْـــفَــرَانِـــيْ ’aṣfarāni yellowish (m) | أَصْـــفَــرَانِــيِّــة ’aṣfarāniyyeh yellowish (f) |
| أَبْـــيَـــض ’abyaḍ white | أَبْـــيَـــضَــانِـــيْ ’abyaḍāni whitish (m) | أَبْـــيَـــضَــانِــيِّــة ’abyaḍāniyyeh whitish (f) |
| أَسْـــمَــر ’asmar dark | أَسْـــمَــرَانِـــيْ ’asmarāni darkish (m) | أَسْـــمَــرَانِــيِّــة ’asmarāniyyeh darkish (f) |
| جُـــوَّا juwwa inside | جُـــوَّانِـــيْ juwwāni inner (m) | جُـــوَّانِــيِّــة juwwāniyyeh inner (f) |
| بَــــرَّا barra outside | بَــــرَّانِـــيْ ’aḥmarāni outsider (m) | بَــــرَّانِــيِّــة ’aḥmarāniyyeh outsider (f) |
| حَــــقّ ḥaqq truth | حَــــقَّـــانِـــيْ haqqāni just/fair (m) | حَــــقَّـــانِــيِّــة ḥaqqāniyyeh just/fair (f) |
Other lessons in Level IV: