Basic Charts

Basic Arabic - The Nouns and Its Forms

Indefinite vs Definite:

An indefinite noun is called نَكِرَة nakirah. It does not refer to a specific object / thing. In Modern Standard Arabic, it is marked by tanween. In other words, tanween that is added to the end of singular nouns marks indefiniteness (NB: in the list below, tanween is not added). There are three ways to change it to a definite noun, i.e. مَعْرِفَة ma‘rifah. The most common way of these is by adding the definite article ال to the beginning of the indefinite, as illustrated in the below:

Indefinite نَكِرَة nakirah		Definite مَعْرِفَة ma‘rifah
كِتَاب kitaab	a book	الكِتَاب al-kitaab	the book
خَرِيْطَة khariiTah	a map	الخَرِيْطَة al-khariiTah	the map
كُرْسِي kursii	a chair	الكُرْسِي al-kursii	the chair
جِدَار jidaar	a wall	الجِدَار al-jidaar	the wall
بَاب baab	a door	البَاب al-baab	the door
صَدِيْق Sadiiq	a friend	الصَّدِيْق aS-Sadiiq	the friend
طَاوِلَة Taawilah	a table	الطَّاوِلَة aT-Taawilah	the table
نَافِذَة naafidhah	a window	النَّافِذَة an-naafidhah	the window
شَنْطَة shanTah	a bag	الشَّنْطَة ash-shanTah	the bag
دَفْتَر daftar	a notebook	الدَّفْتَر ad-daftar	the notebook

Moon Letters vs. Sun Letters:

In the list of examples above, the definite article ال is pronounced in the first five examples, but not in the others. When ال is followed by the moon letters, it is clearly pronounced; if it is followed the sun letters, it is assimilated, and the sun letters becomes a geminate (i.e. doubled).

The cause of the assimilation is related to the position from which the sound (that represents the letter) is produced. That is, if the sound is produced from the proximity of the laam /l/, the assimilation is mandatory due to sharing many features with the laam /l/. Letters that are produced from this area are ت ، ث ، د ، ذ ، ر ، ز ، س ، ش ، ص ، ض ، ط ، ظ ، ل ، ن. The remaining letters are produced from areas in the oral cavity that are far from the area of the laam. These letters are أ ، ب ، ج ، ح ، خ ، ع ، غ ، ف ، ق ، ك ، م ، و ، هـ ، ي.

The reason for calling them sun letters and moon letters is the sharp contrast between these two one-of-a-kind heavenly objects. Sun in Arabic is شَمْس and moon is قَمَر. When adding the ال to the beginning, they become الشَّمْس (pronounced as اَشَّمْس) and القَمَر (no change in pronunciation). Therefore, the assimilation of ل to ش in الشَّمْس is taken as a representation of the sounds to which the ل gets assimilated, hence called sun letters الحُرُوف الشَّمْسِيَّة. Similarly, the non-assimilation of ل to ق is taken as a representation of the sounds that block the assimilation of ل, so they are called moon letters الحُرُوف القَمَرِيَّة.  The following examples illustrate further.

Indefinite	Definite	Pronunciation
تَمْر dates (fruit)	التَّمْر	اَتَّمْر at-tmr
كَلْب dog	الكَلْب	الكَلْب al-kalb
تِلِفُون telephone	التِّلِفُون	اَتِّلِفُون at-tilifuun
قَلَم pen	القَلَم	القَلَم al-qalam
زَيْتُون olive	الزَّيْتُون	اَزَّيْتُون az-zayytuun
خُبْز bread	الخُبْز	الخُبْز al-khubz
سَكِّيْن knife	السَّكِيْن	اَسَّكِيْن as-sakkiin
وَرْدَة flower	الوَرْدَة	الوَرْدَة al-wardah
صَبَاح morning	الصَّبَاح	اَصَّبَاح aS-SabaaH
بَيْت house	البَيْت	البَيْت al-bayt

Singular, Dual, and Plural:

A singular مُفْرَد mufrah noun refers to one person or entity; a dual مُثَنَّى muthanna refers to two; and a plural جَمْع jam‘ refers to three or more. The dual is derived from the singular by adding ـان regardless of the type of singular (i.e. animate, inanimate, masculine, or feminine). The plural is a little more complicated. There are two types of it: sound plural الجَمْع السَّالِم al-jam‘ as-saalim and broken plural جَمْع التَّكْسِير jam‘ at-taksiir. The sound plural is regular and is derived from the singular by adding ـون in the case of the masculine, and ـات in the case of the feminine, as in the list below. The broken plural is irregular. It has different forms and multiple rules; therefore, it is not explained here.

Singular		Dual	Plural
مُدَرِّس mudarris	a teacher	مُدَرِّسَان ~aan	مُدَرِّسُون ~uun
أُسْتَاذَة ’ustaadhah	a female teacher	أُسْتَاذَتَان	أُسْتَاذَات
جَامِعَة jaami‘ah	a university	جَامِعَتَان ~taan	جَامِعَات ~aat
سَائِق saa’iq	a driver	سَائِقَان	سَائِقُون
طَبِيْبَة Tabiibah	a female doctor	طَبِيْبَتَان	طَبِيْبَات
مُبَرْمِج mubarmij	a programmer	مُبَرْمِجَان	مُبَرْمِجُون
وَزِيْرَة waziirah	a female minister	وَزِيْرَتَان	وَزِيْرَات
لَاعِب laa‘ib	a player	لَاعِبَان	لَاعِبُون
طَالِبَة Taalibah	a female student	طَالِبَتَان	طَالِبَات
مُهَنْدِس muhandis	an engineer	مُهَنْدِسَان	مُهَنْدِسُون

When changing the feminine nouns to dual, the ـة, which is the feminine marker / suffix, is changed to a regular ت before the dual suffix, hence طَالِبَة becomes طَالِبَتَان. In the plural, it (the ـة) is dropped before adding the plural suffix, so طَالِبَة becomes طَالِبَات.

Masculine vs. Feminine:

In Arabic, most feminine nouns that refer to human are derived from masculine nouns by adding the feminine marker / suffix. ـة , which is called التَّاء المَرْبُوطَة at-taa’ al-marbuuTah, is the feminine marker, as in the following list:

Masculine		Feminine
طَالِب Taalib	a student	طَالِبَة
طَبِيْب Tabiib	a doctor / physician	طَبِيْبَة
وَزِيْر waziir	a minister	وَزِيْرَة
كَاتِب kaatib	a writer	كَاتِبَة
فَنَّان fannaan	an artiste	فَنَّانَة
مُذِيْع mudhii‘	a newsreader	مُذِيْعَة
خَبِيْر khabiir	an expert	خَبِيْرَة
مُمَثِّل mumaththil	an actor	مُمَثِّلَة

Generally, nouns that end with ـة are considered feminine nouns even if they refer to entities other than human, as in these examples:

سَيَّارَة sayyaarah	a car
غُرْفَة ghurfah	a room
شَقَّة shaqqah	an apartment
قِطَّة qiTTah	a cat
كُلِّيَّة kulliyyah	a college
سَاعَة saa‘ah	a watch
شَجَرَة shajarah	a tree
مَكْتَبَة maktabah	a library

Basic Arabic Nouns link

Click the link below

https://app2brain.com/learn-languages/arabic/basic-nouns/