The Nisba is a common suffix to form adjectives of relation or pertinence. The suffix is -iyy-for masculine and -iyyah- for feminine gender (in other words, it is -iyy- and is inserted before the gender marker).

Click on the sound symbol to listen to the pronunciation of each sentence.

Translation	[feminine]	[masculine]	Sound
The teacher is Arabic
The student is American
They are Lebanese

A construction noun + nisba-adjective is often equivalent to nominal composition in Indo-European languages.

In formal Arabic, the shedda on the Nisba ending is clearly pronounced, but in spoken Arabic it is not normally pronounced in the masculine.