Lesson 4.1 (page 1 of 2)

Gender Agreement: Feminine and Masculine

Nouns and adjectives in Arabic always carry gender, either , masculine or , feminine.

 

Two Categories of Nouns:
• Arabic distinguishes between two categories of nouns: those refer to human beings, and those that refer to non-humans.
•  The gender of human nouns, such as including proper nouns, such as , follow the gender of the person.
•  There is no neutral, non-gendered word for “ it ” in Arabic; you must use depending on the gender of the noun you are referring to.
•  The gender of each word must be learned, but the form of the word itself usually indicates whether it is . The letter always indicates feminine gender.

Important Note: It is important to pay attention to the gender of nouns because the gender of adjectives, pronouns, and verbs that refers to them must agree , whether in phrases, such , in which both the noun and the adjectives are , or in sentences, such as , in which both are .