Noun-Adjective Agreement in Arabic

Noun-adjective phrase explained [click here]

What is a phrase?

A phrase is a part of a sentence that can never, ever stand alone.

This modules deals with noun-adjective phrases.

Nouns are either masculine or feminine... while adjectives exist in both masculine and feminine form depending on the noun they modify.

Think of adjectives as bipolar! Whatever the noun is the adjective decides to become. Adjectives can also be thought of as sheep!

For instance, the noun “badla" (suit) is feminine and will always be feminine.

On the other hand both adjectives “gidiid” (masculine) and “gidiida” (feminine) are on call depending on the noun they modify.

In this case because the noun “badla" is feminine the feminine adjective “gidiida” is used ( “a” is the feminine marker)!

If the noun is masculine the adjective is masculine and if the noun is feminine the adjective is feminine. This is noun-adjective agreement.

In this module you will also discover that agreement occurs for noun-adjective phrases not only in gender but also definiteness and count.

Here is a case of gender agreement in a noun-adjective phrase:

بَدْلـَةٌ جَديدَةٌ
بَدْلـَةْ جِديدَةْ

1 badla gidiida – is a phrase meaning “a new suit”

Take note [click here]

Take note...

1- Adjectives follow their nouns in word order. Like sheep!

NOUN ADJECTIVE NOUN-ADJECTIVE PHRASE

2- Adjectives copy the gender of the noun they follow.

Therefore, if the noun is masculine then the adjective is masculine AND if the noun is feminine then the adjective is feminine.

بِنْتٌ كَبيرَةٌ
بِنْتٌ كَبيرَةٌ
2 bint kibiira – a big girl
Both noun & adjective are feminine

وَلَدٌ كَبيرٌ
وَلَدْ كِبيرْ
3 walad kibiir – a big boy
Both noun & adjective are masculine

3- Adjectives agree with nouns in definiteness.

If the noun is definite the adjective is definite AND if the noun is indefinite the adjective is indefinite. It's that simple.

بِنْتٌ كَبيرَةٌ
بِنْتْ كِبيرَة
4 bint kibiira – a big girl
Both noun & adjective are indefinite

اَلْبِنْتُ الْكَبيرَةُ
اِلْـبِنْتْ الـكِّبيرَةْ

5 il bint il kibiira – the big girl
Both noun & adjective are definite

4- Adjectives agree with nouns in count.

If the noun is singular the adjective is singular AND if the noun is plural the adjective is plural.

بِنْتٌ كَبيرَةٌ
بِنْتْ كِبيرَةْ
6 bint kibiira – a big girl
Both noun & adjective are singular

بَناتٌ كَبيراتٌ
بَناتْ كُبارْ
7 banaat kubaar – the big girls
Both noun & adjective are plural

5- Here is a special rule that is a bit of a mind twister! By the time you become an intermediate student you should know this rule well:

Inanimate objects or abstract ideas of plural nouns take feminine singular adjectives - with few exceptions.

فَنادِقٌ كَبيرَةٌ
لوكنْدَاتْ كِبيرَة
8 lokandaat kibiira – big hotels

[13] noun-adjective agreement