The masculine and the feminine – الْمُذَكَّرُ وَالْمُؤَنَّثُ
- In Arabic both living things and inanimate (non-living) things are treated as either masculine or feminine.
- In this part of the lesson /In-Shā’-Allâh/ (God willing) we will learn about the masculine and the feminine words. We will also learn how to change a masculine word into a feminine word. There are three symbols which change a masculine word to a feminine word when added on the end of a masculine word and they are:
| English | Symbol of feminine word | Arabic | ||
| Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | |
| Female student | Male student | |||
| Left (for feminine words) | Left | |||
| Noble woman | Noble man | |||
- It should be remembered that the penultimate (second to last) letter of a feminine word always takes a /fatħah/.
- Following are some examples to better understand the above mentioned rules:
| Picture | Translation | Transliteration | Arabic |
|
| I am a doctor. | /Anā ŧabībun/ | |
|
| I am a female student. | /Anā ŧālibatun/ | |
|
| You are a male teacher. | /Anta mudarrisun/ | |
|
| You are a lady doctor. | /Anti ŧabībatun/ | |
|
| He is an engineer. | /Huwa muhandisun/ | |
|
| She is a female nurse. | /Hiya mumarriđatun/ | |
|
| Aminah is in the kitchen. | /āminatu fil maŧbakhi/ | |
|
| Where are you from? | /Min ayna anta/ | |
|
| I am from China. | /Ana min-aŝ ŝīni/ |
