Identifying Adjectives İn Arabic Arabic Lesson For Beginners – fasiharabic.com

Identifying Adjectives İn Arabic Arabic Lesson For Beginners – fasiharabic.com

Identifying adjectives
In Arabic, an adjective must be in agreement with the noun it modifies in
both gender and plurality. Table 2-2 presents some common adjectives in
both the feminine and masculine forms.

Table 2-2 Common Adjectives in Arabic
Arabic Pronunciation Translation
kabiir kah-beer big (M)
kabiira kah-bee-rah big (F)
Saghiir sah-geer small (M)
Saghiira sah-gee-rah small (F)
Tawiil tah-weel tall (M)
Tawiila tah-wee-lah tall (F)
qaSiir kah-seer short (M)
qaSiira kah-see-rah short (F)
jamiil jah-meel beautiful/handsome (M)
jamiila jah-mee-lah beautiful/pretty (F)
qawiiy kah-wee strong (M)
qawiiya kah-wee-yah strong (F)
Da’iif dah-eef weak (M)
Da’iifa dah-ee-fah weak (F)
SaHiiH sah-heeh healthy (M)
SaHiiHa sah-hee-hah healthy (F)
(continued)
Chapter 2: The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Arabic Grammar 21
Table 2-2 (continued)
Arabic Pronunciation Translation
mariiD mah-reed sick (M)
mariiDa mah-ree-dah sick (F)
dakiiy dah-kee smart (M)
dakiiya dah-kee-yah smart (F)
ghabiiy gah-bee dumb (M)
ghabiiya gah-bee-yah dumb (F)
sarii’ sah-reeh fast (M)
sarii’a sah-ree-ah fast (F)
baTii’ bah-teeh slow (M)
baTii’a bah-tee-ah slow (F)
thaqiil tah-keel heavy (M)
thaqiila tah-kee-lah heavy (F)
khafiif kah-feef light (M)
khafiifa kah-fee-fah light (F)
Sa’b sahb difficult (M)
Sa’ba sah-bah difficult (F)
sahl sah-hel easy (M)
sahla sah-lah easy (F)
laTiif lah-teef nice/kind (M)
laTiifa lah-tee-fah nice/kind (F)
qabiiH kah-beeh ugly (M)
qabiiHa kah-bee-hah ugly (F)
‘ajiib ah-jeeb amazing (M)
‘ajiiba ah-jee-bah amazing (F)
ladhiidh lah-zeez delicious (M)
ladhiidha lah-zee-zah delicious (F)

Notice that the masculine forms of the adjectives in Table 2-2 are manipulated
slightly to achieve the feminine adjective forms; essentially, all you do is add
the suffix -a to the masculine adjective to obtain its feminine form. This rule
applies to all regular adjective forms.
However, in addition to the regular adjective forms, another category of
adjectives exists in which the masculine and feminine forms are completely
different from each other. This is the irregular adjective form.
Fortunately, all irregular adjectives fall in the same category: color words;
and every color word is an irregular adjective. Put simply, ‘alwaan (al-wan;
colors) in Arabic are all irregular adjectives because the masculine color
form is radically different than its feminine version. Table 2-3 lists the most
common irregular adjectives.