Masculine and Feminine Nouns

Unlike English, every Arabic noun has a gender — masculine or feminine. There’s no “it”: a book is masculine, a lamp is feminine. Don’t panic — you can usually spot the gender from the ending.

The golden rule: look at the ending

Most feminine nouns end in ـة (taa marbuta — a t that sounds like a short “ah”). Most masculine nouns don’t.

Notice بنت (girl) has no ـة but is still feminine. There are exceptions — but the ـة ending gets you right over 90% of the time.

Common feminine endings

• ـة — سيارة (car), مدرسة (school), فكرة (idea)
• اء — صحراء (desert), سماء (sky)
• ى — ذكرى (memory), ليلى (a name)
• Words for females — أم (mother), أخت (sister), بنت (girl)

Why gender matters

Gender controls the adjectives and verbs around a noun. Adjectives must “agree”:

And past-tense verbs change their ending for feminine subjects:

الرجل ذهب — The man went. المرأة ذهبت — The woman went.

The masculine is the “default” form; feminine adds a ـت to the verb. You’ll see this pattern everywhere.

Feminine by meaning

Some nouns are feminine because of what they mean, even without the ending:

• أم (mother), أخت (sister), بنت (girl)
• شمس (sun) and ريح (wind) — traditionally feminine
• Body parts that come in pairs: يد (hand), عين (eye), رجل (leg)

Key points

• Ending in ـة → almost certainly feminine.
• Adjectives and verbs change to match a noun’s gender.
• The masculine form is the default; feminine usually adds a letter.
• Learn each new noun with its gender — it saves you a world of pain later.