Language/Standard-arabic/Grammar/Adjective-agreement-and-placement

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Standard Arabic Grammar → Adjectives in Arabic → Adjective agreement and placement

As a Standard Arabic language teacher with 20 years of experience teaching Arabic, I consider adjectives to be one of the essential aspects of grammar. In this lesson, we will discuss adjective agreement and placement in Arabic.

Arabic adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify. This means that adjectives must have different forms to match the gender of the noun - masculine or feminine - and its number - singular or plural.

For example, the masculine singular form of the adjective "large" is "كبير" pronounced as "kabir", whereas the feminine singular form of the adjective "large" is "كبيرة" pronounced as "kabira". To make the adjective plural, we add the plural marker "ون" pronounced as "oon" for masculine and "ات" pronounced as "aat" for feminine. Therefore, the masculine plural form of the adjective "large" is "كبار" pronounced as "kibar", while the feminine plural form of the adjective "large" is "كبيرات" pronounced as "kabirat".

Here is a table showing adjective agreement and placement in Arabic:

Standard Arabic Pronunciation English
امرأة كبيرة imra'atun kabira a large woman
رجل كبير rajulun kabeer a large man
رجال كبار rijalun kibaar large men
نساء كبيرات nisaa'un kibiraat large women

In the table above, you can see how the adjective "large" changes based on the gender and number of the noun it modifies. It's worth noting that Arabic adjectives follow the noun they modify, unlike English, which usually places adjectives before the noun.

Another important aspect of adjective placement in Arabic is that adjectives usually come after the nouns they modify. However, the order can change for emphasis or poetic reasons - this is more common in classical Arabic.

To summarize, in Arabic, adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify and come after the noun in most cases. Adjectives in Arabic can be tricky, but with practice, you can master them.

Sources:

Table of Contents - Standard Arabic Course - 0 to A1


Introduction to Arabic script


Nouns and gender in Arabic


Verbs and conjugation in Arabic


Numbers and counting in Arabic


Everyday Arabic vocabulary


Food and drink vocabulary


Arabic customs and traditions


Arabic music and entertainment


Adjectives in Arabic


Pronouns in Arabic


Prepositions in Arabic


Interrogatives in Arabic


Adverbs in Arabic


Transportation vocabulary


Shopping and money vocabulary


Arabic literature and poetry


Arabic calligraphy and art


Weather vocabulary


Conditional sentences in Arabic


Passive voice in Arabic


Relative clauses in Arabic


Arabic adjectives and nouns


Arabic cinema and TV


Arabic fashion and beauty


Sports and leisure vocabulary


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