The adjective comes after the noun and matches it. A masculine noun takes the masculine adjective, and a feminine noun takes the feminine adjective with ة. If the noun has الْ, the adjective also has الْ: الْبَيْت الْكَبِير is “the big house”. With no الْ on either word you get “a big house”: بَيْت كَبِير. If only the noun has الْ, it is a whole sentence: الْبَيْت كَبِير, “the house is big”. A noun with an ending counts as definite, so its adjective takes الْ: بَيْتُنَا الْكَبِير is “our big house”.
Meaning
Masculine
Feminine
a big house / a big school
بَيْت كَبِير
مَدْرَسَة كَبِيرَة
the big house / the big school
الْبَيْت الْكَبِير
الْمَدْرَسَة الْكَبِيرَة
the house is big / the school is big
الْبَيْت كَبِير
الْمَدْرَسَة كَبِيرَة
our big house / our big school
بَيْتُنَا الْكَبِير
مَدْرَسَتُنَا الْكَبِيرَة
Worked examples
A tall tree, the tall tree, the tree is tall. Listen to the three.
Omar
كَيْف مَدْرَسَتُكُمُ الْجَدِيدَة؟
Salma
هِيَ كَبِيرَة وَنَظِيفَة.
Omar asks Salma about her new school. Press each line.
Two people with opposite looks.
Class activity
Describe six things with an adjective. Choose three things near you and write each one twice: once as “a … (adjective)” and once as a sentence, “the … is …”. For example: شَارِع نَظِيف and الشَّارِع نَظِيف. Check that each adjective matches its noun and that the feminine ones end in ة.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Is it “a new school” or “the school is new”?
“A new school”: مَدْرَسَة جَدِيدَة (madrasa jadīda). Neither word has الْ.
2
Write in Arabic: “a tall boy”.
وَلَد طَوِيل (walad ṭawīl)
3
The picture shows a bus. Write “the fast bus”.
الْحَافِلَة السَّرِيعَة (al-ḥāfila as-sarīʿa)
4
The picture shows a car. Write the sentence “the car is cheap”.
السَّيَّارَة رَخِيصَة (as-sayyāra rakhīṣa)
5
Which is right for “a good school”: مَدْرَسَة جَيِّد or مَدْرَسَة جَيِّدَة?
مَدْرَسَة جَيِّدَة. مَدْرَسَة is feminine, so the adjective takes ة.
