☰ Units · Arabic A1

Adjectives and colours, this / that

Unit 11 · Part B · Arabic A1 (Beginners)
2

Adjectives agree with nouns

Arabic A1 · Unit 11
GoalMatch the adjective to a feminine noun and to a noun with الْ.
New words
كَبِيرَة (kabīra) · big (f)صَغِيرَة (ṣaghīra) · small (f)جَدِيدَة (jadīda) · new (f)قَدِيمَة (qadīma) · old (f)طَوِيلَة (ṭawīla) · long, tall (f)قَصِيرَة (qaṣīra) · short (f)جَمِيلَة (jamīla) · beautiful (f)سَهْلَة (sahla) · easy (f)
Explanation

An adjective must match its noun. With a feminine noun, add ة to the adjective: بَيْت كَبِير is a big house, but مَدْرَسَة كَبِيرَة is a big school. The feminine adjective ends in a: kabīra. This works for people too: مُعَلِّمَة جَدِيدَة is a new female teacher. When the noun has الْ, the adjective gets الْ too: الْبَيْت الْكَبِير is “the big house”. So the adjective copies two things from the noun: masculine or feminine, and with or without الْ.

MasculineFeminineMeaning
بَيْت كَبِيرمَدْرَسَة كَبِيرَةbig
قَلَم جَدِيدحَقِيبَة جَدِيدَةnew
رَجُل طَوِيلشَجَرَة طَوِيلَةtall
Worked examples
Feminine nouns with feminine adjectives. Listen: a big city, a small room, a new car.
The same with people: a new teacher, a short girl, a tall woman.
With الْ on the noun, the adjective gets الْ too. Listen: the big house, the big school, the tall tree.
Class activity

Make the pair. Write six masculine pairs, for example بَيْت كَبِير and قَلَم جَدِيد. Then write six feminine pairs, using feminine nouns such as مَدْرَسَة، سَيَّارَة، شَجَرَة and adjectives that end in ة. Underline every ة. Read all twelve pairs aloud, then add الْ to both words of two pairs.

Practice
1
Press Listen. Is the adjective masculine or feminine?
2
Make the feminine form of جَدِيد.
3
Which is correct for a school: مَدْرَسَة كَبِير or مَدْرَسَة كَبِيرَة?
4
The picture shows a tree. Write “a tall tree” in Arabic.
5
Add الْ to both words: “the new car”.