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Grammar reference / Lesson 1

Body Partsجسم للإنسان

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5 grammar rules for this lesson.

Masculine and Feminine Nouns

In Arabic, every noun is either masculine (مُذَكَّر) or feminine (مُؤَنَّث). Words ending in ـة (Taa Marbuta) are usually feminine and words without it are usually masculine

This rule can be followed for 90% nouns in the Arabic Language. However, there are some exceptions that don’t follow this basic rule, so for these terms you must simply memorise whether they are masculine (مُذَكَّر) or feminine (مُؤَنَّث)

However, for body parts, there is another rule to consider. Many feminine words do not have a taa marbūṭah (ة), yet they are still feminine. These words often follow a second pattern: if they come in pairs (i.e. there are two of them in the body), they are most likely feminine.

Some examples can be seen below:

Examples

Examples

  • Masculine

    رَأْسٌ

    Head

    raʾsun

    Head

  • Masculine

    وَجْهٌ

    Face

    wajhun

    Face

  • Masculine

    أَنْفٌ

    Nose

    anf̣un

    Nose

  • Feminine (ـة)

    رُكْبَةٌ

    Knee

    rukbatun

    Knee

  • Feminine (ـة)

    قَدَمٌ

    Foot

    qadamun

    Foot

  • Feminine (exceptions without taa marbuta)

    يَدٌ

    Hand

    yadun

    Hand

  • Feminine (exceptions without taa marbuta)

    عَيْنٌ

    Eye

    ʿaynun

    Eye

  • Feminine (exceptions without taa marbuta)

    أُذُنٌ

    Ear

    udhunun

    Ear

Masculine = هٰذَا

Use with masculine nouns

Pattern

Demonstrative
هٰذَا
Noun(any)“this is a (noun)”

Examples (15)

  • هٰذَا رَأْسٌ

    this is a head

  • هٰذَا شَعْرٌ

    this is hair

  • هٰذَا وَجْهٌ

    this is a face

  • هٰذَا جَبِينٌ

    this is a forehead

  • هٰذَا حَاجِبٌ

    this is an eyebrow

  • هٰذَا أَنْفٌ

    this is a nose

  • هٰذَا فَمٌ

    this is a mouth

  • هٰذَا لِسَانٌ

    this is a tongue

  • هٰذَا ذَقْنٌ

    this is a chin

  • هٰذَا كَتِفٌ

    this is a shoulder

  • هٰذَا ذِرَاعٌ

    this is an arm

  • هٰذَا صَدْرٌ

    this is a chest

Feminine = هٰذِهِ

Use with feminine nouns

Pattern

Demonstrative
هٰذِهِ
Noun(any)“this is a (noun)”

Examples (8)

  • هٰذِهِ عَيْنٌ

    this is an eye

  • هٰذِهِ أُذُنٌ

    this is an ear

  • هٰذِهِ أَسْنَانٌ

    these are teeth

  • هٰذِهِ يَدٌ

    this is a hand

  • هٰذِهِ رِجْلٌ

    this is a leg

  • هٰذِهِ رُكْبَةٌ

    this is a knee

  • هٰذِهِ سَاقٌ

    this is a shin

  • هٰذِهِ قَدَمٌ

    this is a foot

Sentence structure

**What to Memorise:** هٰذَا / هٰذِهِ + noun

Examples

  • “This is + noun”

  • هٰذَا رَأْسٌ

    this is a head

  • هٰذِهِ يَدٌ

    this is a hand

  • هٰذَا قَلْبٌ

    this is a heart

  • هٰذِهِ رُكْبَةٌ

    this is a knee

“This is” in the Arabic Language

The reason this is important to know is because Arabic is a gendered language, which means every noun is either masculine or feminine. Because of this, other words in the sentence have to match the noun’s gender.

This matching system is called agreement المُطَابَقَةal-muṭābaqah and Arabic relies on it heavily, unlike some other languages such as English, Mandarin Chinese, or Indonesian.

One of the simplest and most important places where this appears is when saying “this is…”. In Arabic, the word for “this” changes depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine.

So instead of having just one word for “this,” Arabic requires you to choose the correct form based on the noun.