Basic Word Formation in Arabic

Word formation in Arabic is the process of creating new words by means of adding prefixes, suffixes, infixes or changing the short vowels to / in the word roots. Take the Arabic word root كَتَبَ 'he wrote' which is a verb. By adding the prefix مَـ to it, it becomes مَكْتَب 'an office' which a noun. If you add the infix ـا after the first letter, it becomes كَاتِب 'a writer' which is a noun. Likewise, if the short vowels in كَتَبَ is changes to كُتُب, it becomes a plural noun. In this post, three basic Arabic word formation rules are explained: formation of feminine noun, formation of definite noun, and formation of possessive noun.

Basic Arabic Word Formation

Masculine المُذَكَّر and Feminine المُؤَنَّث:

Arabic has a gender. That is, nouns and adjectives are either masculine مُذَكَّر or feminine مُؤَنَّث. Masculine is the basic form. The feminine formed by adding the feminine marker (i.e. ـة / ة) to the end of the masculine. Therefore, most of the words that end ـة / ة in Arabic are feminine.

مُؤَنَّث Feminine

مُذَكَّر Masculine

مُؤَنَّث Feminine

مُذَكَّر Masculine

مُدَرِّسَــة

مُدَرِّس teacher

طَالِبَــة

طَالِب  student

طِفْلَــة

طِفْل  baby body

طَبِيْبَــة

طَبِيْب   physician

قَصِيْرَة

قَصِيْر  short

طَوِيْلَــة

طَوِيْل  tall

جَمِيْلَــة

جَمِيْل  beautiful

ذَكِيَّــة

ذَكِيّ   smart

نَظِيْفَــة

نَظِيْف  clean

أَنِيْقَــة

أَنِيْق  neat

جَدِيْدَة

جَدِيْد  new

قَذِرَة

قَذِر  dirty

رَشِيْقَــة

رَشِيْق  slim

سَمِيْنَــة

سَمِيْن  fat

صَغِيْرَة

صَغِيْر  small

كَبِيْرَة

كَبِيْر  big

سَهْلَــة

سَهْل  easy

نَشِيْطَــة

نَشِيْط  energetic / active

لَذِيْذَة

لَذِيْذ  delicious

رَخِيْصَــة

رَخِيْص  inexpensive

Indefinite النَّكِرَة and indefinite المَعْرِفَة:

Arabic nouns are either indefinite or definite, that is specific entity / thing or unspecific. The indefinite noun is the basic form. The most common way of forming the definite from the indefinite is by adding the definite article ال to the beginning the word.

Definite مَعْرِفَة

Indefinite نَكِرَة

Definite مَعْرِفَة

Indefinite نَكِرَة

الـمُدَرِّس

مُدَرِّس  a teacher

الــبَيْت

بَيْت  a house

الــطِّفْل

طِفْل  a baby boy

الــسَّيَّارَة

سَيَّارَة  a car

الــقَصِير

قَصِيْر  short

الــقَلَم

قَلَم  a pen

الــجَمِيل

جَمِيْل  beautiful

الــغُرْفَة

غُرْفَة  a room

الــكِتَاب

كِتَاب  a book

الــقَامُوس

قَامُوس  a dictionary

الــجَدِيد

جَدِيْد  new

الـكَلْب

كَلْب  a dog

الــنَّهْر

نَهْر  a river

الــجَامِعَة

جَامِعَة   a university

الــوَلَد

وَلَد  a boy

الــسَمَكَة

سَمَكَة  a fish

الــشَّارِع

شَارِع  a street

الــمَقْصَف

مَقْصَف  a canteen

الــخَرُوف

خَرُوف  a sheep

الــنَخْلَة

نَخْلَة  a palm tree

 Personal pronounsضَمَائِر الفَاعِل  and possessive pronouns ضَمَائِر المِلْكِيَّة:

There are twelve personal pronouns in Arabic. The most common in everyday spoken Arabic are أَنَا ‘I’, نَحْنُ ‘we’, أَنْتَ ‘you, masculine’, أَنْتِ ‘you, feminine’, أَنْتُم ‘you, masculine plural’, أَنْتُنَّ ‘you, feminine plural’, هُوَ ‘he’, هِيَ ‘she’, هُم ‘they, masculine plural’, and هُنَّ ‘they, feminine plural.’ For each personal pronoun, there is a corresponding possessive pronoun.

Example

Possessive pronoun

Personal pronoun

كِتَابِــي  my book

قَلَمِــي  my pen

ــي

أَنَا

جَامِعَتُـنَا  our university

سَيَّارَتُــنَا our car

ــنَا

نَحْنُ

سَاعَتُــكَ  your watch

سَرِيرُكَ  your bed

ــكَ

أَنْتَ

سَنْطَتُــكِ  your bag

جَزْمَتُــكِ  your shoe

ــكِ

أَنْتِ

بَيْتُــكُم  your house

شَارِعُــكُم  your street

ــكُم

أَنْتُم

غُرْفَتُـكُنَّ  your room

مَطْبَخُــكُنَّ  your kitchen

ــكُنَّ

أَنْتُنَّ

صَدِيقُــهُ  his friend

وَجْهُــهُ  his face

ــه

هُوَ

أُخْتُــهَا  her sister

شَعْرُها  her hair

ــهَا

هِيَ

أُسْتَاذُهُم  their instructor

كُرَتُــهُم  their ball

ــهُم

هُم

شُقَّتُــهُنَّ  their apartment

اِمْتِحَانُــهُنَّ  their test

ــهُنَّ

هُنَّ

Armas
This was very clear and concise. Thank you so much. Jazakallah khair.

Your email address will not be published.

@