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
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مُذَكَّر Masculine
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مُؤَنَّث Feminine
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مُذَكَّر Masculine
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مُدَرِّسَــة
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مُدَرِّس teacher
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طَالِبَــة
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طَالِب student
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طِفْلَــة
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طِفْل baby body
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طَبِيْبَــة
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طَبِيْب physician
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قَصِيْرَة
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قَصِيْر short
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طَوِيْلَــة
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طَوِيْل tall
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جَمِيْلَــة
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جَمِيْل beautiful
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ذَكِيَّــة
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ذَكِيّ smart
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نَظِيْفَــة
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نَظِيْف clean
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أَنِيْقَــة
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أَنِيْق neat
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جَدِيْدَة
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جَدِيْد new
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قَذِرَة
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قَذِر dirty
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رَشِيْقَــة
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رَشِيْق slim
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سَمِيْنَــة
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سَمِيْن fat
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صَغِيْرَة
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صَغِيْر small
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كَبِيْرَة
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كَبِيْر big
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سَهْلَــة
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سَهْل easy
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نَشِيْطَــة
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نَشِيْط energetic / active
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لَذِيْذَة
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لَذِيْذ delicious
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رَخِيْصَــة
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رَخِيْص inexpensive
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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
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Indefinite نَكِرَة
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Definite مَعْرِفَة
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Indefinite نَكِرَة
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الـمُدَرِّس
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مُدَرِّس a teacher
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الــبَيْت
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بَيْت a house
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الــطِّفْل
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طِفْل a baby boy
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الــسَّيَّارَة
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سَيَّارَة a car
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الــقَصِير
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قَصِيْر short
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الــقَلَم
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قَلَم a pen
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الــجَمِيل
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جَمِيْل beautiful
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الــغُرْفَة
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غُرْفَة a room
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الــكِتَاب
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كِتَاب a book
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الــقَامُوس
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قَامُوس a dictionary
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الــجَدِيد
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جَدِيْد new
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الـكَلْب
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كَلْب a dog
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الــنَّهْر
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نَهْر a river
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الــجَامِعَة
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جَامِعَة a university
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الــوَلَد
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وَلَد a boy
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الــسَمَكَة
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سَمَكَة a fish
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الــشَّارِع
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شَارِع a street
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الــمَقْصَف
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مَقْصَف a canteen
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الــخَرُوف
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خَرُوف a sheep
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الــنَخْلَة
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نَخْلَة a palm tree
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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
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Possessive pronoun
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Personal pronoun
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كِتَابِــي my book
قَلَمِــي my pen
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ــي
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أَنَا
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جَامِعَتُـنَا our university
سَيَّارَتُــنَا our car
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ــنَا
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نَحْنُ
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سَاعَتُــكَ your watch
سَرِيرُكَ your bed
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ــكَ
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أَنْتَ
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سَنْطَتُــكِ your bag
جَزْمَتُــكِ your shoe
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ــكِ
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أَنْتِ
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بَيْتُــكُم your house
شَارِعُــكُم your street
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ــكُم
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أَنْتُم
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غُرْفَتُـكُنَّ your room
مَطْبَخُــكُنَّ your kitchen
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ــكُنَّ
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أَنْتُنَّ
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صَدِيقُــهُ his friend
وَجْهُــهُ his face
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ــه
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هُوَ
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أُخْتُــهَا her sister
شَعْرُها her hair
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ــهَا
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هِيَ
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أُسْتَاذُهُم their instructor
كُرَتُــهُم their ball
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ــهُم
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هُم
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شُقَّتُــهُنَّ their apartment
اِمْتِحَانُــهُنَّ their test
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ــهُنَّ
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هُنَّ
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Armas 
