Noun Gender in Arabic (Masculine & Feminine)

Level: Beginner. Every noun in Arabic is either masculine or feminine, and that gender decides the ending on any adjective you use with it. The good news: most feminine nouns carry a clear marker, so you can spot them by sight.

The rule

Gender is a grammatical class — not about biology. In Arabic a noun (a word for a person, place or thing) is either masculine (mudhakkar) or feminine (muʾannath).

The most common signal is the ending ة (tā marbūṭa) — a special “tied” t written like a h with two dots. A noun that ends in ة (tā marbūṭa) is almost always feminine: مُعَلِّمَة (muʿallima, a female teacher), سَيَّارَة (sayyāra, a car), مَدِينَة (madīna, a city). A noun with no special ending is usually masculine: مُعَلِّم (muʿallim, a male teacher), بَيْت (bayt, a house), كِتَاب (kitāb, a book).

Two things break the simple “ة (tā marbūṭa) means feminine” picture. First, a small group of words that end in ة (tā marbūṭa) are masculine — mostly men’s names like حَمْزَة (Ḥamza) and أُسَامَة (Usāma). Second, some nouns are feminine by convention even with no marker at all.

Markers of gender

Feminine by convention

Some nouns have no tā marbūṭa but are still feminine, so their adjectives take the feminine ending. The common beginner set:

• Female people without a marker: أُمّ (umm, mother), بِنْت (bint, girl / daughter).
• Paired body parts: يَد (yad, hand), عَيْن (ʿayn, eye), رِجْل (rijl, leg), أُذُن (udhun, ear).
• A fixed list of other everyday nouns: شَمْس (shams, sun), أَرْض (arḍ, earth), نَار (nār, fire), رِيح (rīḥ, wind).
• Most country and city names: مِصْر (Miṣr, Egypt), دِمَشْق (Dimashq, Damascus).

Adjective agreement

An adjective (a describing word) must match its noun’s gender. For a feminine noun you add ة (tā marbūṭa) to the adjective:

• مُعَلِّمٌ جَدِيدٌ (muʿallimun jadīdun) — a new (male) teacher.
• مُعَلِّمَةٌ جَدِيدَةٌ (muʿallimatun jadīdatun) — a new (female) teacher.

So the gender of the noun controls the ending you hear twice: once on the noun, once on the adjective.

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ حَمْزَة (Ḥamza) treated as feminine → ✅ it is masculine. A few words ending in ة (tā marbūṭa) are men’s names and stay masculine.
• ❌ الشَّمْسُ حَارٌّ (ash-shamsu ḥārrun) → ✅ الشَّمْسُ حَارَّةٌ (ash-shamsu ḥārratun). شَمْس (shams) is feminine by convention, so the adjective needs the feminine ة (tā marbūṭa) ending.
• ❌ بِنْتٌ صَغِيرٌ (bintun ṣaghīrun) → ✅ بِنْتٌ صَغِيرَةٌ (bintun ṣaghīratun). The noun is feminine, so the adjective must match.
• ❌ assuming يَد (yad) is masculine because it carries no visible marker → ✅ يَد (yad) is feminine: يَدِي كَبِيرَةٌ (yadī kabīratun).
• ❌ adding a feminine ending to a masculine adjective: بَيْتٌ كَبِيرَةٌ (baytun kabīratun) → ✅ بَيْتٌ كَبِيرٌ (baytun kabīrun).

A short conversation

A: مَا هٰذِهِ؟ (mā hādhihi?) — What is this? B: هٰذِهِ سَيَّارَةٌ جَدِيدَةٌ. (hādhihi sayyāratun jadīdatun.) — This is a new car. A: وَهٰذَا؟ (wa-hādhā?) — And this? B: هٰذَا بَيْتٌ كَبِيرٌ. (hādhā baytun kabīrun.) — This is a big house.

Usage notes

• Non-human plurals act feminine. A plural of things (not people) usually takes a feminine singular adjective: الكُتُبُ جَدِيدَةٌ (al-kutubu jadīdatun, “the books are new”). This is a later topic, but it is worth meeting early so the feminine ending does not surprise you.
• The “hidden” t. The ة (tā marbūṭa) is read as -a at the end of a phrase but as -at when an ending follows: مُعَلِّمَة (muʿallima) on its own, مُعَلِّمَةٌ (muʿallimatun) with the indefinite ending.

Compared with…

• Adjective agreement builds directly on gender: once you know a noun is feminine, every adjective and demonstrative with it takes the feminine form. Browse the next points in the Arabic grammar section.

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

Next

• Back to the Arabic grammar section
• New here? Start with Start Learning Arabic Here