Arabic nouns and adjectives are declined according to case, state, gender and number. While this is strictly true in Classical Arabic, in colloquial or spoken Arabic, there are a number of simplifications such as loss of certain final vowels and loss of case. A number of derivational processes exist for forming new nouns and adjectives. Adverbs can be formed from adjectives.
Noun and adjective inflection (Classical Arabic)
Nouns ( ) and adjectives in Classical Arabic are declined according to the following properties: Case (nominative, genitive, and accusative) State (indefinite, definite or construct) Gender (masculine or feminine): an inherent characteristic of nouns, but part of the declension of adjectives Number (singular, dual or plural)
Nouns are normally given in their pausal form. For example, 'king' would be declined as 'king-', 'the king-', etc. A feminine noun like 'queen' would be declined as 'queen-', 'the queen-', etc. The citation form with final reflects the formal pausal pronunciation of this word (i.e. as it would be pronounced at the end of an utterance) – although in practice the h is not usually pronounced, and hence the word may be cited in some sources as .
Overview of inflection The following table is an overview of noun and adjective inflection in Classical Arabic:
+ Noun and Adjective Inflection (Classical Arabic) Declension→ (1) Regular Triptote (2) Triptote w/"Long Construct" (3) Diptote (4) Defective in -in(usu. masc.) (5) Defective in -an(usu. masc.) (6) Invariable in -ā (1a) No suffix(usu. masc.) (1b) in ()(usu. feminine) (1c) in ()(usu. feminine) Pausal pronun. (in singular) → - -ah -āh -ū, -ā, -ī - -ī -ā -ā Informal pronun. (in singular) → -a -āt -ū Number↓ State→Case↓ Indef. Def. Const. Indef. Def. Const. Indef. Def. Const. Const. Indef. Indef. Def. Const. Indef. Def. Const. Indef., Def. Const. Singular Nominative -un -u -at-un -at-u -āt-un -āt-u -ū -u -in -ī -an -ā -ā Accusative -an -a -at-an -at-a -āt-an -āt-a -ā -a -iyan,-iya -iya Genitive -in -i -at-in -at-i -āt-in -āt-i -ī -in -ī Dual Nominative -āni -ā -at-āni -at-ā -āt-āni -āt-ā same as (1a) regular triptote -iy-āni -iy-ā -ay-āni, -aw-āni -ay-ā, -aw-ā -ay-āni -ay-ā Accusative,Genitive -ayni -ay -at-ayni -at-ay -āt-ayni -āt-ay -iy-ayni -iy-ay -ay-ayni, -aw-ayni -ay-ay, -aw-ay -ay-ayni -ay-ay Declension→ (7) Sound Masculine (8) Sound Feminine same as (1a) regular triptote (7) Sound Masculine (9) Defective in -an – Plural Nominative -ūna -ū -ātun -ātu -ay-ātun, -aw-ātun -ay-ātu, -aw-ātu -ūna -ū -awna -aw Accusative,Genitive -īna -ī -ātin -āti -ay-ātin, -aw-ātin -ay-āti, -aw-āti -īna -ī -ayna -ay
NOTE: The plural forms listed are actually separate declensions. Most singular adjectives of the indicated declensions, as well as some singular nouns, are declined in the plural according to the indicated plural declensions. However, most nouns have a plural from a different declension — either a sound plural (declined according to one of the plural declensions, sometimes with a different stem as well) or a broken plural (invariably with a different stem, and declined according to one of the singular declensions). Some adjectives also have broken plurals (again, with different stems, and declined according to one of the singular declensions). See the discussion below on case for more details. The so-called "sound masculine" and "sound feminine" plural declensions refer to form, not gender – grammatically masculine nouns often have sound feminine plurals, and occasionally vice versa. (Note, however, that most nouns of this sort are inanimate objects, and as a result actually have feminine-singular agreement in the plural, regardless of their inherent gender or the form of their plural. See discussion below.) Diptotes are declined exactly like regular triptotes other than in the singular indefinite state. In the defective-in--in declension, accusative -iyan occurs in singular nouns, while -iya occurs in broken plurals (especially three-syllable broken plurals such as "nights" or "hands", whose stem is of a form that would be declined as a diptote if it were declined regularly). There are only limited classes of invariable nouns and adjectives and none have their own plural declension; instead, they decline like one of the other singular or plural declensions. Only a limited number of nouns in -an have a dual in -awāni/-awayni; all of these are short nouns with a two-character stem, and are spelled in Arabic script with a "tall alif" () rather than (). Examples are "stick" (and possibly "approval").
The following table shows some examples of noun inflections.
+ Examples of inflection in nouns Singular Declension Meaning Gender Type,Notes Root Plural Declension (1a) triptote hand feminine root noun y-d (4) broken plural defective in -in (4) broken plural defective in -in (2) "long construct" triptote father masculine root noun ʼ-b (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) triptote day masculine root noun y-w-m (1a) broken plural triptote (1b) triptote in -ah night feminine root noun l-y-l (8) sound feminine plural (4) broken plural defective in -in (1a) triptote sea masculine root noun b-ḥ-r (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) triptote land feminine root noun ʼ-r-ḍ (4) broken plural defective in -in (7) sound masculine plural (1a) triptote student masculine Form I active participle ṭ-l-b (1a) broken plural triptote (1b) broken plural triptote in -ah (1a) triptote teacher masculine Form II active participle ʻ-l-m (7) sound masculine plural (1c) triptote in -āh life feminine Form I verbal noun ḥ-y-w (8) sound feminine plural (1a) triptote animal masculine derived noun in -ān (intensive) ḥ-y-w (7) sound feminine plural (4) defective in -in judge masculine Form I active participle q-ḍ-y (1c) broken plural triptote in -āh (1b) triptote in -ah lawsuit feminine derived noun (verbal-noun form, Form I) q-ḍ-y (6) broken plural invariable -ā (5) defective in -an hospital masculine Form X noun of place (passive-particle form) š-f-y (7) sound feminine plural (1a) triptote book masculine derived noun (verbal-noun form, Form I or possibly Form III) k-t-b (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) triptote desk, office masculine Form I noun of place k-t-b (3) broken plural diptote (1b) triptote in -ah library feminine Form I noun of place k-t-b (8) sound feminine plural (3) broken plural diptote (6) invariable -ā world (lit. "lowest (place)") feminine nominalized feminine elative adjective d-n-y (8) sound feminine plural (3) diptote desert (lit. "desert-like (place)" < "desert-sand-colored") feminine nominalized feminine color/defect adjective ṣ-ḥ-r (4) broken plural defective in -in (6) broken plural invariable -ā (8) sound feminine plural (1b) triptote in -ah tree feminine noun of unity š-ǧ-r (1a) triptote, root noun, collective singular ("trees" in general) (8) sound feminine plural, plural of paucity ("trees" when counting 3–10) (1a) broken plural triptote, plural of variety ("different kinds of trees") (1a) triptote slave, servant masculine derived noun (verbal-noun form) ʻ-b-d (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) broken plural triptote servant (of God), human being (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) triptote television masculine borrowed noun — (8) sound feminine plural (1a) triptote film masculine borrowed noun — (or f-l-m) (1a) broken plural triptote (1b) triptote in -ah cigarette feminine borrowed noun — (or s-g-r) (3) broken plural diptote
The following table shows some examples of adjective inflections.
+Examples of inflection in adjectives Type,Notes Root Meaning Masculine Singular Declension Feminine Singular Declension Masculine Plural Declension Feminine Plural Declension big (1a) triptote (1b) triptote in -ah (1a) broken plural triptote (8) sound feminine plural (3) broken plural diptote elative bigger, biggest (3) diptote (6) invariable -ā (7) sound masculine plural (8) sound feminine plural (3) broken plural diptote , third-weak near, low (1a) triptote (1b) triptote in -ah (3) broken plural diptote (8) sound feminine plural elative, third-weak nearer, nearest; lower, lowest (6) invariable -ā (6) invariable -ā (4) broken plural defective in -in (5) broken plural defective in -an (7) sound masculine plural defective in -an (8) sound feminine plural color/defect red (3) diptote (3) diptote (1a) broken plural triptote (1a) broken plural triptote (intensive) thirsty (3) diptote (6) invariable -ā (1a) broken plural triptote ? ? (6) broken plural invariable -ā
Number Arabic distinguishes between nouns based on number ( ). All nouns are singular ( ) dual ( ), or plural ( ). In Classical Arabic, the use of the dual is mandatory whenever exactly two objects are referred to, regardless of whether the "two-ness" of the objects is explicit or not. For example, in a sentence like "I picked up my children from school yesterday and then helped them with their homework", the words "children", "them" and "their" must be in the dual if exactly two children are referred to, regardless of whether the speaker wants to make this fact explicit or not. This implies that when the plural is used, it necessarily implies three or more. (Colloquial varieties of Arabic are very different in this regard, as the dual is normally used only for emphasis, i.e. in cases similar to when an English speaker would use the word "two".)
Nouns take either a sound plural or broken plural. The sound plural is formed by adding endings, and can be considered part of the declension. The broken plural, however, is a different stem. It may belong to a different declension (see below), and is declined as a singular noun. For example, the plural of the masculine triptote noun "book" is , which is declined as a normal singular triptote noun: indefinite nominative ; indefinite accusative ; indefinite genitive ; etc. On the other hand, the masculine triptote noun "desk, office" has the plural , which declines as a singular diptote noun: indefinite nominative ; indefinite accusative/genitive ; etc.
Generally, the only nouns that have the "masculine" sound plural are nouns referring to male human beings (e.g. "engineer"). On the other hand, the feminine sound plural occurs not only on nouns referring to female human beings, but also on many nouns referring to objects, whether masculine or feminine (e.g. masculine "exam", feminine "car"). Note that all inanimate objects take feminine singular or feminine plural agreement in the plural, regardless of their "inherent" gender and regardless of the form of the plural.
Some nouns have two or more plural forms, usually to distinguish between different meanings.
There are over 70 broken plural patterns of which only 31 are common. These patterns are usually unpredictable and should be memorized for every word, however according to the generative linguistics McCarthy and Prince (1990), it's possible to guess the main broken plural form of around 83% of all CVCC and CVCVC nouns by using an algorithm that analyses syllables in moraic trochees.
Gender Arabic has two genders ( ): masculine ( ) and feminine ( ). As mentioned above, verbs, adjectives and pronouns must agree in gender with the corresponding noun. Gender in Arabic is logically very similar to a language like Spanish: animate nouns, such as those referring to people, usually have the grammatical gender corresponding to their natural gender, but for inanimate nouns the grammatical gender is largely arbitrary.
Most feminine nouns end in , but some do not (e.g. "mother", "earth"). Most words ending in are also feminine (and are indeclinable).