Arabic nouns are either masculine مُذَكَّر (muḏakkar) or feminine مُؤَنَّث (mu’annath).
Masculine Nouns
The base category – the vast majority of nouns are masculine:
| Lord | rabb | رَبّ | way | sabīl | سَبِيل |
| matter | amr | أَمر | people | qawm | قَوم |
| Musa (proper noun) | mūsā | مُوسَى | day | yawm | يَوم |
يَومٌ واحدٌ
أمرٌ صعبٌ
أحمدُ يدرسُ
Feminine nouns
1.Nouns ending with ة (tā’ marbūṭa):
| proof | بَيِّنَة (bayyinah) |
| paradise/garden | جَنَّة (jannah) |
| blessing | نِعمَة (ni’mah) |
| Righteous (adjective with female suffix) | صَالِحَة (ṣalihah) |
فَاطِمَةُ بِنْتٌ لَطِيفَةٌ
رَحْمَةُ أَللّهِ وَاسِعَةٌ
2.Nouns referring to female persons/objects but not ending with ة:
This includes words that are exclusively female, like ‘mother/sister/daughter’, feminine names like ‘Zainab’ or things considered feminine in Arabic like cities and countries
| Mother | أُمّ |
| Sister | أُخت |
| Daughter | بِنت |
| Tunisia | تُونِس |
| Quds (Palestine) | القُدس |
| Egypt | مَصر |
| Syria | سُورِيا |
| France | فَرَنسا |
| Zainab | زَينَب |
| Hanan | حَنَان |
| Salma | سَلمَى |
ألأُمُّ مَدْرَسَةٌ
نَجلاءُ أُختِي
3. Body parts which come in pairs are treated as feminine:
| ear | udhun | أُذُن | hand | yad | يَد |
| eye | ‘ain | عَين | leg | qadam | قَدَم |
يَدُ الطِفْلِ جَمِيلَةٌ
قَدَمِي تُـؤلـِـمُنِي
4. A limited number of Arabic nouns are treated as feminine with no explanation given, these include:
| fire | nār | نَار | soul | nafs | نَفس |
| house | dār | دَار | Water well | bi’r | بِئر |
| war | ḥarb | حَرب | earth | arḍ | أَرض |
| age | sinn | سِنّ | sun | shams | شَمس |
| wine | ẖamr | خَمر | cup | ka’s | كَأس |
دَارُ الآخِرَةِ
النَفسُ الّلوّامَة
إذا الشَمسُ كُوِّرَت
