English leaves most adjectives unchanged and marks gender on very few verbs or demonstratives. Lebanese distributes agreement across the clause: the verb identifies its subject, an adjective or participle describes its controller, and هاد، هاي، هول classify the noun being pointed to. A learner can therefore communicate the right vocabulary while making the participants hard to track.
The repair is not “make everything feminine” or “make everything plural.” First identify the controller of each agreeing word. Then decide whether it is masculine singular, feminine singular, human plural, or a nonhuman plural construed as a group or as salient individual items. Review the full Lebanese verb agreement paradigm when a person ending is unfamiliar. This reflects the system analyzed in Aoun, Benmamoun, and Choueiri's chapter on Arabic sentential agreement, while the production choices here follow conversational urban Lebanese rather than importing formal MSA paradigms.
A four-step agreement scan
- Underline the subject of every verb.
- Draw an arrow from each adjective or participle to the noun it describes.
- Check هاد for masculine singular, هاي for feminine singular, and هول for plural reference.
- For a nonhuman plural, decide whether the clause packages it as a grouped category or foregrounds particular items.
Verbs agree with their subject
The imperfect marks person and, in parts of the paradigm, gender and number: بتروح may mean “you, masculine, go” or “she goes,” while بتروحي identifies one female addressee and بيروحوا a third-person plural subject. The perfect uses suffixes: وصل “he arrived,” وصلت “she/you arrived,” وصلوا “they arrived.”
نادين بتوصل قبل كريم وبتفتح المكتب.
Nādīn btūṣal ʾabel Karīm w-bitfataḥ el-maktab.
Nadine arrives before Karim and opens the office. (feminine singular subject)
الشباب وصلوا سوا وطلعوا عالطابق التاني.
esh-shabēb wiṣlo sawa w-ṭilʿo ʿaṭ-ṭābeʾ et-tēne.
The young men arrived together and went up to the second floor. (human plural subject)
With an overt subject before the verb, ordinary Beirut Lebanese uses full agreement. Formal MSA rules about reduced agreement after a verb are not a shortcut for Lebanese conversation. Postverbal subjects allow discourse-sensitive patterns, especially with coordination, but a beginner should not use word order to erase clear gender or number morphology.
Adjectives and participles track the described noun
Predicative and attributive adjectives agree: موظف جديد versus موظفة جديدة, and plural humans موظفين جداد. Participles behave similarly because they describe a state or participant: ناطر / ناطرة / ناطرين, رايح / رايحة / رايحين.
هاي الموظفة الجديدة ناطرة المدير من الصبح.
hāy el-mwaẓẓafe l-zhdīde nāṭra l-mdīr min eṣ-ṣoboḥ.
This new employee has been waiting for the manager since morning. (three feminine agreement targets)
هول الطلاب تعبانين بس بعدن مركزين.
hōl eṭ-ṭollēb taʿbānīn bass baʿdon mrakkzīn.
These students are tired, but they're still focused. (human plural agreement)
Plural adjective shape is lexical. جديد uses جداد, while many participles and state adjectives use ـين. Agreement tells you which cell is needed; it does not manufacture the plural form. Memorize frequent adjective paradigms as جديد / جديدة / جداد and تعبان / تعبانة / تعبانين.
Demonstratives establish the first agreement cue
This course uses هاد with a masculine singular, هاي with a feminine singular, and هول with plurals. Common Lebanese هيدا، هيدي، هولي are legitimate (informal; common Lebanese) recognition forms, not random replacements. Syrian, Palestinian, and Jordanian systems differ and should be labeled rather than blended into one invented paradigm.
هاد المحل منيح، بس هاي القهوة غالية.
hād el-maḥall mnīḥ, bass hāy el-ʾahwe ghālye.
This shop is good, but this coffee is expensive. (masculine then feminine singular)
هول البنات لبنانيين وبيشتغلوا سوا.
hōl el-banēt libnēniyyīn w-byishtaghlō sawa.
These women are Lebanese and work together. (human plural throughout)
Human and nonhuman plurals are not one rule
Human plurals robustly take plural verbs, adjectives, and participles in neutral Beirut speech. With nonhuman plurals, two living Lebanese strategies coexist. Feminine singular agreement often packages a class or set as a group; plural agreement often individuates visible or discourse-salient items.
الطلبات الجديدة جاهزة عالنظام.
eṭ-ṭalabāt el-zhdīde zhēhze ʿan-niẓām.
The new applications are ready in the system. (grouped nonhuman plural; feminine singular agreement)
هول الصناديق التقال محطوطين عند الباب.
hōl eṣ-ṣanādīʾ et-tʾāl maḥṭūṭīn ʿind el-bēb.
These heavy boxes are set by the door. (individuated visible items; plural agreement)
The second pattern is not “bad MSA,” and the first is not compulsory for every inanimate plural. Construal, lexical preference, salience, and speaker style matter. For a generic class, feminine singular is a strong starting choice; for a visible set being counted or moved one by one, plural is natural.
Mixed and coordinated groups
A coordinated group takes plural agreement. If the speaker is included, use first-person plural; otherwise, inclusion of the addressee selects second-person plural; a third-person group uses third-person plural. A mixed-gender human group uses the ordinary urban plural rather than a special dual or feminine-plural verb.
أنا ومايا رح نجهز القاعة، وإنت ورامي بتستقبلوا الضيوف.
ana w-Māya raḥ nzhahhiz el-ʾāʿa, w-inte w-Rāme btistaʾblo ḍ-ḍyūf.
Maya and I will prepare the hall, and you and Rami will receive the guests. (person resolution in two mixed groups)
Short repair dialogue
وين الموظفة الجديدة؟ بعدها ناطرة برا؟
wēn el-mwaẓẓafe l-zhdīde? baʿda nāṭra barra?
Nour: Where's the new employee? Is she still waiting outside? (feminine chain)
لأ، فاتت وصارت قاعدة مع الموظفين الجداد.
laʾ, fētit w-ṣāret ʾāʿde maʿ el-mwaẓẓafīn el-zhdēd.
Rami: No, she went in and is now sitting with the new employees. (feminine verbs and participle; human plural adjective)
منيح، هني كلن جاهزين للاجتماع؟
mnīḥ, hinne killon zhēhzīn lal-izhtimēʿ?
Nour: Good; are they all ready for the meeting? (plural pronoun and predicate)
Common Mistakes
1. Using a masculine verb for a feminine subject
❌ رنا بيروح عالشغل بالباص.
Incorrect—رنا requires the feminine imperfect prefix pattern.
✅ رنا بتروح عالشغل بالباص لما بتمطر.
Rana btrūḥ ʿash-shoghl bil-bāṣ lamma btimṭor.
Rana goes to work by bus when it rains.
2. Losing feminine agreement on an adjective
❌ هاي الغرفة زغير وبارد.
Incorrect—both adjectives describe feminine غرفة.
✅ هاي الغرفة زغيرة وباردة بالشتا.
hāy el-ghorfe zghīre w-bārde bish-shita.
This room is small and cold in winter.
3. Using a singular participle with a human plural
❌ الموظفين ناطر المدير.
Incorrect—human plural الموظفين requires a plural participle.
✅ الموظفين ناطرين المدير بقاعة الاجتماعات.
el-mwaẓẓafīn nāṭrīn el-mdīr b-ʾāʿet el-izhtimēʿāt.
The employees are waiting for the manager in the meeting room.
4. Using a singular demonstrative with a plural
❌ هاد الكتب لإلك؟
Incorrect—plural الكتب takes plural هول in the production set.
✅ هول الكتب لإلك ولا للمكتبة؟
hōl el-ktob la-ʾilak walla lal-maktabe?
Are these books yours or the library's?
5. Treating a human plural as feminine singular
❌ البنات الجديدة مبسوطة بالرحلة.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline—human البنات requires plural adjective and predicate forms.
✅ البنات الجداد مبسوطين بالرحلة كتير.
el-banēt el-zhdēd mabsūṭīn bir-riḥle ktīr.
The new girls are very happy about the trip.
6. Forcing plural agreement on a grouped nonhuman class
❌ السيارات بهالحي غاليين عادة.
Poor fit for the intended generic class reading; feminine singular packages the class naturally.
✅ السيارات بهالحي غالية عادة.
es-sayyārāt b-hal-ḥayy ghālye ʿāde.
Cars in this neighborhood are usually expensive. (grouped generic reading)
7. Using third plural when the addressee belongs to the group
❌ إنت ومايا بيروحوا قبلي.
Incorrect—because the addressee is included, the group takes second-person plural agreement.
✅ إنت ومايا بتروحوا قبلي عالمكتب.
inte w-Māya btrūḥo ʾable ʿal-maktab.
You and Maya will go to the office before me.
8. Copying the subject's gender onto a predicate noun
❌ هاي الغرفة مكتبة مؤقتة للمدير.
Wrong for the intended ‘temporary office’: مكتبة means ‘library’; predicate nouns keep their own lexical gender.
✅ هاي الغرفة مكتب مؤقت للمدير.
hāy el-ghorfe maktab mwaʾʾat lal-mdīr.
This room is a temporary office for the manager.
9. Importing a formal dual paradigm into conversation
❌ هاتان السيارتان جديدتان.
Grammatical formal MSA, but not the intended everyday Beirut sentence.
✅ هالسيارتين جداد وبعدن بلا لوحات.
has-sayyārtēn zhdēd w-baʿdon bla lawḥāt.
These two cars are new and still don't have plates. (informal Lebanese dual noun with plural agreement)
Repair drill
Take one sentence and mark each agreement target separately: verb, demonstrative, adjective, participle, and resumptive pronoun. Write the controller above it. Do not repair by ear until every arrow has a noun or participant at the other end. Then read the corrected sentence aloud as a chain—هاي الموظفة الجديدة ناطرة—so the agreement pattern becomes one production unit.
Key Takeaways
Lebanese agreement identifies participants across verbs, demonstratives, adjectives, and participles. Human plurals take plural agreement; coordinated groups resolve person and number; nonhuman plurals allow a meaningful grouped feminine-singular versus individuated plural contrast. Predicate nouns retain their own lexical gender. Keep formal MSA dual and agreement paradigms labeled as formal rather than using them as casual Beirut morphology.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Person, Gender, and Number on VerbsA1 — Match Lebanese verbs to first, second, and third person across masculine, feminine, singular, and plural subjects.
- Masculine and Feminine Adjective FormsA1 — Form and use masculine and feminine Lebanese adjectives, including the common -e/-a suffix, vowel changes, and irregular color pairs.
- Adjective Plurals in Lebanese ArabicB1 — Choose lexical broken plurals, productive -īn forms, or invariant loans and apply human versus nonhuman plural agreement in Lebanese.
- Agreement with Nonhuman PluralsB1 — Choose feminine-singular or plural agreement with Lebanese nonhuman plurals according to grouping, salience, animacy, and style.
- Near Demonstratives in the Lebanese BaselineA1 — Point to nearby people and things with the course's هاد and هاي forms while recognizing the common Lebanese plural and long series.
- Agreement with Coordinated SubjectsB1 — Resolve Lebanese agreement with subjects joined by و, including mixed gender, person resolution, and variable first-conjunct agreement after the verb.