Every Lebanese Arabic noun belongs to one of two grammatical genders: masculine or feminine. For people, gender often follows sex, but for objects and ideas it is a property of the word itself. A door is grammatically masculine; a car and the sun are grammatically feminine.
English speakers need to learn gender because English normally uses it and the same adjective for objects. Lebanese makes gender visible in words around the noun.
The basic contrast: هاد and هاي
Use هاد “this” with a singular masculine noun and هاي “this” with a singular feminine noun. Common Lebanese هيدا and هيدي make the same contrast, but هاد and هاي are the course's first production forms.
هاد بيت كبير.
hād bēt kbīr.
This is a big house. (informal; masculine بيت)
هاي سيارة جديدة.
hāy sayyāra zhdīde.
This is a new car. (informal; feminine سيارة)
هيدا القلم لإلي، وهيدي الشنطة لإلك.
hayda l-ʾalam la-ile, w-hayde sh-shanṭa la-ilak.
This pen is mine, and this bag is yours. (informal Lebanese; common هيدا/هيدي set)
The noun controls the choice. The speaker's gender and the owner's gender do not matter: every speaker says هاي السيارة because سيارة is grammatically feminine.
Natural gender and grammatical gender
With words for people, meaning is often helpful: شب “young man” is masculine and بنت “girl” is feminine. Pairs such as معلم/معلمة “male/female teacher” also show a regular feminine ending.
هاد شب من شغلي، وهاي بنته.
hād shabb mn shoghle, w-hāy binto.
This is a guy from my work, and this is his daughter. (informal; natural gender)
المعلمة وصلت، بس المعلم بعده بالطريق.
el-mʿallme wiṣlit, bass el-mʿallem baʿdo biṭ-ṭarīʾ.
The female teacher arrived, but the male teacher is still on the way. (informal; human gender pair)
For things, however, meaning usually does not predict gender. باب “door” is masculine, while شمس “sun,” أرض “ground/land,” نار “fire,” and إيد “hand” are feminine. There is no semantic reason an English speaker can use to derive these reliably.
هاد الباب تقيل، وهاي الإيد بعدها موجوعة.
hād el-bēb tʾīl, w-hāy el-īd baʿda mawzhūʿa.
This door is heavy, and this hand still hurts. (informal; masculine باب, feminine إيد)
هاي الشمس قوية اليوم.
hāy esh-shames ʾawiyye l-yōm.
The sun is strong today. (informal; شمس is feminine)
Common feminine forms
The strongest visible clue is final ة. Many words ending in ة are feminine:
- سيارة sayyāra “car”
- مدرسة madrase “school”
- قهوة ʾahwe “coffee”
- طاولة ṭāwle “table”
But ة is a spelling, not one transparent sound. In the ordinary stand-alone form it is commonly pronounced -e or -a, not automatically -at. A t becomes audible in certain linked and suffixed forms, which the feminine ending guide teaches separately.
المدرسة قريبة من هون.
el-madrase ʾrībe mn hōn.
The school is near here. (informal; citation ending -e)
القهوة بعدها سخنة.
el-ʾahwe baʿda sekhne.
The coffee is still hot. (informal; feminine قهوة)
The clue has exceptions in both directions. Feminine شمس and إيد have no ة. A male name such as حمزة ends in ة but takes masculine agreement because it refers to a male person.
حمزة تعبان اليوم.
Ḥamze taʿbēn el-yōm.
Hamze is tired today. (informal; masculine name despite final ة)
Do not turn a strong clue into an absolute rule. The unpredictable gender guide groups the frequent exceptions.
Agreement reveals the noun's gender
Several words point back to a noun and change form with it. At A1, demonstratives are the clearest diagnostic. Adjectives and past-tense verbs also show the contrast:
| Agreement target | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| “this” | هاد البيت | هاي السيارة |
| “new” | بيت جديد | سيارة جديدة |
| “arrived” | وصل الباص | وصلت السيارة |
| “it” | هو | هي |
وصل الباص، وهو واقف برا.
wiṣel el-bāṣ, w-huwwe wāʾef barra.
The bus arrived, and it's waiting outside. (informal; masculine agreement)
وصلت السيارة، وهي واقفة قدام الباب.
wiṣlit es-sayyāra, w-hiyye wāʾfe ʾoddēm el-bēb.
The car arrived, and it's parked in front of the door. (informal; feminine agreement)
English says it arrived for both bus and car. Lebanese makes you choose وصل/وصلت and هو/هي. That repeated agreement is why noun gender matters even when the noun names an object. Full adjective patterns belong in the adjective gender guide.
Learn the plural separately
Gender and plural formation are two different facts. The ending ـات is common, but many everyday nouns have broken plurals that reshape the word. Do not invent a plural by adding one ending.
| Singular | Plural | Gender of singular |
|---|---|---|
| بيت bēt | بيوت byūt | masculine |
| كتاب ktēb | كتب ktob | masculine |
| كرسي kerse | كراسي karēse | masculine |
| شب shabb | شباب shabēb | masculine |
| سيارة sayyāra | سيارات sayyārāt | feminine |
| مدرسة madrase | مدارس madēres | feminine |
| بنت bent | بنات banēt | feminine |
| طاولة ṭāwle | طاولات ṭāwlāt | feminine |
عندي كتاب جديد وتلات كتب قدام.
ʿinde ktēb zhdīd w-tlēt ktob ʾdēm.
I have one new book and three old books. (informal; broken plural كتب)
بالحي مدرسة زغيرة، وفي مدرستين كمان.
bil-ḥayy madrase zghīre, w-fī madrastēn kamēn.
There is one small school in the neighborhood, and two more schools as well. (informal; singular and dual contrast)
The last example uses a dual, not the table's plural. It shows why number forms also need to be learned in context. Plural agreement has additional human/nonhuman patterns and belongs to the dedicated plural pages.
Two noun phrases in a real dialogue
شو رأيك بهاد البيت الكبير؟
shū raʾyak b-hād el-bēt el-kbīr?
Rami: What do you think of this big house? (informal dialogue; masculine noun phrase)
حلو، بس هاي الغرفة الزغيرة ما فيها ضو.
ḥelo, bass hāy el-ghorfe z-zghīre ma fīha ḍaww.
Maya: It's nice, but this small room has no light. (informal dialogue; feminine noun phrase)
وهيدي الطاولة بتزبط حد الشباك.
w-hayde ṭ-ṭāwle btizbaṭ ḥadd esh-shobbēk.
Rami: And this table would work beside the window. (informal Lebanese; feminine هيدي)
إيه، بس هيدا الباب لازم يتصلح.
ē, bass hayda l-bēb lāzem yitṣallaḥ.
Maya: Yes, but this door needs to be repaired. (informal Lebanese; masculine هيدا)
Common Mistakes
Choosing gender from the object's meaning
❌ هاد سيارة جديدة.
Incorrect — سيارة is grammatically feminine, regardless of who owns or drives it.
✅ هاي سيارة جديدة.
hāy sayyāra zhdīde.
This is a new car. (feminine agreement)
Trusting the final sound too much
❌ هاي باب كبيرة.
Incorrect — باب is masculine even though meaning offers no clue.
✅ هاد باب كبير.
hād bēb kbīr.
This is a big door. (masculine agreement)
Assuming every feminine noun ends in ة
❌ هاد الشمس قوي.
Incorrect — شمس is lexically feminine without ة.
✅ هاي الشمس قوية.
hāy esh-shames ʾawiyye.
The sun is strong. (feminine agreement)
Inventing the plural mechanically
❌ عندي تلات كتابات للجامعة.
Incorrect for 'three books' — كتابات means writings or written works, not the ordinary plural of كتاب.
✅ عندي تلات كتب للجامعة.
ʿinde tlēt ktob lal-zhēmʿa.
I have three books for university. (broken plural كتب)
Pronouncing MSA endings or every ة as -at
❌ سيارة جديدة
sayyāratun jadīdatun
Incorrect in everyday Lebanese — this imports MSA case endings and treats ة as if its t were always audible.
✅ سيارة جديدة.
sayyāra zhdīde.
A new car. (ordinary Lebanese citation forms, with no case endings)
Key Takeaways
Lebanese nouns are masculine or feminine. Natural gender helps with many human nouns; form—especially ة—offers useful clues; but many common nouns require memorization. Learn each noun with هاد/هاي and its real plural. Agreement reveals gender, while the written ة does not automatically mean an audible t or an MSA ending.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Feminine ة and Its Spoken FormsA1 — Learn how feminine ة is pronounced in citation forms, construct phrases, suffixed forms, and plurals in everyday Lebanese Arabic.
- Nouns with Unpredictable GenderA2 — Learn how agreement reveals the gender of Lebanese nouns whose meaning or ending gives no reliable clue.
- Gender Assignment to LoanwordsB1 — Use Lebanese agreement, word shape, meaning, and actual usage to determine the gender of borrowed nouns.
- Sound Masculine and Feminine PluralsA2 — Learn when Lebanese nouns take spoken -īn or -āt plurals, how stems adjust, and why gender alone cannot predict the plural.
- 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.
- 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.