An Arabic attributive adjective—an adjective inside a phrase such as “a new book”—normally follows its noun and copies four of its grammatical properties: gender, number, case, and definiteness. Think of those four properties as one agreement bundle. If the noun changes, the adjective changes with it.
There is one essential qualification: a plural referring to nonhuman things normally takes a feminine singular adjective. Human plurals, by contrast, normally receive plural agreement. This page gives you the complete map and shows how agreement reveals whether an adjective belongs inside a phrase or serves as the predicate of a sentence.
For a focused lesson on syntax, continue to Attributive Adjectives Follow the Noun.
The four-part agreement bundle
Start with four common combinations. The masculine form جديد “new” and feminine جديدة follow the noun; الـ appears on both words when the phrase is definite.
وصل اليوم طالب جديد.
waṣala l-yawma ṭālibun jadīd.
A new male student arrived today.
وصلت اليوم طالبة جديدة.
waṣalati l-yawma ṭālibatun jadīda(h).
A new female student arrived today.
قابلت الطالب الجديد بعد الدرس.
qābaltu ṭ-ṭāliba l-jadīda baʿda d-dars.
I met the new male student after class.
قابلت الطالبة الجديدة بعد الدرس.
qābaltu ṭ-ṭālibata l-jadīdata baʿda d-dars.
I met the new female student after class.
These examples vary gender and definiteness. Number and case are also matching, even when ordinary unvocalized Arabic does not display all the endings. In the first two sentences, noun and adjective are nominative; in the last two, both are accusative objects.
| Property | Noun asks | Adjective answers |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | masculine or feminine? | جديد or جديدة |
| Number | singular, dual, or plural? | matching form, except nonhuman plurals |
| Case | nominative, accusative, or genitive? | the same case ending |
| Definiteness | indefinite or definite? | ordinary indefinite endings (often tanwīn) or matching الـ |
Gender: follow grammatical gender
Many feminine nouns end in ة, and their adjectives commonly do too: غرفة صغيرة “a small room.” But agreement follows the noun's grammatical gender, not its real-world meaning or the English translation. شمس “sun” is feminine; قمر “moon” is masculine.
الشمس الساطعة أزعجت السائق.
ash-shamsu s-sāṭiʿatu ʾazʿajati s-sāʾiq.
The bright sun bothered the driver.
ظهر القمر الساطع فوق الجبل.
ẓahara l-qamaru s-sāṭiʿu fawqa l-jabal.
The bright moon appeared above the mountain.
There is no dependable way to infer every noun's gender from English semantics. Learn a noun together with a common adjective or demonstrative: هذه الشمس, هذا القمر.
Number: human and nonhuman plurals split
With people, plural nouns normally take plural adjectives. The precise plural form of an adjective must be learned: جديد has masculine human plural جدد and feminine plural جديدات in these examples.
وصل المهندسون الجدد إلى الموقع.
waṣala l-muhandisūna l-jududu ʾilā l-mawqiʿ.
The new male engineers arrived at the site.
وصلت المهندسات الجديدات إلى الموقع.
waṣalati l-muhandisātu l-jadīdātu ʾilā l-mawqiʿ.
The new female engineers arrived at the site.
The first verb remains masculine singular because it comes before a plural subject; the second is feminine singular because the subject is feminine. That verb–subject asymmetry is separate from noun–adjective agreement: inside each noun phrase, the human adjective is plural.
Traditional grammar describes the deeper contrast as rational versus non-rational reference. People are normally treated as rational; things, abstract items, and animals viewed as a class are non-rational and normally use feminine singular agreement. Explicit personification can shift a nonhuman referent into rational agreement, but the neutral pattern is:
وصلت التقارير الجديدة هذا الصباح.
waṣalati t-taqārīru l-jadīdatu hādhā ṣ-ṣabāḥ.
The new reports arrived this morning.
الهواتف القديمة بطيئة.
al-hawātifu l-qadīmatu baṭīʾa(h).
The old phones are slow.
التقارير and الهواتف are morphologically plural, but their adjectives are feminine singular: الجديدة, القديمة, بطيئة. This is the standard “deflected agreement” pattern of formal Arabic.
Case: noun and adjective travel together
Case marks the phrase's role. In fully vocalized formal Arabic, a noun and its attributive adjective take the same case. English has no comparable adjective endings, so this feature is easy to overlook.
حضر الموظف الجديد.
ḥaḍara l-muwaẓẓafu l-jadīd.
The new employee attended. (Nominative phrase; final pause hides the adjective's ending.)
قابلت الموظف الجديد صباحا.
qābaltu l-muwaẓẓafa l-jadīda ṣabāḥā.
I met the new employee this morning. (Accusative phrase.)
تحدثت مع الموظف الجديد أمس.
taḥaddathtu maʿa l-muwaẓẓafi l-jadīdi ʾams.
I spoke with the new employee yesterday. (Genitive phrase after maʿa.)
The ordinary written phrase looks similar in all three sentences because short case vowels are normally omitted. The spokenForm exposes the matching endings where they are structurally relevant. Many formal speakers also use pausal endings in speech; that does not erase case from the grammar.
Definiteness distinguishes a phrase from a sentence
An attributive adjective shares definiteness with its noun. A predicate adjective normally remains indefinite, because it gives new information about a definite topic.
البيت الكبير
al-baytu l-kabīr
The big house. (A definite noun phrase.)
البيت كبير.
al-baytu kabīr.
The house is big. (A complete nominal sentence.)
English puts the adjective before the noun in both “the big house” and “the house is big.” Arabic uses order plus definiteness agreement to distinguish them. Adding الـ to the predicate would turn it back into part of the noun phrase, leaving no stated predicate.
Agreement reveals adjective scope in an iḍāfa
After a definite iḍāfa, an adjective follows the entire construction. Its gender can show which noun it modifies:
أصلحنا نافذة البيت الكبيرة.
ʾaṣlaḥnā nāfidhata l-bayti l-kabīra(h).
We repaired the house's large window. (Feminine adjective modifies nāfidha.)
أصلحنا نافذة البيت الكبير.
ʾaṣlaḥnā nāfidhata l-bayti l-kabīr.
We repaired the window of the large house. (Masculine adjective modifies al-bayt.)
Both adjectives are definite because نافذة البيت is a definite iḍāfa. Feminine الكبيرة points back to نافذة; masculine الكبير points to البيت. Agreement is therefore not merely decoration—it carries meaning.
Common Mistakes
Putting the adjective before the noun
❌ جديد كتاب على المكتب.
Incorrect — an ordinary attributive adjective follows its noun.
✅ كتاب جديد على المكتب.
kitābun jadīdun ʿalā l-maktab.
There is a new book on the desk.
Omitting definiteness agreement
❌ قرأت الكتاب مفيد.
Incorrect for ‘I read the useful book’ — the attributive adjective must be definite too.
✅ قرأت الكتاب المفيد.
qaraʾtu l-kitāba l-mufīd.
I read the useful book.
Using a plural adjective with a nonhuman plural
❌ قرأت الكتب الجديدات.
Incorrect — nonhuman plural kutub requires a feminine singular adjective.
✅ قرأت الكتب الجديدة.
qaraʾtu l-kutuba l-jadīda(h).
I read the new books.
Guessing gender from English meaning
❌ الشمس ساطع اليوم.
Incorrect — shams is grammatically feminine.
✅ الشمس اليوم ساطعة.
ash-shamsu l-yawma sāṭiʿa(h).
The sun is bright today.
Key Takeaways
- An attributive adjective follows its noun and agrees in gender, number, case, and definiteness.
- Human plurals normally take plural adjectives; nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular adjectives.
- A definite noun plus definite adjective forms one phrase; a definite noun plus indefinite adjective often forms a sentence.
- Case agreement remains part of formal Arabic even when short endings are absent from ordinary writing or reduced in speech.
- Agreement can identify which noun an adjective modifies inside a larger construction.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Singular, Dual, and Plural AdjectivesA1 — Form and choose singular, dual, and plural adjectives while accounting for gender, case, and the special agreement of nonhuman plurals.
- Attributive Adjectives Follow the NounA1 — Place Arabic attributive adjectives after their nouns and use agreement to distinguish noun phrases, predicates, stacks, and iḍāfa scope.
- Colors and Physical Defects on أفعل/فعلاءA2 — Use the special أفعل/فعلاء adjective family for basic colors and certain physical characteristics.