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### Basic Noun Gender and the Taa' Marboota (ة)

In Arabic, every noun is either masculine or feminine. When referring to people or professions, you can often change a masculine noun into a feminine noun simply by adding a special letter to the end: the Taa' Marboota (ة).

It is a closed loop with two dots, found only at the very end of a word. When a word ends in ة, it is almost always feminine.

Let's look at how this works with people. The word for "husband" is masculine, and by adding the Taa' Marboota, you get the feminine word for "wife".

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This pattern works for many other descriptions and professions. For example, a male patient is مريض, and a female patient is مريضة.

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Similarly, you can differentiate between a male nurse (ممرض) and a female nurse (ممرضة).

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### Expressing Time: "Now"

To specify that something is happening currently, use the word الآن (now).

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### The Gender of Objects

Noun gender doesn't just apply to people; inanimate objects are also inherently masculine or feminine. Unlike people, an object's gender is fixed and cannot be changed. However, you can usually spot a feminine object because its name will end in a Taa' Marboota (ة).

For instance, the words for flower (زهرة), mirror (مرآة), and car (سيارة) all end in ة, making them feminine nouns.

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Basic noun gender (ة)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Expressing purpose (لـ)

Question	Answer
husband	زوجzawj
Where is the husband?	أين الزوج؟ayna az-zawju?
The husband is here.	الزوج هنا.az-zawju hunâ
wife	زوجةzawjah
Where is the wife?	أين الزوجة؟ayna azzawjatu?
The wife is there.	الزوجة هناك.az-zawjatu hunâka
patient	مريضmarîdh
Is the patient (m) here?	هل المريض هنا؟hal al-marîdu hunâ?
No, the patient (m) is there.	لا، المريض هناك.lâ, al-marîdu hunâka
patient	مريضةmarîḍa
now	الآنal-ân
The patient (f) is here now.	المريضة هنا الآن.al-marîdatu hunâ al-âna.
Is the patient (f) there?	هل المريضة هناك؟hal al-marîdatu hunâka?
nurse	ممرضmumarrid
Where is the nurse (m) now?	أين الممرض الآن؟ayna al-mumarridu al-âna
The nurse (m) is there.	الممرض هناك.al-mumarridu hunâka.
nurse	ممرضةmumarridah
The nurse (f) is here and the nurse (m) is there.	الممرضة هنا والممرض هناك.al-mumarriḍatu hunâ wal-mumarriḍu hunâka
Yes, the nurse (f) is here.	نعم، الممرضة هنا.na'am, al-mumarridatu huna
flower	زهرةzahra
The flower is here.	الزهرة هنا.az-zahratu hunâ.
Where is the flower?	أين الزهرة؟ayna az-zahratu?
mirror	مرآةmir'â
The mirror is there.	المرآة هناك.al-mir'âtu hunâka.
Is the mirror here?	هل المرآة هنا؟hali l-mir'atu hunâ?
car	سيارةsayyâra
Where is the car now?	أين السيارة الآن؟ayna as-sayyâratu al-âna?
The car is there.	السيارة هناك.as-sayyâratu hunâka

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