Feminine 2

Feminine nouns that have no feminine endings

Apart from the feminine ending ة there are other ways to determine the gender of a noun. In other words, a word may be feminine and still not end in ة.

Normally a noun not ending with a ة is masculine. However, there are a number of nouns that do not end in ة but are feminine (and not masculine as one would expect), and this for other reasons. These reasons can be classified into the following groups:

1. Geographical names

   All names of places, like names of countries, towns, villages, etc. are feminine. These include such names as

   English	Arabic
   Mecca	مَكّة
   Medina	المَدينة
   Taa-if	الطَائِف
   Egypt	مِصْر
   France	فَرَنْسا
   Britain	بِريطانِيا
   Canada	كَنَدا
   China	الصين
   Tokyo	توكيو

It does not matter whether the noun ends in ة or not, it is feminine. And also, all geographical names are definite, with or without ال.

2. Body organs in pairs

   Organs of the body that are in pairs, like the eyes, ears, hands, etc are feminine.

   English	Arabic
   eye	عَين
   ear	أُذُن
   hand	يَد
   foot	رِجْل
   shoulder	كَتِف

3. Non-human plural

   All non-human plural nouns are considered feminine singular. Words like كُتُب، أَقلام، فُصول، حَدائِق، ...  are all feminine (and singular) although their singular forms vary in gender. This applies to objects, trees, animals, ideas, anything thats not a human; even human organs fall in this category. When a noun is plural and does not denote a human being, its ending is not taken into account. In fact, most plural forms do not have the feminine ending ة.

Can't find what you're looking for?

Please use the search box below to search for it.

Related pages

• Indefinite nouns — The Indefinite Article
• Feminine

Other topics availabe on this site:

Arabic alphabet — Indefinite nouns — Definite nouns — Nominal sentences
Adjectives — Feminine — Singular pronouns — Dual nouns — Dual pronouns
Basic declension of nouns — Demonstrative: This — Demonstrative: That
Plural — Plural pronouns — Preposition — There is/are — To have
Possessive case — Broken Plural — Possessive Adjectives