The adjective rules / قُواعِد النَعْت

The adjective in Arabic is called نَعْت and the noun it qualifies is called مَنْعوت. There are two rules regarding the adjective in Arabic:

• Unlike English, the adjective comes systematically after the noun it qualifies.

• The adjective agrees with the noun it qualifies in all possible respects, namely:

1. In gender / الجِنْس
2. In number / العَدَد
3. In definiteness / التَعْريف
4. In grammatical case / الإعْراب

Examples:

⤷ Gender: The word ‘university’ جامِعة is feminine by nature, the adjective big (كَبير) will have to take the feminine form => كَبيرة.

⤷ Number: ‘The university’ الجامِعةِ is here singular, hence, ‘big’ كَبيرة stays in the singular form.

⤷ Definiteness: ‘The university’ الجامِعةِ is definite, we’ll then have to add the article of definition to big 🢡 الكَبيرة 

⤷ Grammatical case: ‘The university’ الجامِعةِ is in the genitive form and ends with a kasra. As a matter of consequence الكَبيرة also ends with the kasra accordingly 🢡 الكَبيرةِ

⤷ Gender: The word ‘cat’ قِطٌّ is masculine by nature, and the adjective ‘small’ (صَغِير) stays in the masculine form (صَغِير🢡 (مُذَكَّر

⤷ Number: ‘Cat’ قِطٌّ is here singular, hence, “small” صَغِير stays in the singular form.

⤷ Definiteness: ‘Cat’  قِطّ is indefinite, we won’t add the article of definition to small 🢡 صَغِير

⤷ Grammatical case: ‘Cat’ قِطّ is in the nominative case (مَرْفُوع) and ends with a ḍamma. As a matter of consequence صَغِير also ends with the ḍamma accordingly 🢡 صَغِيرٌ

⤷ Gender: The word ‘students’ الطُلّابُ is masculine by nature, the adjective successful ناجِح stays in the masculine form (ناجِح 🢡 (مُذَكَّر

⤷ Number: ‘The students’ الطُلّابُ is here plural , hence, ‘successful’ ناجِح take the plural form (ناجِحُون 🢡 (الجَمْع

⤷ Definiteness: “The students” الطُلّابُ is definite, we’ll then have to add the article of definition to successful 🢡 الناجِحونَ 

⤷ Grammatical case: “The students” الطُلّابُ is in the nominative form (مَرْفُوع) and ends with a ḍamma. As a matter of consequence, الناجِحونَ is a regular plural (which we saw in previous lessons) and will end with ون accordingly 🢡 الناجِحونَ 

Note: In the latter sentence, “hard-working” مُجْتَهِدونَ is considered the information (الخبر) of the nominal sentence and not as an adjective, as it doesn’t follow the subject “students” طُلّاب in definiteness.

Plurals not endowed with reason / الجُموع الجامِدة

The adjective which refers to non-personified things or animals in the plural form agrees with the feminine singular. This rule is only valid for the plural (and not the dual).