Basic Word Formation in Arabic

Word formation in Arabic is the process of creating new words by means of adding prefixes, suffixes, infixes, or changing the diacritical marks in the word roots. Take the Arabic word root كَتَبَ ‘he wrote’ which is a verb. By adding the prefix مَـ to it and changing the short vowels over the كـ and ـب, it becomes مَكْتَبٌ ‘an office’ which is a noun. If you add the infix ـا after the first letter and change the short vowels over the ـتـ and ـب, it becomes كَاتِبٌ ‘a writer’ which is a noun. Likewise, if we change the short vowels in كَتَبَ  to كُتُبٌ ‘books’, it becomes a plural noun. In this lesson, I will explain three basic Arabic word formation rules: formation of feminine nouns, formation of definite nouns, and formation of possessive nouns.

Masculine الْمُذَكَّر and Feminine الْمُؤَنَّث:

Arabic Language has a gender. That is, nouns and adjectives are either masculine مُذَكَّر or feminine مُؤَنَّث. The masculine is the basic form. So, to form the feminine, we add the feminine marker (i.e. ة or ـة, depending on the letter that precedes it) to the end of the masculine, as shown in the table below. Therefore, most of the words that end ـة / ة in Arabic are feminine. 

الْمُؤَنَّث feminine	الْمُذَكَّر masculine	الْمُؤَنَّث feminine	الْمُذَكَّر masculine
مُدَرِّسَـة	مُدَرِّس teacher	طَالِبَـة	طَالِب  student
طِفْلَـة	طِفْل  baby body	طَبِيبَـة	طَبِيب   physician
قَصِيرَة	قَصِير  short	طَوِيلَـة	طَوِيل  tall
جَمِيلَـة	جَمِيل  beautiful	ذَكِيَّـة	ذَكِيّ   smart
نَظِيفَـة	نَظِيف  clean	أَنِيقَـة	أَنِيق  neat
جَدِيدَة	جَدِيد  new	قَذِرَة	قَذِر  dirty
رَشِيقَـة	رَشِيق  slim	سَمِينَـة	سَمِين  fat
صَغِيرَة	صَغِير  small	كَبِيرَة	كَبِير  big
سَهْلَـة	سَهْل  easy	نَشِيطَـة	نَشِيط  energetic
لَذِيذَة	لَذِيذ  delicious	رَخِيصَـة	رَخِيص  inexpensive

The indefinite النَّكِرَة and definite الْمَعْرِفَة:

Arabic nouns and adjectives are either indefinite نَكِرَة or definite مَعْرِفَة, that is specific entity/thing or unspecific. The indefinite noun/adjective is the basic form. There are three ways to make it definite. The most common way is by adding the definite article الْـ to the beginning the word, as in the following table.

Definite مَعْرِفَة	Indefinite نَكِرَة	Definite مَعْرِفَة	Indefinite نَكِرَة
الْمُدَرِّس	مُدَرِّس  a teacher	الْبَيْت	بَيْت  a house
الطِّفْل	طِفْل  a baby boy	السَّيَّارَة	سَيَّارَة  a car
الْقَصِير	قَصِير  short	الْقَلَم	قَلَم  a pen
الْجَمِيل	جَمِيل  beautiful	الْـغُرْفَة	غُرْفَة  a room
الْكِتَاب	كِتَاب  a book	الْقَامُوس	قَامُوس  a dictionary
الْجَدِيد	جَدِيد  new	الْكَلْب	كَلْب  a dog
النَّهْر	نَهْر  a river	الْجَامِعَة	جَامِعَة   a university
الْوَلَد	وَلَد  a boy	السَّمَكَة	سَمَكَة  a fish
الشَّارِع	شَارِع  a street	الْمَقْصَف	مَقْصَف  a canteen
الْخَرُوف	خَرُوف  a sheep	النَّخْلَة	نَخْلَة  a palm tree

Personal pronouns ضَمَائِرُ الْفَاعِل  and adjective pronouns ضَمَائِرُ الْجَرِّ الْمُتَّصِلَةِ:

There are twelve personal/separate pronouns in Arabic. The most common in everyday spoken Arabic are أَنَا ‘I’, نَحْنُ ‘we’, أَنْتَ ‘you, masculine’, أَنْتِ ‘you, feminine’, أَنْتُم ‘you, masculine plural’, أَنْتُنَّ ‘you, feminine plural’, هُوَ ‘he’, هِيَ ‘she’, هُم ‘they, masculine plural’, and هُنَّ ‘they, feminine plural.’ For each of these pronouns, there is a corresponding attached (adjective) pronoun, as shown in table below.

By adding the attached pronouns to nouns, we form possessive nouns. But you must take heed that attached pronouns are only suffixed to indefinite nouns. This suffixation makes the indefinite nouns definite, which is the second way of forming definite nouns in Arabic.  

Example	adjective pronoun	Personal pronoun
كِتَابِي  my book قَلَمِي  my pen	ـي	I أَنَا
جَامِعَتُنَا  our university سَيَّارَتُنَا our car	ـنَا	we نَحْنُ
سَاعَتُكَ  your watch سَرِيرُكَ  your bed	ـكَ	you (m) أَنْتَ
شَنْطَتُكِ  your bag جَزْمَتُكِ  your shoe	ـكِ	you (f) أَنْتِ
بَيْتُكُم  your house شَارِعُكُم  your street	ـكُم	you (m, pl) أَنْتُم
غُرْفَتُكُنَّ  your room مَطْبَخُكُنَّ  your kitchen	ـكُنَّ	you (f, pl) أَنْتُنَّ
صَدِيقُهُ  his friend وَجْهُهُ  his face	ـه	he هُوَ
أُخْتُهَا  her sister شَعْرُهَا  her hair	ـهَا	she هِيَ
أُسْتَاذُهُم  their instructor كُرَتُهُم  their ball	ـهُم	they (m) هُم
شَقَّتُهُنَّ  their apartment اِمْتِحَانُهُنَّ  their test	ـهُنَّ	they (f) هُنَّ