Categories of the Grammatically Feminine: Marked and Usage-Based

1. What Will We Learn in This Level?

● In this section, we will study the categories of grammatically feminine nouns in detail.
● We will learn to recognize the marked feminine (regular) and the usage-based feminine (samāʿī).
● We will learn nouns that have no visible marker but are used as feminine by native Arabic speakers.
● We will study the different groups of usage-based feminine nouns.

2. Regular or Marked Feminine

● Regular/marked feminine: a category of grammatically feminine nouns that has a visible feminine marker.
● The main markers are:
○ ة (tāʾ marbūṭah): called round tāʾ for ease, as in غُرْفَةٌ (room).
○ alif al-taʾnīth al-mamdūdah (اء): as in صَفْرَاءُ and عَمْيَاءُ.
○ alif al-taʾnīth al-maqṣūrah (ى): as in عُظْمَى.

3. The Idea of Usage-Based Feminine Nouns

● Usage-based feminine (samāʿī): a category of grammatically feminine nouns that native Arabic speakers use as feminine.
● These nouns have no visible feminine marker and no corresponding living masculine form.
● Arabic grammar groups some of these words to make them easier to remember.

4. Groups of Usage-Based Feminine Nouns (Part One)

● Arabic speakers treat the listed or commonly used words in these groups as usage-based feminine nouns:
○ Names of winds: such as رِيحٌ (strong wind), صَرْصَرٌ (cold, fierce wind), and سَمُومٌ (hot, poisonous wind).
○ Names of wine: such as خَمْرٌ (wine) and خُرْطُومٌ (an old name for a strong, quickly intoxicating wine).
○ Names of fire: such as نَارٌ (fire), جَهَنَّمُ (Hell), سَعِيرٌ (blazing fire), and سَقَرُ (a name of Hell).

5. Groups of Usage-Based Feminine Nouns (Part Two)

● Names of countries and cities are counted as feminine.
● Examples:
○ مَكَّةُ = Makkah (it is the name of a city, so it is feminine).
○ بَاكِسْتَانُ = Pakistan (it is the name of a country, so it is feminine).
○ مِصْرُ = Egypt (it is the name of a country, so it is feminine).
● A simple rule for body parts:
○ Body parts that come in pairs are counted as feminine.
○ Body parts that occur singly are counted as masculine.
● Examples of paired feminine body parts:
○ يَدٌ = hand (there are two, so it is feminine).
○ عَيْنٌ = eye (there are two, so it is feminine).
○ أُذُنٌ = ear (there are two, so it is feminine).
● Examples of single masculine body parts:
○ رَأْسٌ = head (there is one, so it is masculine).
○ أَنْفٌ = nose (the body has one nose, so it is masculine in Arabic).
○ فَمٌ = mouth (there is one, so it is masculine).

6. Other Usage-Based Feminine Nouns

● Some other unmarked nouns are also known from Arabic usage to be feminine:

Arabic word
English meaning

أَرْضٌ
earth/land

سَمَاءٌ
sky

شَمْسٌ
sun

دَارٌ
house

حَرْبٌ
war

عَصَا
staff

نَفْسٌ
soul/self

7. Level Summary

● A marked or regular feminine noun ends in round tāʾ (ة) or an alif al-taʾnīth (اء or ى).
● Usage-based feminine (samāʿī) nouns are treated as feminine according to established Arabic usage.
● Names of winds, wine, and fire are counted as usage-based feminine nouns.
● Names of countries and cities are counted as feminine.
● Paired body parts are counted as feminine, while single body parts are counted as masculine.
● Some other words, such as earth, sky, sun, and house, also belong to the usage-based feminine category.