Gender Agreement between the Subject and Predicate (Feminine Singular Sentences)

Read the bilingual lesson for Gender Agreement between the Subject and Predicate (Feminine Singular Sentences) and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. What Will We Learn in This Level?

● In this section, we will learn the important rule of gender agreement (masculine and feminine) in the nominal sentence.
● We will learn what spelling change is made to form a feminine predicate (khabar) when the subject (mubtadaʾ) is feminine.
● We will study the case endings of feminine examples such as Maryam, Zaynab, and Fāṭimah.
● We will learn to change all the masculine sentences in the exercise into feminine sentences.

2. The Basic Rule of Gender Agreement

● Gender agreement between the subject (mubtadaʾ) and predicate (khabar) is required:
○ If the subject is feminine singular, the predicate will also be feminine singular.
● Examples:
○ Maryam is righteous. -> مَرْيَمُ صَالِحَةٌ
■ Here, مَرْيَمُ is the subject (mubtadaʾ). It is a woman's name and a diptote, so it has a single ḍammah without tanwīn.
■ صَالِحَةٌ is the predicate (khabar). Tāʾ marbūṭah was added to صَالِحٌ to make it feminine.
○ Zaynab is truthful. -> زَيْنَبُ صَادِقَةٌ
○ Fāṭimah is a female teacher. -> فَاطِمَةُ مُعَلِّمَةٌ

3. How to Change Masculine Sentences into Feminine Sentences (Part One)

● Let us compare the grammar by changing masculine sentences into feminine sentences:

Masculine example
Masculine Arabic
Feminine example
Feminine Arabic

Hāshim is a doctor.
هَاشِمٌ طَبِيبٌ
Fāṭimah is a doctor.
فَاطِمَةُ طَبِيبَةٌ

ʿĀbid is an engineer.
عَابِدٌ مُهَنْدِسٌ
ʿĀʾishah is an engineer.
عَائِشَةُ مُهَنْدِسَةٌ

Nāṣir is a student.
نَاصِرٌ طَالِبٌ
Sājidah is a female student.
سَاجِدَةُ طَالِبَةٌ

Mujāhid is hardworking.
مُجَاهِدٌ مُجْتَهِدٌ
Mujāhidah is hardworking.
مُجَاهِدَةٌ مُجْتَهِدَةٌ

4. How to Change Masculine Sentences into Feminine Sentences (Part Two)

● Let us practise changing more masculine sentences into feminine sentences:

Masculine example
Masculine Arabic
Feminine example
Feminine Arabic

Khālid is tall.
خَالِدٌ طَوِيلٌ
Khālidah is tall.
خَالِدَةُ طَوِيلَةٌ

Zāhid is short.
زَاهِدٌ قَصِيرٌ
Zāhidah is short.
زَاهِدَةُ قَصِيرَةٌ

Manṣūr is handsome.
مَنْصُورٌ جَمِيلٌ
Manṣūrah is beautiful.
مَنْصُورَةٌ جَمِيلَةٌ

Shāhid is standing.
شَاهِدٌ قَائِمٌ
Shāhidah is standing.
شَاهِدَةُ قَائِمَةٌ

5. How to Change Masculine Sentences into Feminine Sentences (Part Three)

● Let us review the remaining sentence changes:

Masculine example
Masculine Arabic
Feminine example
Feminine Arabic

Maẓhar is sitting.
مَظْهَرٌ جَالِسٌ
Maẓharah is sitting.
مَظْهَرَةٌ جَالِسَةٌ

Sājid is ill.
سَاجِدٌ مَرِيضٌ
Sājidah is ill.
سَاجِدَةُ مَرِيضَةٌ

● Case-ending note: Women's personal names, such as Maryam, Zaynab, Fāṭimah, ʿĀʾishah, and Sājidah, are declinable diptotes. Therefore, they take a single ḍammah at the end, not tanwīn.

Practice questions

Question 1

What is the correct Arabic translation of Maryam is righteous?

مَرْيَمُ صَالِحَةٌ
مَرْيَمٌ صَالِحٌ
مَرْيَمَ صَالِحَةً

Question 2

When a woman's personal name, such as ʿĀʾishah or Fāṭimah, is the subject of an Arabic sentence, grammar requires it to take tanwīn.

True
False

Question 3

Select the words in the correct order to make the Arabic translation of "ʿĀʾishah is an engineer."

عَائِشَةُ مُهَنْدِسَةٌ
عَائِشَةٌ مُهَنْدِسٌ
مُهَنْدِسَةٌ عَائِشَةُ

Question 4

Match the following masculine sentences with their correct feminine sentences:

Question 5

Sort the following Arabic nouns into the correct masculine and feminine groups according to their written form:

Question 6

Match the given feminine Arabic words with their grammatical roles to make the sentence "Sājidah is ill."

Question 7

Sort the given Arabic words into their correct grammatical-order groups to make the sentence "Mujāhidah is hardworking."

Question 8

Select the words in the correct order to make the Arabic translation of "Zāhidah is short."

زَاهِدَةُ قَصِيرَةٌ
زَاهِدَةٌ قَصِيرٌ
قَصِيرَةٌ زَاهِدَةُ

Open the interactive quiz