Lesson 4
Masculine and feminine
A final ة usually means feminine.
Every Arabic noun is either masculine (mudhakkar) or feminine (muʾannath).
Simple rule: a word ending in ة (tāʾ marbūṭa) is usually feminine.
Adding ة to مُؤْمِن (a believing man) gives مُؤْمِنَة (a believing woman).
Some words are feminine without any marker — e.g. أَرْض (earth), نَار (fire), شَمْس (sun).
Examples from the Qur'an
Feminine by adding ة
- a believer (m)Surah 4:92مُؤْمِنٌۭ
- a believer (f)Surah 2:221مُّؤْمِنَةٌ
- a garden, ParadiseSurah 2:266جَنَّةٌۭ
Feminine without a marker
- the earthSurah 2:11ٱلْأَرْضِ
- the FireSurah 2:39ٱلنَّارِ ۖ
- the sunSurah 6:78ٱلشَّمْسَ