- In a previous lesson of the course, we studied the masculine and feminine nouns and recognized the signs that differentiate between a masculine and a feminine noun. Here we will do the same with verbs. Verbs are like nouns; they are subject to rules of masculinity and feminization according to the verb doer. Sometimes the verb doer makes the verb obligatory feminine – i.e. it is always feminine, as in the following examples:
Picture
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English
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Arabic
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 |
The Arab woman plays an important role in the formation of the family
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The university helps the youth draw their country’s future
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The girls and boys participated in the contest
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- In other cases the verb doer makes a verb permissible feminine or masculine – i.e. it can be either gender, as in the following examples:
English
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Masculine Verb
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Feminine Verb
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Arabs disagreed, thus their influence waned.
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Fatima attended the lesson today
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- Therefore, we should study three important points:
- When a verb doer makes a verb obligatory feminine.
- When a verb doer makes a verb obligatory masculine.
- When a verb doer makes a verb permissible feminine or masculine.
- We shall also study the signs of the feminization of the present and past verbs, as in the following examples:
Feminine sentence translation
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Masculine sentence translation
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مُذَكَّرٌ
Masculine sentence | |
The girl came early
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The boy came early
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The female student writes with a pen
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The male student writes with a pen
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The mother does her duty towards her family
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The father does his duty towards his family
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- We will first discuss briefly the types of feminine nouns in the Arabic language. There are two types of feminine nouns in Arabic:
- Real feminine مُؤَنَّثٌ حَقِيقِيٌّ is that which begets or lays eggs, whether women, animals or birds.
Arabic
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Dove
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Cow
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Giraffe
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Zaynab
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Girl
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Woman
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English
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- This means that a noun may not be suffixed with a feminine letter, such as Zaynabزَيْنَبُ but it is feminine by default.
- Figurative feminine مُؤَنَّثٌ مَجَازِيٌّ is an inanimate (non-living) noun ending with a feminine suffix, or does not end with a feminine suffix but is regarded as feminine within the Arabic language. For example:
Arabic
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Hand
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Sun
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Desert
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University
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Garden
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Tree
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English
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Obligatory feminine – الْمُؤَنَّثِ وُجُوبًا
- After we have learned types of feminine nouns in detail, we will know when a verb must be obligatory feminine. Consider the following example:
Picture
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English Translation
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Arabic Example
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No.
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Suad has exercised sports for a month
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1
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Zaynab studies at Cairo University
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2
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Fatima works in a big company
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3
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Suad studied hard and passed the exam
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4
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The giraffe ate a lot of carrots
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5
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The cat entered the kitchen, ate food and then it escaped from the window
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6
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- Through these examples, it becomes apparent that a verb is obligatory feminine when:
- The verb doer is a real feminine that begets or lays eggs, whether women, animals or birds, including proper nouns (names) - examples include Suad, Zaynab, Fatima, giraffe and cat. All these nouns are real feminine nouns. However, there is a condition that should be met in order that the verb is an obligatory feminine – that is, the verb and its doer must be directly connected, i.e. the noun comes directly after the verb.
- The verb doer is a connected pronoun (ضَمِيرٌ مُتَّصِلٌ) referring to a feminine noun mentioned before the verb. Consider the following examples:
Picture
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English
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Arabic
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The Mother is a gift from God; she becomes pregnant, gives birth and cares for her children
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My friend Mariam is diligent; she reads and studies much
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The police exert efforts to keep security of people and protect their property and souls (lives).
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The sky is a source of life for the land; if it rains it fills the land with goodness and life, and if not land becomes waste
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Planes are a wonderful invention, because they carry heavy things and transport passengers to remote countries
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- We notice in the previous examples that all verbs are feminine. The verbs are:
Type
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Verb
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Sentence No.
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Past
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1
| |
|
Past
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1
| |
|
Past
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1
| |
|
Present
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2
| |
|
Present
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2
| |
|
Present
|
3
| |
|
Present
|
3
| |
|
Past
|
4
| |
|
Past
|
4
| |
|
Past
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4
| |
|
Present
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5
| |
|
Present
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5
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- The verb doer of these verbs is a latent pronoun i.e. it means "she" or “it” and refers to the following feminine nouns (look at the examples above after looking at the table below):
Verbs relating to feminine noun
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Feminine noun
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Mother الأمُّ
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Mariam مَرْيَم
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Police الشُّرْطَةُ
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Sky السماء
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Planes الطَّائرات
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- To summarize, there are two cases in which the verb should be obligatory feminine:
- If the verb doer is a feminine noun (that which begets or lays eggs, including women, animals and birds), provided that it comes directly following the verb (consider previous examples).
- The verb doer is a latent pronoun referring to a feminine noun mentioned before the verb (consider previous examples).Permissibility of verb feminization or masculinity – جَوَازُ تَأْنِيثِ الْفِعْلِ وَتَذْكِيرِهِ
- In the previous part, we studied the two cases in which a verb must be obligatory feminine. In this part, we will study the cases in which a verb may be permissibly feminine or masculine.
- Consider the following examples:
English translationFeminine VerbMasculine VerbFatimah attended the lesson today.The girls will go today to the gardenThe sun rises from the eastThe plane landed in the airportThe boys played football for an hourPeople said ‘this is strange’- We notice that the cases in which a verb can be feminine or masculine are three, as follows:
- In the first two examples, the verb doer in the sentences is as follows:
- We notice here that the verb doer فاطمة is a real feminine, but it is permissible to make the verb feminine or masculine, because the sentence lacks an essential condition to be obligatory feminine (the verb doer must come directly after the verb). Here the verb حَضَرَ and its doer فَاطِمَة is separated. For this reason we can make the verb feminine or masculine. The same also applies to the second sentence.
- In the second set, we notice that the verb doers in the two sentences are الشَّمْسُ andالطَّائِرَةُ. These nouns are not real feminine, but figurative because they neither beget nor lay eggs. For this reason, their verbs can be feminine or masculine
- In the third set of examples, we notice the third case in which a verb can be permissible feminine or masculine:
- The verb doers in these sentences are الأَوْلادُ (children) and النَّاسُ (people). The two nouns are broken plural (جَمْعُ تَكْسِيرٍ) forms (Lesson 13). This means that if the verb doer is a broken plural, the verb can be masculine or feminine, but if it is intact feminine plural (جَمْعُ مُؤَنَّثٍ سَالِمٌ), such as طَبِيبَاتٌ, مُهَنْدِسَاتٌ andبَنَاتٌ and comes directly after the verb, it must be obligatory feminine.
- But if the verb doer is intact masculine plural, such as مُهَنْدِسُونَ, لَاعِبُونَ andمُسْلِمُونَ, the verb must be obligatory masculine.
- However, in other than the above-mentioned cases, the verb must be obligatorymasculine.
Revision – مُرَاجَعَةٌmeaningWordmeaningWordSpringNeedWinterMake fun withAutumnTake care ofSummerKnowFlowers bloomParticipateCold air(sun) set(sun) riseVisit (her)TemperatureGave (her)Fall (v)(she) came backRains(she) wasPartner of life(be) happyDemonstrationsLove (her)Repair(she) loves (them)SweepCompetition rewardMachineEngineerPlaneLand (v)EastSunStay up (late) at nightGardenFillBecome pregnantCarryGive birthRainCarrotsProtectAirportGiraffe
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