Lesson 5 · هٰذِهِ

Feminine words: this and that

Every Arabic noun is masculine or feminine. Most feminine nouns end in ة (taa marbuuṭa), like سَيَّارَةٌ (car) and مَدْرَسَةٌ (school). With feminine nouns, use هٰذِهِ (haadhihi) instead of هٰذَا, and تِلْكَ (tilka) instead of ذٰلِكَ.

Learn with pictures

Tap a picture to hear the sentence.

Examples

هٰذِهِ سَيَّارَةٌhaadhihi sayyaaratunThis is a car

هٰذِهِ مَدْرَسَةٌhaadhihi madrasatunThis is a school

تِلْكَ نَافِذَةٌtilka naafidhatunThat is a window

هٰذِهِ طَالِبَةٌhaadhihi ṭaalibatunThis is a (female) student

مَنْ هٰذِهِ؟man haadhihi?Who is this (woman)?

الْمَدْرَسَةُ كَبِيرَةٌal-madrasatu kabiiratunThe school is big

السَّيَّارَةُ جَدِيدَةٌas-sayyaaratu jadiidatunThe car is new

الشَّمْسُ حَارَّةٌash-shamsu ḥaarratunThe sun is hot

Key points

Masculine: هٰذَا كِتَابٌ. Feminine: هٰذِهِ سَيَّارَةٌ.
Describing words follow the noun: add ة to make them feminine. الْبَيْتُ كَبِيرٌ, but الْمَدْرَسَةُ كَبِيرَةٌ.
A few feminine words have no ة, such as شَمْسٌ (sun) and أُمٌّ (mother). Learn them as you meet them.

Practice

Tap a question to see the answer.

Choose هٰذَا or هٰذِهِ: ___ مَدْرَسَةٌ

هٰذِهِ مَدْرَسَةٌ haadhihi madrasatun

مَدْرَسَةٌ ends in ة, so it is feminine.

Make the describing word feminine: السَّيَّارَةُ جَدِيدٌ

السَّيَّارَةُ جَدِيدَةٌ as-sayyaaratu jadiidatun

Say “That is a window”.

تِلْكَ نَافِذَةٌ tilka naafidhatun