Order of adjectives
An adjective is a describing word which modifies the noun.
English
An adjective is positioned before the word it modifies, e.g. a blue bag or
may occur after a verb, e.g. the bag is blue.
The two main features of an adjective are clearly defined below:
1. Attributive: when the adjective is placed before the head noun and it
attributes a quality or a characteristic to the noun. The short girl
2. Predicative: when the adjective is placed after a linking verb.
The boy grew tall
Words which can function in both attributive and predicative positions are
referred to as the central adjectives.
A big car
The car is big
In this example the meaning is consistent no matter where the
adjective is positioned. However with certain words a change
in the position of the adjective involves a change in meaning:
My old friend
The adjective old refers to the ‘one who has been a friend for a
long period of time.’
My friend is old
In this example, old implies that the friend is old in age.
some words can only function in either one of these positions,
and they are termed as the peripheral adjectives.
The cat is asleep
*The asleep cat
Utter nonsense
*The nonsense is utter
‘asleep’ can only be used as a predicative adjective, while ‘utter’
can only function attributively.
The three levels of comparison
1- The lower degree expresses the inferiority of the subject
matter using less and least:
Sami is less ambitious than Ali.
Sami is the least ambitious student in the class.
2- The positive degree expresses the same degree of the subject
matter using as/as, so, and not as/so….as:
Sami is as ambitious as Ali.
Sami is so ambitious.
Sami is not as ambitious as Ali.
3- The higher degree expresses comparison of the subject
matter using -er/more and for superlative -est/most:
Sami is more ambitious than Ali.
Sami is cleverer than Ali.
Sami is the cleverest student in the class.
Sami is the most ambitious student in the class.
There are certain adjectives that are irregular and do not follow
a particular pattern, these include the following:
good better the best
bad worse the worst
some adjectives cannot be graded and are therefore called
ungradable, and are categorized into the following:
 Attributive-only adjectives (former, outright, chemical)
 Nationality adjectives in their primary sense (English,
Pakistani, Scottish)
 Adjectives with an absolute meaning (alternative, average,
equal)
Arabic
An adjective in Arabic is called na’at or sifa.
There are two types of adjectives:
1 . ‫ َحقيقي‬Haqiqi: the ‘direct’ adjective post modifies the preceding
noun. ‫ع ِظي ًما‬
َ ‫أ َ ْج ًرا‬
2- ‫سببي‬
َ Sababi: the ‘indirect’ adjective premodifies a noun that is
ْ َ‫فصل‬
coreferential with the head noun. ‫ت آيَاته‬
ِ ‫ِكتَاب‬
Comparison
Comparisons of equality are expressed with the preposition ‫ك‬kaaf
which gives the meaning of ‘like’ or ‘as’. The letter kaaf is prefixed
to the thing or person compared with.
‫ب ه‬
‫َومنَ الناس َم ْن يَتخذُ من دُون ه‬
‫اَّلل‬
ِّ ‫اَّلل أ َ ْندَادا يُحبُّونَ ُه ْم َك ُح‬
The term ‫إسم تفضيل‬ism tafdheel is the noun of ‘higher value’ and is
used to describe both the comparative and superlative forms in
Arabic, whether denoting a positive or a negative meaning.
1- Comparative: The comparative adjectives generally agree with
one common pattern: ‫أ َ ْفعَ ُل‬afal-u .
‫اس‬
ِ ‫اوا‬
ُ ‫لَ َخ ْل‬
َّ ‫ق ال‬
ِ َّ‫ق الن‬
ِ ‫ت َو ْاْل َ ْر‬
َ ‫س َم‬
ِ ‫ض أ َ ْكبَ ُر ِم ْن َخ ْل‬
2- Superlative: it is similar to the structure of comparison but with
adding al. ‫اْلَ ِّج ْاْلَ ْك َِّب‬
ْ ‫يَ ْوُم‬
A very important feature related to the study of adjectives is the
agreement system. The adjective must be in complete agreement
with the noun it qualifies with regard to four characteristics:
1- Definiteness (definite or indefinite articles)‫ الرجل الطويل‬//‫رجل طويل‬
2- Gender (Male or female) ‫ ملكة عادلة‬//‫ملك عادل‬
3- Case (nominative, accusative or genitive)
4- Number (singular, dual or plural) ‫كتابان كبيران‬//‫كتاب كبير‬//‫كتب كبيرة‬
‫‪Syntactically, adjectives have no specific order in Arabic:‬‬
‫التائبون العابدون الحامدون السائحون الراكعون الساجدون اآلمرون بالمعروف‬
‫والناهون عن المنكر والحافظون لحدود هللا وبشر المؤمنين‬
‫(التوبة ‪)112‬‬
Gender
English
Gender is traditionally classed into three classifications:
1. Masculine: men, boys and male animals [higher].
2. Feminine: women, girls, female animals [higher] and some
specific inanimate objects (book, box).
3. Neuter: inanimate things, animals [lower], babies and animals
whose sex we do not know.
Nouns which have a distinct male and female form will take
he/she/who. While the neuter gender noun will be replaced by
it/which.
There are certain exceptions related to the inanimate nouns:
 Travelling vehicles when regarded with affection or respect.
E.g. ‘The ship struck an iceberg, which tore a huge hole in her
side.’
 Countries when referred to by name in some cases.
E.g. ‘Scotland lost many of her bravest men in two great
rebellions.’
Arabic
Arabic is a gender specific language and all forms of nouns are
classified by either one of the following genders:
1. Masculine
2. Feminine
The female gender is a derivative from the masculine form and
requires distinguishing factors that denotes its femininity. Hence,
the female gender is divided into two classes:
1 . ‫ ُمؤنث َحقيْقي‬Mo’annath haqiqi: the true feminine Nouns which are
feminine by nature and include the following examples:
‫أ ُ ْخت‬// ‫ ْإم َرأَة‬// ‫نَاقَة‬
2- ‫ُمؤنث غير َحقيْقي‬
i) Nouns which follow a conventional rule of bearing any of t
he three following signs at the end of the word. ‫ة – اء – ى‬
These three signs can apply to the true feminine as long as the
word implies a feminine signification. E.g. ‫) ُمؤ منَة‬
ii) Nouns which are feminine due to observation. These nouns
are titled as ‫شمس) ُمؤنث السماعية‬//‫ دَار‬//‫ )نَار‬and body parts which
are in pairs: ‫ اذن‬//‫ عين‬//‫ كتف‬//‫يد‬
When the verb precedes the noun it can be masculine or
َ // ‫الشمس‬
َ but otherwise it is feminine.
feminine: ‫الشمس‬
ْ ‫طلَعَت‬
ْ ‫طلَ َع‬
Personal pronouns
English
A pronoun replaces a noun for the sake of brevity. Personal
pronouns are grouped according to the following categories:
 Person (1st –2nd – 3rd)
 Number (Singular – Plural)
 Gender (Male – Female – Neuter)
 Case (Subject – Object)
Person
Singular
Plural
subject
object
subject
object
1st Masculine + Female
I
Me
we
us
2nd Masculine + Female
You
You
You
You
3rd Masculine
he
Him
they
them
3rd Feminine
She
her
they
them
3rd Neutral
It
It
they
them
Arabic
Personal pronouns are very distinctive as they are marked for
features of person, gender, number and case.
The detached personal pronouns can function in only two
cases: ‘the ‫رفع‬rafa
nominative and ‫نَصب‬nasb accusative.’
َ
The number of categories of personal pronouns in Arabic is
larger than in English.
Person
singular
dual
plural
1st Masculine + Female
‫أَنا‬
‫ن َْحن‬
‫ن َْحن‬
2nd Masculine
‫ت‬
َ ‫أ ْن‬
‫أ ْنت َما‬
‫أ ْنت ْم‬
2nd Feminine
‫ت‬
ِ ‫أ ْن‬
‫أ ْنت َما‬
‫أ ْنتن‬
3 Masculine
‫هو‬
َ
‫ه َما‬
‫ه ْم‬
3rd Feminine
‫ِهي‬
‫ه َما‬
‫هن‬
rd
Person
accusative
singular
dual
plural
1st Masculine
‫اياي‬
-
‫ايانا‬
1st Female
‫اياي‬
2nd Masculine
‫اياك‬
‫اياكما‬
‫اياكم‬
2nd Feminine
‫اياك‬
‫اياكما‬
‫اياكن‬
3 Masculine
‫اياه‬
‫اياهما‬
‫اياهم‬
3rd Feminine
‫اياها‬
‫اياهما‬
‫اياهن‬
rd
‫ايانا‬