Arabic nouns and adjectives

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Arabic nouns and adjectives work with a system of endings that mark case, number, gender, and state in Classical Arabic. In everyday spoken Arabic, many of these endings are simplified or dropped, especially the case endings, making the language easier to use but with less overt grammar.

Numbers and plurals
- Nouns come in three numbers: singular, dual (two), and plural (three or more).
- The dual form is required when exactly two items are talked about, even if the speaker doesn’t state “two.” When the plural is used, it usually means three or more.
- Nouns can have sound plurals (regular endings) or broken plurals (a stem change). For example, book (kitāb) becomes kutub in the plural (sound plural); a different word like maktab has a broken/plural form makātib.

Gender and endings
- Arabic has masculine and feminine nouns. Most feminine nouns end with a -a/-ah sound and carry a feminine marker called tā’ marbūṭah.
- The definite article al- (al- before a consonant, a reduced l- before certain sounds) marks definiteness. Indefinite nouns usually carry a nunation or appear with no mark.
- Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and state (definite/indefinite).

Construct state and possession
- In a genitive (of) construction, two nouns join in an iḍāfah (a kind of possessive link). The first noun is “construct state” (no definite article, no nunation). The second noun carries the definite state if needed.
- When an adjective modifies a construct-state noun, it follows the genitive and mirrors the noun’s definiteness.

Gender agreement and deflected agreement
- Adjectives and verbs normally agree with their nouns in gender and number.
- A special rule (deflected agreement) says that, with inanimate plural nouns, adjectives and verbs use feminine singular form. This does not apply to dual nouns, which keep their own strict agreement.

Derivation and word formation
- Nouns and adjectives are often built from roots using patterns. A common suffix is nisba -iyy-, which means “related to” or “from,” as in nationality terms (Iraqi, Kuwaiti).
- The feminine ending -ah can be added to many nouns to form feminine forms.
- A large productive area comes from participles (active and passive) and verbal nouns, which become many everyday nouns and adjectives.

Noun of place, tool nouns, and diminutives
- Place names are often built with a prefix like ma- (e.g., maktab “desk/office,” library maktabat).
- Tool or instrument nouns commonly use mi- (e.g., miftāḥ “key,” mien for a device).
- Diminutives (small or affectionate forms) use specific patterns and are very productive in some dialects, especially in Moroccan Arabic; in Modern Standard Arabic they are less common.

Adverbs
- Adverbs can form from adjectives (often with a final -an or similar ending) or be created with a preposition + noun, e.g., bi- plus a noun meaning “with speed” or “exactly.”
- Some adverbs come from ordinal numbers or from nouns meaning “usually,” “often,” etc.

Notes on simplification and history
- Colloquial Arabic has largely dropped most final vowels and case endings, and the two-way system of triptote/diptote has largely vanished in everyday speech.
- In formal writing and careful speech, case endings may be indicated again, but in ordinary usage they are often omitted.

In short, Arabic nouns and adjectives are marked for number, gender, and state in classical form, with a rich system of plurals, construct states, and derivations. Modern speech keeps much of the system but with many endings simplified, especially the case endings.