Unit 2 · What's this?

Masculine, feminine, and where the adjective goes

Capitals mark the emphatic letters, 3 is ع and 7 is ح, and ' is the glottal stop that Cairo uses for q.

Every noun is masculine or feminine, and most feminine nouns end in -a: saa3a (watch), shanTa (bag), Taraabeeza (table). An adjective agrees by taking the same -a: kitaab gideed (a new book), shanTa gideeda (a new bag). It comes after the noun, the reverse of English. People work the same way: mudarris and mudarrisa (teacher), Taalib and Taaliba (student), kwayyis and kwayyisa (fine).