Masculine and Feminine in Arabic Grammar

Words in Arabic can be masculine or feminine based on:

• meaning and/or

• grammar

(A common sign of feminine gender in grammar is the presence of ة (tāʾ marbūṭah))

Sometimes these two categories combine, like in the word بِلَالٌ.

It is masculine by meaning (it refers to a male), and masculine by grammar (it does not have ة).

For example, the word طَلْحَةُ is masculine by meaning, but feminine by grammar (it has ة).

The meaning takes precedence, so we treat طَلْحَةُ in a sentence as masculine.

A good question is:

how did this ة appear in words like طَلْحَةُ?

This relates to how the word was formed morphologically from its root, as some patterns include a tāʾ marbūṭah even for masculine names.

To continue, words like زَيْنَبُ or يَدٌ (hand) are feminine by meaning, even though they do not have ة. We therefore treat them as feminine in sentences.

The foundation in Arabic is that words are treated as grammatically masculine by default, unless there is something that indicates otherwise — such as:

• feminine meaning, or

• a feminine grammatical marker like tāʾ marbūṭah

The same applies to the word اللّٰهُ. We say: اللّٰهُ الْعَظِيمُ, not because the word “Allāh” is masculine by meaning, but because it is treated as masculine in grammar by default, and there is nothing indicating femininity.

The same applies to the names of the angels.

For example, if you see someone at a distance and are unsure whether it is a man or a woman, you would say:

ذَهَبَ أَحَدٌ

“Someone went.”

Here, the masculine form is used as the default.