Lesson 30 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّلاثُونَ
Masculinity and Feminization of Verb- تَذْكِيرُ الْفِعْلِ وَتَأْنِيثُهُ
Obligatory feminine – الْمُؤَنَّثِ وُجُوبًا
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- After we have learned types of Arabic feminine nouns in detail, we will know when a verb must be obligatory feminine. Consider the following example:
| Picture | English Translation | Arabic Example | No. |
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| Suad has exercised sports for a month | 1 | |
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| Zaynab studies at Cairo University | 2 | |
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| Fatima works in a big company | 3 | |
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| Suad studied hard and passed the exam | 4 | |
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| The giraffe ate a lot of carrots | 5 | |
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| The cat entered the kitchen, ate food and then it escaped from the window | دَخَلَتِ القِطَّةُ المَطْبَخَ، وأكَلَتِ الطَّعَامَ ثُمَّ هَرَبَتْ مِنَ النَّافِذَةِ | 6 |
- Through these examples, it becomes apparent that a verb is obligatory feminine when:
- The verb doer is a real feminine that begets or lays eggs, whether women, animals or birds, including proper nouns (names) - examples include Suad, Zaynab, Fatima, giraffe and cat. All these nouns are real feminine nouns. However, there is a condition that should be met in order that the verb is an obligatory feminine – that is, the verb and its doer must be directly connected, i.e. the noun comes directly after the verb.
- The verb doer is a connected pronoun (ضَمِيرٌ مُتَّصِلٌ) referring to a feminine noun mentioned before the verb. Consider the following examples:
| Picture | English | Arabic |
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| The Mother is a gift from God; she becomes pregnant, gives birth and cares for her children | الْأُمُّ هَدِيَّةٌمِنَ اللَّهِ؛ حَمَلَتْ، وَوَضَعَتْ، وَسَهِرَتْ عَلَى رَاحَةِ أَوْلادِها |
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| My friend Mariam is diligent; she reads and studies much | صَدِيقَتِي مَرْيَمُ مُجْتَهِدَةٌ؛ فَهِيَ تَقْرَأُ كَثِيرًا، وتَدْرُسُ كَثِيرًا |
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| The police exert efforts to keep security of people and protect their property and souls (lives). | تَسْهَرُ الشُّرْطَةُ عَلَى أَمْنِ الْمُوَاطِنِينَ؛ فَتَحْمِي أَمْوَالَهُمْ، وَأَرْوَاحَهُمْ |
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| The sky is a source of life for the land; if it rains it fills the land with goodness and life, and if not land becomes waste | |
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| Planes are a wonderful invention, because they carry heavy things and transport passengers to remote countries |
- We notice in the previous examples that all verbs are feminine. The verbs are:
| Type | Verb | Sentence No. |
| Past | 1 | |
| Past | 1 | |
| Past | 1 | |
| Present | 2 | |
| Present | 2 | |
| Present | 3 | |
| Present | 3 | |
| Past | 4 | |
| Past | 4 | |
| Past | 4 | |
| Present | 5 | |
| Present | 5 |
- The verb doer of these verbs is a latent pronoun i.e. it means "she" or “it” and refers to the following feminine nouns (look at the examples above after looking at the table below):
| Verbs relating to feminine noun | Feminine noun |
| Mother الأمُّ | |
| Mariam مَرْيَم | |
| Police الشُّرْطَةُ | |
| Sky السماء | |
| Planes الطَّائرات |
- To summarize, there are two cases in which the verb should be obligatory feminine:
- If the verb doer is a feminine noun (that which begets or lays eggs, including women, animals and birds), provided that it comes directly following the verb (consider previous examples).
- The verb doer is a latent pronoun referring to a feminine noun mentioned before the verb (consider previous examples).