Basic Arabic adjectives for beginners

Arabic adjectives perform an important linguistic function – they specify the noun. Learning adjectives greatly enriches the vocabulary and helps to communicate freely in the language.

From this lesson you will learn the basic rules of adjectives in Arabic and learn more than 40 basic adjectives selected for the beginner level, such as: big, small, old, young, new, old and many more.

At the end of the lesson you will find a quiz to help you remember the new vocabulary.

If you don’t know the Arabic alphabet yet check our post Arabic alphabet – All you need to know to write in Arabic

Introduction to Arabic adjectives

There are a few rules to keep in mind when using Arabic adjectives. Below you will find the most important ones, which are useful at the beginner level.

Important: Arabic adjectives always come after the noun. For example: البيت الأبْيَض [The White House] – Although in English the word white comes before the noun, in Arabic the adjective comes after it.

Adjectives in Arabic follow the nouns in everything – either the noun is masculine or feminine, indefinite or definite, singular, plural dual etc.

It means that if the noun is definite (ال -al) like in our example البيت الأبْيَض the adjective has to be definite as well.

The same rule applies to gender. The following list of adjectives contains adjectives of the masculine gender.

In order for the adjective to be feminine, we must add ta marbuta [ة] at the end of it. For example: جَميل [jamiil] (beautiful masculine) – جَميلة [jamiila] (beautiful feminine).

Speaking of adjectives, it is a good idea to learn the names of colors, which will make it easier for you to describe items in Arabic at a beginner level.

If you don’t know the colors yet, check out our post Colors in Arabic.

Another useful post, in the case of adjectives, is our post Nationalities in Arabic. Check out how to form nationalities from the names of countries and learn the names of nationalities in Arabic.

Arabic adjectives list

Learn the names of basic adjectives in Arabic. Learn how to say ugly, beautiful, fat, thin, old, young, etc. in Arabic. Each Arabic word on the list has its pronunciation written next to it.

If you are intermediate or advanced learner go to -> Advanced Arabic Adjectives.

English	Arabic	Pronunciation
Beautiful	جَميل	jamiil
Ugly	قَبيح	qabiiH
Old	قَديم	qadiim
New	جَديد	jadiid
Hot	ساخِن	saakhin
Cold	بارِد	baarid
Big	كَبير	kabiir
Small	صَغير	Saghiir
Cheap	رَخيص	rakhiiS
Expensive	غالي	ghaali
Good	جَيِّد	jayyid
Bad	سَيِّء	sayyi’
Long	طَويل	Tawiil
Short	قَصير	qaSiir
Early	مُبَكِّر	mubakkir
Late	مُتَأَخِّر	muta’akhkhir
Many/ much	كَثير	kathiir
Little	قَليل	qaliil
Important	مُهِمّ	muhimm
Different	مُخْتَلِف	mukhtalif
Busy	مَشْغول	mashghuul
Clean	نَظيف	naDhiif
Dirty	وَسِخ	wasikh
Hard/ difficult	صَعْب	Sa3b
Easy	سَهْل	sahl
Old	كَبير	kabiir
Young	صَغير	Saghiir
Weird	غَريب	ghariib
Strong	قَوِيّ	qawiy
Weak	ضَعيف	Da3iif
Tall	طَويل	Tawiil
Short	قَصير	qaSiir
Fat	سَمين	samiin
Thin	نَحيف	naHiif
Poor	فَقير	faqiir
Rich	غَنِيّ	ghaniy
Heavy	ثَقيل	thaqiil
Light	خَفيف	khafiif
Fast	سَريع	sarii3
Slow	بَطيء	baTi’
Lazy	كَسول	kasuul
Sad	حَزين	Haziin
Happy	مَسْرور	masruur
Boring	مُمِلّ	mumill
Smart	ذَكِيّ	dhakiy
Stupid	غَبِيّ	ghaniy

Arabic adjectives Quiz

Quizzes are a great tool to practice your vocabulary. All the Arabic vocabulary lists on our website contain quizzes at the end of each lesson, to help you remember newly learned words. To check more Arabic Quizzes go to -> Selfarabic – Arabic Vocabulary Quizzes

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