Lesson 3 · A1
Every noun is he or she
Eighteen words for people and jobs, and the thing English dropped a thousand years ago: grammatical gender. In Darija a doctor is he or she, and so is a house.
- Name people around you: neighbours, friends, a doctor, a teacher.
- Turn a man's job into a woman's, and know when the rule bends.
- Address someone politely with si or lalla.
- Read the name board in the hall of a building.
One sound and one letter
The third dark consonant, and the letter that carries this whole lesson.
A t with no puff
t · طْبِيبْ tbib
ط is a t said with the tongue low and the throat open, like ص and ض before it. English adds a second problem: your t comes with a puff of air. Hold a hand in front of your mouth and say “top”: you feel it. ط has none. Aim for the t in “stop”, which has no puff, and then darken it.
A t that says a
a · طْبِيبَة tbiba
ة is the feminine ending. It is written like ه with the two dots of ت, and it is pronounced -a. Do not say a t at the end of tbiba. The dots matter later, in phrases; for now, read ة as a.
Eighteen words for people
Most jobs come in pairs: the man's word, then the woman's. Learn them as pairs. English uses one word for both, and your memory will try to keep only one.
People
- رَاجْلْ rajel man
-
مْرَا
mra
woman; wife
Not rajla: man and woman are two unrelated words.
- وْلْدْ weld boy; son
-
بْنْتْ
bent
girl; daughter
Feminine, and ends in t, not a. The exception you meet first.
Mr and Mrs
-
سِي
si
Mr
Before a first name: si A7med. Polite and friendly at once, which English “Mr” is not.
-
لَالَّة
lalla
Mrs, Ms, madam
Before a first name, lalla Khadija, or alone to call a woman: a lalla. Says nothing about whether she is married.
The people near you
- جَارْ jar neighbour (man)
- جَارَة jara neighbour (woman)
- صَاحْبْ sa7eb friend (man)
-
صَاحْبَة
sa7ba
friend (woman)
The e of sa7eb drops when the -a arrives: sa7-ba, not sa7e-ba.
Jobs, in pairs
-
أُسْتَاذْ
ustad
teacher (man)
Also the title for a lawyer.
- أُسْتَاذَة ustada teacher (woman)
- طْبِيبْ tbib doctor (man)
-
طْبِيبَة
tbiba
doctor (woman)
Obligatory. In English “she is a doctor” says nothing about gender; here the noun must.
-
فَرْمْلِي
fermli
nurse (man)
From French infirmier.
-
فَرْمْلِيَّة
fermliya
nurse (woman)
-i becomes -iya. Same rule, one more letter.
The building and the street
-
عَسَّاسْ
3essas
caretaker, night watchman
The man at the door of every Moroccan block of flats, who knows everyone.
-
شِيفُورْ
shifur
driver
From French chauffeur.
He or she, even for things
Two jobs, said to a man and to a woman. Compare the pairs.
- هُوَ طْبِيبْhuwa tbib
- هِيَ طْبِيبَةhiya tbiba
- نْتَ أُسْتَاذْ؟nta ustad?
- نْتِ أُسْتَاذَة؟nti ustada?
What changes in the word when the person is a woman?
The rule
Every noun in Darija is masculine or feminine. For people it follows the person: tbib is a man, tbiba is a woman.
The feminine is made by adding -a, written ة. That covers most jobs and most people.
For things there is no logic to find: bit, the room, is masculine; kuzina, the kitchen, feminine. The ending tells you nearly every time: a noun in -a is feminine. Nearly: dar is feminine with no -a, and so is bent.
Pairs, and the ones that bend
| Masculine · feminine | Say | Means |
|---|---|---|
| طْبِيبْ · طْبِيبَة | tbib · tbiba | doctor — just add -a |
| أُسْتَاذْ · أُسْتَاذَة | ustad · ustada | teacher — just add -a |
| جَارْ · جَارَة | jar · jara | neighbour — just add -a |
| فَرْمْلِي · فَرْمْلِيَّة | fermli · fermliya | nurse — -i becomes -iya |
| صَاحْبْ · صَاحْبَة | sa7eb · sa7ba | friend — the e drops |
| رَاجْلْ · مْرَا | rajel · mra | man · woman — two different words |
| وْلْدْ · بْنْتْ | weld · bent | boy · girl — two different words |
| الدَّارْ | d-dar | the house — feminine, with no -a |
The first four are the rule. The last four you learn one by one. There are not many of them, and they are the most common words in the language, so you will hear them every day.
What English hands you, and what it charges you
Charged, in full: gender itself. English lost it centuries ago. “Neighbour”, “friend”, “teacher” are both at once. French and Spanish speakers already think in pairs; you have to start.
Charged twice: things. A room is “he” and a kitchen is “she”, for no reason you can see. You will need it in lesson 4, where adjectives follow the gender of the noun.
Free: the mark is easy to see. You do not guess, as a German learner does with der, die, das: a final -a nearly always means feminine. Read the end of the word.
Your mistake, not someone else's
In English you say “she is a doctor” and “doctor” does not move. So you learn tbib as “doctor” and use it for everyone. The pronoun says “she”, the noun says “he”, and the sentence does not agree with itself.
×هِيَ طْبِيبْ“She is a (male) doctor.” People will know what you mean. It will sound wrong.
✓هِيَ طْبِيبَة“She is a doctor.” Pronoun and noun agree.
The same goes when you talk about yourself. A woman says ana ustada, ana fermliya. And when you speak to a woman, both words change: nti tbiba?, not nta tbib?
The name board in the hall
In the entrance of a block of flats: who lives where, and what they do. The building and the names are invented. The layout is what you will find on any board of this kind.
عِمَارَة الْيَاسْمِينْ
الْعَسَّاسْ · سِي أَحْمَدْ
1 · دْ. سَلْمَى الْعَلْوِي · طْبِيبَة
2 · لَالَّة خَدِيجَة · فَرْمْلِيَّة
3 · سِي يُوسُفْ · أُسْتَاذْ
4 · لَالَّة نَادْيَة · أُسْتَاذَة
Did you follow it?
Who is the doctor, and how do you know she is a woman?
Show answers
Salma l-3alawi. The job says so: tbiba, with the -a.
What does d. stand for?
Show answers
د. is short for doctor, as “Dr” is in English.
Two teachers live in the building. Which flats?
Show answers
Number 3, si Yusuf, ustad; and number 4, lalla Nadya, ustada.
Who do you ask if you cannot find a flat?
Show answers
The caretaker, l-3essas, si A7med.
Check
If you are unsure, look at the end of the word first.
Exercises 1 and 2 are here, with answers. Exercises 3 to 5 are in the A1 book, the PDF this site lives on: you can see the first item of each below.
1Find the partner
Pair each masculine word with its feminine. Three of them are not made with -a.
| 1 | رَاجْلْ | a | لَالَّة |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | وْلْدْ | b | مْرَا |
| 3 | سِي | c | صَاحْبَة |
| 4 | صَاحْبْ | d | بْنْتْ |
2Now she
Rewrite each sentence about a woman, or said to a woman. Change every word that needs it.
- هُوَ طْبِيبْ
- نْتَ أُسْتَاذْ؟
- أَنَا فَرْمْلِي
- هُوَ جَارْ
3He or she
Sort the nouns. Two from lesson 2 are in there, and one feminine has no -a.
طْبِيبْ
Masculine
Feminine
4Pick the right one
Each line is about a woman. Only one of the three is correct.
- هِيَ طْبِيبْ
- هِيَ طْبِيبَة
- هُوَ طْبِيبَة
5Put it in order
Rebuild each sentence. No verb is missing: none is needed.
مْنْ فَاسْطْبِيبَةهِيَ
Show answers
| 1. Find the partner | 1-b, 2-d, 3-a, 4-c |
|---|---|
| 2. Now she | هِيَ طْبِيبَة · نْتِ أُسْتَاذَة؟ · أَنَا فَرْمْلِيَّة · هِيَ جَارَة |
The A1 book: In preparation
Write and I will tell you the day it is out. One email, no list.
I can now
- Say what someone does, for a man and for a woman.
- Give the feminine of a job, and spot the ones that bend.
- Say whether a noun is masculine or feminine from its ending.
- Use si and lalla before a name.
- Say ط without the English puff of air.