Arabic: An Essential Grammar

25.3 Relative adjectives, ِنـ ْس َبـ ٌة nisbah

The relative adjective is called in Arabic ِنـ ْس َبـ ٌة nisbah, which means

‘relation’. Relative adjectives are derived from nouns by adding the

so-called nisbah suffix, which is يٌّ ِـ ... /..iyyun/ in the masculine and

يـ ٌةَِّـ ... /...iyyatun/ in the feminine. The nisbah suffix thus makes a noun

into an adjective (which often can be employed as a noun as well),

expressing the meaning: ‘related or pertaining to (the entity or thing

denoted by the noun)’. It may be compared to English derivational mor-

phemes like ‘-ish, -(i)an, -ese, -i, -ic(al), -al, -ly,’ e.g. ‘English, American,

Egyptian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Arabic, formal, periodical, monthly’, etc. The

relative adjective often refers to geographical, national or ethnic names

or names of occupations (as in English, these kinds of derived adjectives

may often be reused as independent nouns), e.g.

َأ ْز َر ُق^

azraqu, blue َز ْر َقـا ُء zarqa ̄

u ُز ْر ٌق zurqun

َأ ْخـ َضـ ُر^

ah

̆

d

̇

aru, green َخـ ْضـ َرا ُء h

̆

ad

̇

ra ̄

u ُخـ ْضـ ٌر h

̆

ud

̇

run

َأ ْصـ َفـ ُر^

as

̇

faru, yellow َصـ ْفـ َرا ُء s

̇

afra ̄

u ُصـ ْفـ ٌر s

̇

ufrun

َأ ْبـ َيـ ُض^

abyad

̇

u, white َبـ ْيـ َضـا ُء bayd

̇

a ̄

u ِبـيـ ٌض bı

• d
  ̇

un

َأ ْطـ َر ُش^

at

̇

rasˇu, deaf َطـ ْر َشـا ُء t

̇

arsˇa ̄

u ُطـ ْر ٌش t

̇

ursˇun

َأ ْعـ َر ُج^

a



rag ̆u, lame َعـ ْر َجـا ُء



arg ̆a ̄

u ُعـ ْر ٌج



urg ̆un

َأ ْعـ َمى^

a



ma ̄, blind َع ْمـ َيا ُء



amya ̄

u ُع ْم َيـا ُن



umya ̄nu

Relative adjective (nisbah)

Noun Masc. Fem.

ُل ْب َنا ُن يٌّ ُل ْب َنا ِن ي ٌةَُّل ْب َنا ِن

lubna ̄nu, Lebanon lubna ̄niyyun, Lebanese lubna ̄niyyatun

َعـ َر ٌب يٌّ َع َر ِب ي ٌةََّع َر ِب



arabun, Arabs



arabiyyun, Arab, Arabic



arabiyyatun

ُك ُحو ٌل يٌّ ُك ُحوِل ي ٌةَُّك ُحوِل

kuh

̇

u ̄lun, alcohol kuh

̇

u ̄liyyun, alcoholic kuh

̇

u ̄liyyatun

182

Adjectival

patterns,

relative

adjectives,

comparative