Welcome back! As we continue our series of basic Arabic, let’s take a look at some Arabic adjectives. Learning Arabic adjectives is key as people use them in everyday conversation.

We believe that a broad vocabulary will help you master the Arabic language. We‘ve already given examples of places in Arabic, so when describing a place to a friend back home, wouldn’t it be useful if you could know a few adjectives, as well? First, however,  let’s look at the role adjectives play in the structure of Arabic grammar.

Arabic adjectives are words that describe or modify a person or thing in a sentence. Their placement is quite different from English where the adjectives come before the noun, as in “beautiful girl”. In Arabic their placement is reversed: fataah jameela = girl beautiful. Now, just like in English, the adjectives will follow their nouns in multiple aspects, like gender and number. Also, one more particular thing to remember about nouns and adjectives in Arabic is that they can be both defined and undefined using the definite article prefix “al-“. If you’re talking about a random beautiful girl, you use the structure shown above. However, if you want to talk about a specific girl who is known to both parties of the discussion, and you want to say she is a beautiful girl, then you use the structure al-fataah al-jameela.

If you’re feeling courageous and want to use more than one adjective to describe something, just add wah (the equivalent of “and” in English) between them, but it’s not always necessary. Your Arab buddy will understand you, regardless.


Now let’s look a bit at our list:

EnglishTransliterationArabic
Beautiful in Arabicm: jameel
f: jameela
جميل
جميلة
Good in Arabicm: jayeed
f: jayeda
جيد
جيدة
Happy in Arabicm: sa’eed
f: sa’eeda
سعيد
سعيدة
Sad in Arabicm: hazeen
f: hazeena
حزين
حزينة
Tired in Arabicm: mot’ab
f: mot’ba
متعب
متعبة
Delicious in Arabicm: latheeth
f: lathetha
لذيذ
لذيذة
Bad in Arabicm: saye’
f: saye’a
سيئ
سيئة
Nice in Arabicm: lateef
f: lateefa
لطيف
لطيفة
Cold in Arabicm: barid
f: bareda
بارد
باردة
Spicy in Arabicm: harr
f: harrah
حار
حارة
Hot in Arabicm: sakhen
f: sakhena
ساخن
ساخنة
Light in Arabicm: mode’
f: mode’a
مضيئ
مضيئة
Dark in Arabicm: mothlem
f: mothlema
مظلم
مظلمة
Easy in Arabicm: sahl
f: sahla
سهل
سهلة


Lastly, once you’re done with Arabic adjectives, you might want to check the rest of our basic Arabic words. Certainly, the bigger the vocabulary, the faster you will be able to speak in Arabic. If you want to learn more about Arabic grammar or the Arabic language in general, don’t forget to download our Arabic learning app Kaleela!