Editor’s Note & Disclaimer: The core content and linguistic structure of this lesson were originally authored by Chris Hitchcock for the Team Maha website. This post is part of an effort to preserve, organize, and share these invaluable resources for Arabic learners worldwide.

Adjectives in Levantine Arabic (Shami) function similarly to their FuSHa equivalents, but with simpler inflections and more flexible word-order rules. In this lesson, we will explore gender and plural formations for adjectives, agreement with dual and plural nouns, modifying adverbs, comparative and superlative structures, and negation.

1. Masculine, Feminine, and Plural Forms

Adjectives in spoken Levantine typically have three or four main forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, and a gender-neutral plural.

A. Standard Feminine Formation (-a / -e)

For most adjectives, the feminine singular is formed by adding ـة (-a / -e) to the masculine stem, occasionally dropping an unstressed short vowel:

• كبير ← كبيرة (kbiir → kbiire — ‘big’)
• شاطر ← شاطرة (shaaTer → shaaTra — ‘clever’)
• مشهور ← مشهورة (mashhuur → mashhuura — ‘famous’)

B. Adjectives of Color and Defect (af3al → fa3la)

Adjectives describing physical traits, colors, or defects follow the af3al masculine pattern, taking a fa3la feminine form and a fé3l plural:

• أهبل ← هبلا ← هبل (ahbal → hable → hébl — ‘idiot’)
• اسود ← سودا ← سود (aswad → sooda → suud — ‘black’)
• اسمر ← سمرا ← سمُر (asmar → samra → sémr — ‘dark-skinned’)

C. Plural Formations

Plural adjectives are formed either by adding the sound suffix ـين (-iin) or through broken plural patterns:

• شاطر ← شاطرين (shaaTer → shaaTriin — ‘clever’)
• كبير ← كبار (kbiir → kbaar — ‘big’)
• قليل ← قلايلة (2aliil → 2alaayle — ‘few’)

(Note: Some speakers optionally use a feminine plural in ـات / -aat exclusively with feminine plural nouns, e.g., طيبات / Tayybaat).

2. Agreement Rules (التوافق)

Dual Nouns

Unlike FuSHa, dual nouns in Levantine Arabic generally take plural adjectives:

• رجالين اوادم (réjjaaleen 2awaadim → ’two nice guys')
• شغلتين مهمين (shégh@lteen muhummiin → ’two important things')

Inanimate Plurals

Plural non-human nouns can agree with either feminine singular or plural adjectives. Using the feminine singular often emphasizes a collective group, whereas the plural emphasizes individual distinct items:

• الكراسي فاضية (élkaraasi faaDye → ’the chairs are empty’ — collective)
• الكراسي فاضيين (élkaraasi faaDyiin → ’the chairs are empty’ — individually)

When a plural noun is used in a generic sense (‘X items in general are Y’), only the feminine singular adjective is used:

• الكتب مفيدة (élkétob mufiide → ‘books are useful’)
• الكتب مفيدين كتير (élkétob mufiidiin ktiir → ’the books [specific ones] are very useful’)

3. Modifying Adjectives with Adverbs

Unlike FuSHa, adverbs modifying adjectives (such as كتير / ktiir ‘very’, جداً / jiddan, or شوي / shwayy ‘a little’) can precede or follow the adjective:

• كتير صعب (ktiir Sa3@b → ‘very difficult’)
• عن جد جدا مفيد (3an jadd jiddan mufiid → ‘really very useful’)
• بس شوي حامي صراحة (bass shwayy 7aami Siraa7a → ‘just a bit hot, honestly’)

4. Comparatives and Superlatives (المقارنة والتفضيل)

A. Superlatives

Simple superlatives are formed on the af3al pattern followed by a noun or the word واحد (waa7ed):

• أشطر واحد (ashTar waa7ed → ’the cleverest one’)

If an adjective cannot form an af3al stem, the word اكتر (aktar) is placed before the noun:

• اكتر واحد مجنون (aktar waa7ed majnuun → ’the craziest one’)
• اكتر شي حبيتو بالاردن (aktar shi 7abbeeto bélérdon → ’the thing I liked most in Jordan')

B. Comparatives

Comparatives use the af3al stem followed by من (mén) (’than’):

• واحد اشطر مني (waa7ed ashTar ménni → ‘someone cleverer than me’)

If the adjective does not have an af3al comparative form, اكتر (aktar) is placed after the plain adjective:

• مجنون اكتر (majnuun aktar → ‘crazier’)

5. Negating Adjectives

Adjectives in nominal sentences are negated using مو (muu) in Syrian Arabic or مش (mish) in Lebanese, Palestinian, and Jordanian:

• هو مش جديد (huwwe mish jdiid → ‘he is not new’)

Negating Definite Adjectives

When negating a definite adjective modifying a noun, the negative particle takes the definite article الـ (él-):

• الشخص المو منيح (ésh-shakhS él-muu mnii7 → ’the not-good person')
• المو معقول انو يرشح حالو (él-muu ma32uul énno yrashshe7 7aalo → ’the unbelievable thing was that he nominated himself')

Pseudo-Verbal Negation (maan-)

In Syrian and Lebanese, adjectives can also be negated using conjugated maan-:

• ماني جديد (maani jdiid → ‘I am not new’)

What’s Next?

In Part #6, we will cover Numbers in Levantine Arabic.