Moroccan Language - Masculine and Feminine Words

When speaking Moroccan Arabic there is ademangry (feminine) – tale’ liha dem
masculine and a feminine form for many words.So far, the above words contain the same root,
Other languages, such as Spanish, share thisand the feminine has an "a" ending. Now, take a
similarity with Moroccan Arabic. For example, inlook at the words below:man - rajelwoman –
Spanish, feminine words usually end in the lettermraboy – weldgirl - bent
“a” while masculine words usually end inIn the examples above, note how words, such as
the letter “o.” Therefore, a man would bethe words for "man" and "woman," do not share
addressed with words having the masculine endingthe same root word and note that the feminine
“o” and females would be addressed withof the word for "woman" did not end in "a." Also,
words having the feminine ending “a.” Innote how the "a" denoting the feminine form of
the Moroccan language, the feminine form of athe word "angry" falls somewhere in the middle of
word sometimes end in “a” but thethe phrase for the feminine.
masculine form of the word is not so clear cut.Take in consideration that there are words in
Adding to the confusion is the fact that there areMoroccan Arabic that are both masculine and
a substantial number of words that are bothfeminine (gender neutral). These gender neutral
masculine and feminine and such words can bewords can also end in “a.”
used to address both males and females.In the next example, we see that the same word
Masculine and Feminine Forms of Wordsis used to address both males and females. This is
As stated previously, in Moroccan Arabic thesometimes the case in Moroccan Arabic. The
feminine form of a word generally ends in "a."word 'peelote' is derived from French and is used
However, this is not always the case. Theto address both males and females. But, there
masculine form of the word would generally beare also words of Arabic origin in Moroccan which
the word without the "a" ending. However, thisare used to address both males and females.pilot
also is not always the case. As a matter of fact,(masculine) - peelotepilot (feminine) – peelote
sometimes the feminine and the masculine formsIn the Moroccan Arabic dialect there is generally a
of a word are not even from the same rootmasculine and a feminine way of addressing the
word. The examples below help illustrate thesegenders. However, the masculine and feminine
things.grandfather - ljedgrandmother - ljedafriendforms of words do not always follow strict rules.
(masculine) - sahebfriend (feminine) –This is in part due,to the fact that Moroccan
sahebashort (masculine) - qesirshort (feminine) -Arabic has many words that are derived from
qesiraangry (masculine) – tale’ lihdifferent languages.