Arabic Lesson 6 — Error Correction (gender & agreement)

Almost every Q4 error is an agreement error: a masculine word paired with a feminine partner, or the wrong «you/he/she». Learn the five pairs below and the fix becomes obvious.

1 · Verbs: he يَـ vs she تَـ

	he هُوَ	she هِيَ
prays	يُصَلّي	تُصَلّي
studies	يَدْرُس	تَدْرُس
works	يَعْمَل	تَعْمَل

So هُوَ تُصَلّي is wrong → هُوَ يُصَلّي. And if the person is female, fix the pronoun: سَعيدةٌ … هِيَ تُصَلّي.

2 · Professions: add ـة for a woman

man	مُدَرِّس	طَبيب	مُهَنْدِس	مُمَرِّض
woman	مُدَرِّسة	طَبيبة	مُهَنْدِسة	مُمَرِّضة

هذا أَخي، هُوَ مُدَرِّسةٌ is wrong — a man is مُدَرِّسٌ.

3 · Pointing: هذا (m) vs هذه (f)

هذا كِتابٌ

هذا مَسْجِدٌ

هذه بِنْتٌ

هذه سَيّارةٌ

هذه اِبْنةٌ

Words ending in ـة (and بِنْت، اِبْنة، أُمّ) are feminine → هذه.

4 · Possessive endings (my / your / his / her)

ـي	ـكَ	ـكِ	ـهُ	ـها
my	your (m)	your (f)	his	her
كِتابي	كِتابُكَ	كِتابُكِ	كِتابُهُ	كِتابُها

5 · Addressing someone يا فلان

To a male: ماذا سَتَفْعَلُ يا أَحْمَدُ؟ · To a female add ـينَ: ماذا سَتَفْعَلينَ يا فاطِمةُ؟ Also: a country is باكِسْتانُ, but «I am Pakistani» is the nationality باكِسْتانيٌّ.

Agreement & error-correction depth from the recorded Arabic lectures — co-taught by Sheikh Irfan (videos V31, V41, V06, V16) and Sheikh Riyas (V02, V25). Each nugget is tagged ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V31 §6 = lecturer · video · section. Off-topic drills (odd-one-out, question-words, reading passages) are kept in From the lectures so nothing is lost.

Verb-prefix gender (هو يـ / هي تـ)

The verb itself changes by gender: male present = يـ (yaqraʾu), singular female = تـ (taqraʾu) — turn a past verb present by prefixing it. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V06 §5
Worked pairs: صالِح يُصَلّي / صالِحة تُصَلّي, شَريف يَتَوَضَّأُ / شَريفة تَتَوَضَّأُ. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V06 §10, §16–§19
The يـ/تـ rule is for singular subjects only — duals/plurals come later. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V06 §20
There are 4 present prefixes: يـ / تـ / أ / نـ (he / she / I / we); the lesson drills only يـ/تـ. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V06 §27
The verb must agree with its pronoun: uḥibbu fits only أنا; هو → yuḥibbu, هي → tuḥibbu. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §80

Demonstrative agreement (هذا / هذه)

Decision rule: ask "is the noun masculine or feminine?" — وَلَدٌ is masculine → هذا; بِنْتٌ is feminine → هذه. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §19
Spot the tāʾ marbūṭah ة → the word is feminine → هذه (قِطّة، حَقيبة، سَيّارة، ساعة). ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §29, §40
Even a non-human/animal noun can be grammatically masculine → هذا (هذا كَلْبٌ); human vs animal makes no difference to the gender rule. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §27
مَسْجِد is masculine → هذا مَسْجِدٌ, never هذه. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §53
When هذا shifts to a female: هذه والِدَتي خَديجة, هذه أُختي سَلمى. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V06 §67, §70

Possessive (ـكَ / ـكِ) & addressing

Attached possessives by pronoun: أنا→ـي (ismī), أنتَ→ـكَ (ismuka, m.), أنتِ→ـكِ (ismuki, f.), هو→ـهُ (ismuhu), هي→ـها (ismuhā). ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §67–§69
Addressing a female: verb takes ـينَ + possessive ـكِ — هل تُحِبّينَ عَمَلَكِ يا زَيْنَب؟ ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V41 §47, §51
Error→fix: addressing Fāṭimah (f.), the verb must be تَطْلُبينَ, not تَطْلُبُ. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V31 §71–§72
Error→fix: addressing a male keeps the masculine verb — هل تَشْرَبُ الشّايَ يا أَحْمَد؟ (يَشْرَبُ would be wrong). ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V31 §74
You can't ask yourself your own country: مِن أين أنتَ/أنتِ؟ takes أنتَ/أنتِ, never أنا. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §78

tāʾ marbūṭah & the feminine

Adding ة turns a profession feminine: طَبيب→طَبيبة، مُهَنْدِس→مُهَنْدِسة، صَديق→صَديقة، مُعَلِّم→مُعَلِّمة. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §31 · V25 §90
Feminine nationality form: a girl says أنا سَعوديّة (not سَعوديّ) — extends the باكِستانيّ trap to its feminine. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V41 §39
Feminine adjective/participle agreement: هل أنتِ مَريضةٌ يا فاطِمة؟, تَسْتَيْقِظينَ, مُسافِرةٌ إلى مَكّة — pick the form that agrees. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V31 §78–§80
The detached pronouns also match: أنا طالِب (m.) vs أنتِ طالِبة (f.). ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §62–§65
Spelling-fix angle: صَيْدَليّة (pharmacy) needs a tāʾ marbūṭah ة, not a plain ت. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V41 §14

Sun/moon letters & case-endings (depth)

Sun letters: الشَّجَرة (ash-shajaratu) not al-shajaratu — the لام assimilates and the next letter takes a shaddah; there are 14 sun letters. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V16 §40–§41
The 3 case-endings: subject (fāʿil) → ـُ ḍammah, object (mafʿūl) → ـَ fatḥah, after a preposition → ـِ kasrah; a noun never takes sukūn. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V16 §67–§72
Definiteness: ism nakirah (no ال, ends in tanwīn) vs ism maʿrifah (with ال, single vowel) — قَلَمٌ → القَلَمُ. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V16 §31–§35
Dual agreement: two named subjects first → dual verb (عادِلٌ وفَيْصَلٌ يُصَلِّيانِ); a verb-first sentence stays singular even with a plural subject. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V16 §79–§83
Read the picture's gender first, then pick هذا/هذه and ما/مَن — the diagnostic habit. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V06 §106

📖 From the lectures — odd-one-out, question-word drills, reading passages & nahy behind both lecturers' videos →

Run this 5-step check on every underlined word.

Is the person male or female? Fix the pronoun: male → هُوَ, female → هِيَ.
Does the verb prefix match? he → يَـ, she → تَـ (يُصَلّي / تُصَلّي).
Is a profession the right gender? woman → add ـة (مُدَرِّسة).
Does the demonstrative match the noun? ـة/بنت/ابنة → هذه, else هذا.
Are you addressing a female? Use أنتِ, ending ـكِ, and verb ـينَ.

Extra exam facts (from the lectures)

Error	Fix
هذا كَلْبٌ — "but it's an animal, so هذه?"	Stays هذا — even a non-human/animal noun can be grammatically masculine. كَلْب is masculine. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §27
هل تَشْرَبُ يا أَحْمَد؟ → "make it يَشْرَبُ"	Wrong — addressing a male keeps the masculine تَشْرَبُ; يَشْرَبُ is the error. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V31 §74
ماذا تَطْلُبُ يا فاطِمة؟	Addressing a female → verb takes ـينَ: تَطْلُبينَ. ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V31 §71
A girl: أنا سَعوديّ	Feminine nationality → أنا سَعوديّة (add ة). ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V41 §39
طَبيب / مُهَنْدِس for a woman	Add ة for any profession: طَبيبة، مُهَنْدِسة، مُعَلِّمة، أُستاذة. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V02 §31 · V25 §90
مِن أين أنا؟ (asking someone their country)	You can't ask yourself — use أنتَ/أنتِ, never أنا. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §78
ـها on a male's name (اِسْمُها أَحْمَد)	Match the possessive: ـي(my) / ـكَ(your m.) / ـكِ(your f.) / ـهُ(his) / ـها(her). ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §67–§69
هي يُحِبُّ / أنا يُحِبُّ	Verb agrees with pronoun: أنا→uḥibbu, هو→yuḥibbu, هي→tuḥibbu. ▶ Sheikh Riyas · V25 §80
الشَّمْس written الْشَّمْس with a voiced لام	Sun letter → لام assimilates: ash-shams not al-shams (14 sun letters). ▶ Sheikh Irfan · V16 §40

The underlined word is wrong. Tap its correction. Items tagged 15-01-2026 paper are from the past paper; tagged 📹 Lecture come from the recorded lectures. Score ≥13/16 on first try to finish the lesson.

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