Feminine Form

Words’ genders are usually learnt by heart and mastered by practice.

On the whole, feminine words in darija generally end with an (a).
There are, nonetheless, words that don’t end with (a) but that are still feminine, like the body parts that come in pairs: 3yn عين (eye), wdn ودن (ear), id/yed إيد (hand), rjl رجل (leg/foot)…Countries' names are mostly feminine.

To form a feminine word from a masculine one –especially adjectives- you just add (a).

Word	Masculin	Feminine
Beautiful	zwin	zwina
Doctor	Tbib	Tbiba
Big	kbir	kbira
Small	Sghir	Sghira
Teacher	ostad	ostada

When the word ends with (i) in its masculine form, it becomes (ya) in the feminine one.

Word	Masculin	Feminine
Policeman Policewoman	boulisi	boulisiya
American	mirikani	mirikaniya
Chinese	shinwi	shinwiya
Nurse	fermli	fermliya