Qualities
What is someone or something like?
المعنى
A quality tells us what someone or something is like. It can describe size, color, shape, age, or character. Languages use adjectives, verbs, or phrases for this, and some have no separate class of adjectives. State words highlights a current or resulting condition, while Qualities focuses on a feature of the person or thing.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Look for a word or phrase that describes what a person or thing is like, rather than how an action happens.
في اللغة الأم
An Arabic adjective describing a noun follows it and normally matches its gender, number, article use, and case ending. Plurals naming animals or things usually take a feminine singular adjective. An adjective stating what a definite noun is like normally has no article.
اِشْتَرَيْتُ حَقِيبَةً صَغِيرَةً. (Ishtaraytu ḥaqībatan ṣaghīratan.)
The adjective follows the noun and matches its feminine form and -an ending.
الْحَقِيبَةُ الصَّغِيرَةُ خَفِيفَةٌ. (Al-ḥaqībatu al-ṣaghīratu khafīfatun.)
Al-ṣaghīra describes which bag; khafīfa, without an article, states what it is like.
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English usually places a describing adjective before the noun. An adjective can also follow be or another verb such as seem to say what the subject is like. Adjectives do not change form for gender or number, either before a noun or after a verb.
They live in a small house.
The adjective comes before the noun.
Our neighbors are friendly.
Friendly stays unchanged even though neighbors is plural.
This bag is heavy.
The adjective follows is to describe the bag.
Learners whose language usually places adjectives after nouns may copy that order into English. Learners whose language gives adjectives plural forms may add -s to an English adjective.