Agreement
Which words change to match another word?
المعنى
Some words change their form to match another word in the same sentence. This can show which words belong together or who or what an action involves. Languages differ in what must match, and some have no such matching rules. Agreement is the matching between words; Endings describes pieces attached to a word, whether they mark agreement or something else.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Change one participant from one to several, or from the speaker to someone else, and check whether any related words must also change.
في اللغة الأم
Arabic uses agreement: related words take matching forms, including adjective forms that match a noun's gender, number, article use, and ending. With a plural human subject, a following verb normally matches in number, but a preceding verb is normally singular and matches gender. Plural things normally take singular feminine adjectives, pointing words, and verbs.
الطَّالِبَاتُ الْمُجْتَهِدَاتُ وَصَلْنَ مُبَكِّرًا. (al-ṭālibātu al-mujtahidātu waṣalna mubakkiran.)
The adjective and following verb both take feminine plural forms.
وَصَلَتِ الطَّالِبَاتُ مُبَكِّرًا. (waṣalati al-ṭālibātu mubakkiran.)
Before the plural subject, the verb takes the singular feminine form.
السَّيَّارَاتُ الْجَدِيدَةُ غَالِيَةٌ. (al-sayyārātu al-jadīdatu ghāliyatun.)
The plural noun for cars takes singular feminine describing words.
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English verbs match the subject in a limited number of forms: most present-tense verbs add -s with he, she or it, and be has forms such as am, is and are. The pointing words this and that go with singular nouns, while these and those go with plural nouns. Adjectives do not change to match a noun.
My neighbor works at a cafe.
The singular subject my neighbor takes works, not work.
This bag is heavy, but these bags are light.
Both the pointing word and the verb change for singular and plural.
Learners whose language does not change verbs to match the subject may omit -s or use the wrong form of be. Learners whose language keeps pointing words unchanged may use this with plural nouns.