The nisba ending ـِيّ / ـِيَّة: nationalities from countries, adjectives from cities and ordinary nouns, dropping ال, ة and ا of the base, and agreement.
I can say where people and things come from with a nisba (مِصْرِيّ، مِصْرِيَّة) and recognise nisba adjectives in what I read.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
أَنا روسِيٌّ، وَزَوْجَتي مِصْرِيَّةٌ مِنَ الإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةِ.
I'm Russian, and my wife is Egyptian, from Alexandria.
الطّاجينُ أَكْلَةٌ مَغْرِبِيَّةٌ مَشْهورَةٌ.
Tagine is a famous Moroccan dish.
فَيْروزُ مُطْرِبَةٌ لُبْنانِيَّةٌ يُحِبُّها العَرَبُ في كُلِّ مَكانٍ.
Fairuz is a Lebanese singer whom Arabs everywhere love.
هَلْ أَنْتِ سورِيَّةٌ؟ لا، أَنا أُرْدُنِيَّةٌ مِنْ عَمّانَ.
Are you Syrian? No, I'm Jordanian, from Amman.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Add ـِيّ (-iyy, said -ī at the end of a phrase) to a noun and you get an adjective meaning "of, from, related to" it. English already uses this ending in borrowed words: Iraqi, Saudi, Omani, Yemeni, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Emirati are Arabic nisbas.
| Place | Man / masculine | Woman / feminine |
|---|---|---|
| مِصْر - Egypt | مِصْرِيّ | مِصْرِيَّة |
| لُبْنان - Lebanon | لُبْنانِيّ | لُبْنانِيَّة |
| المَغْرِب - Morocco | مَغْرِبِيّ | مَغْرِبِيَّة |
| الأُرْدُنّ - Jordan | أُرْدُنِيّ | أُرْدُنِيَّة |
| سوريا - Syria | سورِيّ | سورِيَّة |
| روسيا - Russia | روسِيّ | روسِيَّة |
| مَكَّة - Mecca | مَكِّيّ | مَكِّيَّة |
Everything else usually stays: لُبْنان keeps its -ān. Now and then a short vowel inside drops: نابُلُس gives نابُلْسِيّ, with no u after the ل. A few are irregular and are best learned as words: إِنْجِلْتِرا - إِنْجِليزِيّ.
هُوَ مِصْرِيٌّ - he's Egyptian; هِيَ مِصْرِيَّةٌ - she's Egyptian. The doubled ي is audible: -iyya.
In English "Egyptian" is both an adjective and a person, while other nationalities need a separate noun (Spanish, but a Spaniard; Danish, but a Dane). Arabic does not need one: مِصْرِيّ is "Egyptian" and "an Egyptian". Groups: مِصْرِيّونَ (men or mixed), مِصْرِيّاتٌ (women). The word for Arabs, عَرَب, is the base itself.
Used as an adjective, the nisba follows its noun, agrees in gender and copies the article: الأَدَبُ العَرَبِيُّ - Arabic literature; اللُّغَةُ العَرَبِيَّةُ - the Arabic language (لُغَة is feminine).
| يَوْم - day | يَوْمِيّ - daily |
| رَسْم - drawing, form | رَسْمِيّ - official |
| تاريخ - history | تاريخِيّ - historical |
| عِلْم - science | عِلْمِيّ - scientific |
Meeting an unknown word in ـِيّ, strip the ending and you will often recognise what is left.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesThe article of the country name kept in an indefinite nisba (*المَغْرِبِيّ for 'Moroccan')
Drop ال of the base: المَغْرِب gives مَغْرِبِيّ
Final ة or ا of the base kept (*مَكَّةِيّ, *سورياِيّ)
Drop ة / ا first: مَكِّيّ، سورِيّ
ـِيّ used for a woman or a feminine noun
Feminine: ـِيَّة. هِيَ مِصْرِيَّةٌ، اللُّغَةُ العَرَبِيَّةُ
Nisba adjective without the noun's article (*الأَدَبُ عَرَبِيٌّ for 'Arabic literature')
An attributive nisba copies the article: الأَدَبُ العَرَبِيُّ
أَنا روسِيٌّ، وَزَوْجَتي مِصْرِيَّةٌ مِنَ الإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةِ.
I'm Russian, and my wife is Egyptian, from Alexandria.
روسيا loses its final ا: روسِيّ. For a woman the nisba adds ة: مِصْرِيَّة. The same word is both the adjective and the person.
الطّاجينُ أَكْلَةٌ مَغْرِبِيَّةٌ مَشْهورَةٌ.
Tagine is a famous Moroccan dish.
The country is المَغْرِب, with the article; the nisba drops it: مَغْرِبِيّ. Here it is feminine to agree with أَكْلَة, "dish".
فَيْروزُ مُطْرِبَةٌ لُبْنانِيَّةٌ يُحِبُّها العَرَبُ في كُلِّ مَكانٍ.
Fairuz is a Lebanese singer whom Arabs everywhere love.
لُبْنان keeps its -ān and simply adds the ending: لُبْنانِيَّة. Here nothing inside the word changes. العَرَب, "the Arabs", is the base that عَرَبِيّ comes from.
هَلْ أَنْتِ سورِيَّةٌ؟ لا، أَنا أُرْدُنِيَّةٌ مِنْ عَمّانَ.
Are you Syrian? No, I'm Jordanian, from Amman.
سوريا drops its ا (سورِيّ) and الأُرْدُنّ drops its article (أُرْدُنِيّ). Both are feminine here: the question is put to a woman, أَنْتِ.
يَدْرُسُ أَخي الأَدَبَ العَرَبِيَّ في جامِعَةِ دِمَشْقَ.
My brother studies Arabic literature at Damascus University.
A nisba used as an adjective follows its noun and copies its article: الأَدَبَ العَرَبِيَّ, literally "the literature the Arabic".
الكُنافَةُ النّابُلْسِيَّةُ حَلْوى فِلَسْطينِيَّةٌ مَشْهورَةٌ.
Nablus knafeh is a famous Palestinian sweet.
A city can have a nisba too: نابُلُس gives نابُلْسِيّ, and the u after the ل drops. فِلَسْطين gives فِلَسْطينِيّ. Both are feminine here, agreeing with كُنافَة and حَلْوى.
وَصَلَتْني رِسالَةٌ رَسْمِيَّةٌ مِنَ السِّفارَةِ.
I received an official letter from the embassy.
The nisba is not only for places: رَسْم ("drawing, form") gives رَسْمِيّ, "official". Strip ـِيّ from an unknown adjective and you will often recognise the noun.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
§ 249 (pp. 149-150): relative adjectives (nisba) are formed by adding -iyy to a word and "denote that a person or thing belongs to or is connected therewith (in respect of origin, family, birth, sect, trade, etc.)"; the examples include "Egyptian, from Egypt" and "born or living at Damascus".
§ 251 (p. 151): the feminine termination ة is dropped before the nisba ending, e.g. مَكَّة gives مَكِّيّ and البَصْرَة gives بَصْرِيّ, an example that also shows the article left behind.
Chapter 10, "Adjectives: function and form" (pp. 239-275), is the modern reference treatment of MSA adjective formation and agreement. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record; the chapter text was not consulted.