النَّكِرَة وَالـمَعْرِفَةThe definite and indefinite nouns

In Arabic, a noun is either indefinite, نَكِرَةُ , or definite, مَعْرِفَةُ.

• Indefiniteness / النَّكِرَةُ:

Indefinite nouns refer to names of unspecific beings or things such as: رَجُلٌ/a man,امْرَأَةٌ/a woman فَرَسٌ/ a horse, دَوْلَةٌ/a country…etc.

(In Arabic, there is no indefinite article such as the "a/an" in English). The indefinite nouns are characterized by the possibility to add the article  الــ to them as a prefix.

Example: رَجُلٌ , رَجُلًا , رَجُلٍ

• Definiteness/ الْمَعْرِفَةُ:

When a noun is put in the definite form that means the speaker /writer believes the hearer/reader knows exactly what he/she are referring to.

The definite nouns include:

-          Nouns preceded by the definite article 'al- الــ which is the equivalent of the English definite article "the" like: الْمَدْرَسَةُ/the school

-          Proper nouns like: مُحَمَّد/Muhammad , مَكَّة/Makah , فَرَنْسَا/France

-          Personal and demonstrative pronouns like: أَنَا/I, هَذَا/this

-          Relative pronouns such as: الَّذِي/which, مَنْ/who

-          Nouns forming the first part of a genitive construction such as: كِتَابُ النَّحْوِ/the grammar book

·         To turn a noun from the indefinite form to the definite one, add the definite marker الــ like:مَطَارٌ /an airport الْـمَطَارُ/ the airport or annex the word to another word like: سَيَّارَة/ سَيَّارَتِي، سَيَّارَة خَالِدٍ.