Last week we learned that in Arabic, nouns are either masculine or feminine.  How can you tell what they are? Usually feminine nouns end with the "-ah" sound.  And we learned that in Arabic the adjective comes after the noun it describes.  We also learned that nouns and adjectives in Arabic must agree, that is, an adjective must agree with the noun it describes.  It must agree in several ways--one is gender.  So if the noun is masculine, you need a masculine adjective to describe it.  If a noun is feminine, you need a feminine adjective to describe it.   To make the adjective feminine, again you usually just add an "-ah" at the end.
An adjective has to agree with the noun it describes not just in gender, but also in definiteness.  So if the noun is definite with an "Al-", then the adjective also has to be definite with an "Al-."  Remember the "Al-" is the Arabic equivalent of "The", which we call the "definite article."

Look at these examples:

bayt qadiim = an old house
al-bayt al-qadiim = the old house

Both of these are phrases, not sentences.  How do we make a sentence out of these words?  Remember, there is no word for "is" in Arabic.

Al-bayt qadiim. = The house is old.  This is a simple equational sentence.  Note that the subject "al-bayt"  has the definite article and the predicate "qadiim" does not.

Look at these additional examples, paying attention to which words have the "al-" and which do not.  See how the "al-" changes the meaning of the phrase or sentence.

bayt qadiim = an old house
al-bayt al-qadiim = the old house
Al-bayt qadiim. = The house is old.

walad awiil = a tall boy
al-walad a-awiil = the tall boy
Al-walad awiil. = The boy is tall.

dars a^cb = a difficult lesson
ad-dars a-a^cb = the difficult lesson
Ad-dars a^cb. = The lesson is difficult.

qalam jadiid = a new pen
al-qalam al-jadiid = the new pen
Al-qalam jadiid. = The pen is new.

aawilah jamiilah = a beautiful table
a-aawilah al-jamiilah = the beautiful table
A-aawilah jamiilah. = The table is beautiful.

madiinah kabiirah = a big city
al-madiinah al-kabiirah = the big city
Al-madiinah kabiirah. = The city is big.

lughah sahlah = an easy language
al-lughah as-sahlah = the easy language
Al-lughah sahlah. = The language is easy.

Mir al-qadiimah = ancient Egypt
Mir qadiimah. = Egypt is ancient.

You will note that in some cases above the "Al-" is written as ad-, at-, or as-.  This has to do with the pronunciation.  It is written Alif Laam in Arabic, but some letters take over the Laam sound--it gets absorbed into the preceding sound....We will earn the rules for this later--for now you should just pronounce it the way it is written here.

What is this??

The word for "this" in Arabic is either masculine or feminine, depending on the noun it describes:
Haathaa -- This (masc.)
Haathihi -- This (fem.)

To ask the question "What is this?" you would use the masculine form:
Maa haathaa?  What is this?

The person answering the question would answer with either Haathaa or Haathihi, depending on the gender of the word...if you know the word , you know what gender it is.  Look at these examples:

Maa haathaa?  What is this?
Haathaa qaamuus.  This is a dictionary. (qaamuus is masculine)

Maa haathaa?  What is this?
Haathihi jariidah.  This is a newspaper. (jariidah is feminine)

Here are some new nouns for you to learn:

Qaamuus - dictionary
Jariidah - newspaper
Kursii - chair
Daftar - notebook
Maktab - office or desk
Khariiah - map

We can also make whole sentences using Haathaa and Haathihi.  Look at these examples:

Haathaa bayt = This is a house.
Haathaa bayt qadiim = This is an old house.
Haathaa al-bayt  = this house...
Haathaa al-bayt qadiim = This house is old.

Haathaa dars = This is a lesson.
Haathaa dars a^cb = This is a difficult lesson.
Haathaa ad-dars = this lesson...
Haathaa ad-dars a^cb = This lesson is difficult.

Haathaa daftar = This is a notebook.
Haathaa daftar aghiir= This is a small notebook.
Haathaa ad-daftar = this notebook...
Haathaa ad-daftar aghiir= This notebook is small.

Haathihi jariidah = This is a newspaper.
Haathihi jariidah qadiimah = This is an old newspaper.
Haathihi al-jariidah = this newspaper...
Haathihi al-jariidah qadiimah = This newspaper is old.

Haathihi khariiah = This is a map.
Haathihi khariiah kabiirah = This is a big map.
Haathihi al-khariiah = this map...
Haathihi al-khariiah kabiirah = This map is big.

Haathihi lughah = This is a language.
Haathihi lughah sahlah = This is an easy language.
Haathihi al-lughah = this language...
Haathihi al-lughah sahlah = This language is easy.