Definiteness and Indefiniteness (المَعْرِفَةُ والنَّكِرَة)

In Arabic, nouns can be either definite or indefinite.

بَـيْــتٌ A houseالـــبَـيْــتُ The house

كِـتَابٌ A bookالـــكِـتَابُ The book

قَـلَـــمٌ A penالـــقَلَــمُ The pen

جَـمَــلٌ A camelالــجَمَــلُ The camel

Note that when the definite article (ال) is added to a noun, the noun becomes definite, and its tanwin [ ـً ـٍ ـٌ ], is replaced by a harakah [ ـَ ـِ ـُ ].

Definite nouns (المَعْرِفَة)

Definite nouns (المَعْرِفَة) refer to specific things that are known to the speaker and listener

Indefinite nouns (النَّكِرَةُ)

Indefinite nouns refer to general things that are not known.

ال

In addition to the definite article (ال), there are other ways to indicate definiteness. You will encounter these later.