In English, we say "A beautiful house". The adjective comes first. But in Arabic, you say the noun first, then you describe it! "A house beautiful".
Let's look at a sentence we learned in Lesson 4 next to a descriptive phrase. What is the only difference between the two boxes?
In Arabic, the Adjective (النَّعْت) acts like a stalker. It perfectly copies the noun it is stalking (the Man'oot) in two specific ways:
If the noun has "AL", the adjective MUST have "AL". If the noun does not have "AL" (indefinite), the adjective cannot have "AL".
If the noun ends in a Dammah `ُ`, the adjective MUST end in a Dammah `ُ`. If the noun ends in a Kasra `ِ`, the adjective must end in Kasra `ِ`!
You already know some of these from earlier lessons. Let's make sure we have them memorized so we can build sentences.
Read these sentences aloud. Notice how the adjective (in green) stalks the noun (in blue) perfectly—copying both its "AL" and its final vowel!
The adjective copies the noun in gender, definiteness, case, and number.