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Why is شَمْسٌ (“sun”) Feminine? A Guide to Arabic Verb Agreement & Gender
Feminine subject, masculine verb? Yes, it happens in Arabic grammar. Learn the specific situations and types of feminine nouns where this unexpected agreement occurs.
Why does Arabic sometimes use a masculine verb for a word like sun (شَمْسٌ), which is treated as feminine? This frequent point of confusion has a logical answer rooted in Arabic grammar.
It all comes down to the two main types of feminine nouns: Real Feminine (for living beings) and Figuratively Feminine (for objects and concepts). Once you can distinguish between them, the rules of Arabic verb agreement become much clearer. This article will guide you through that distinction with simple examples.
The question of gender is a difficult issue when we are in the world of languages. Let’s clarify first what feminine actually means.
Basically, there are two categories of feminine words: real and figurative one.
Category 1 You should (some say: must) start a sentence with the feminine, singular form of the verb if the subject is in life, in real feminine and therefore naturally, genuinely feminine (مُؤَنَّثٌ حَقِيقِيٌّ).
This is true for humans and animals. For example: mother (أُمُّ); lioness (لَبُؤةٌ).
A related category is semantically feminine words (مُؤَنَّثٌ مَعْنَوِيٌّ), which are grammatically feminine by meaning, even without visual signs of feminization. For example, proper names like Zaynab (زَيْنَبُ); Suad (سُعادُ).
➤ The verb gets the feminine form.
Category 2 What happens if we have a word like شَمْسٌ (sun) which is figuratively feminine (مُؤَنَّثٌ مَجازِيٌّ) by tradition? What we mean here is metaphorically feminine: a noun for an inanimate object that is treated as feminine.
In other words, what verb form should we use for a singular noun that is feminine in form (مُؤَنَّثٌ لَفْظِيٌّ) but lacks a logical gender? We often get this situation when nouns end in ة or ى or اء and when this ending does not belong to the root.
➤ As a general rule, use the feminine verb form.
You may have come across sentences that irritated you because the verb-subject agreement was not what you expected. This happens quite often in sentences containing لا يوجد and لا توجد, or ليس and ليست. Let’s look at the most common situations.
Situation 1 The subject (فاعِلٌ) is figuratively feminine (مَجازِيٌّ).
- This happens when a noun is derived from a root and got a feminine marker for the ending.
- ➤ You use the feminine verb form.
| The result appeared. | ظَهَرَتْ النَّتِيجَةُ. |
Could you also use the masculine verb form?
| Yes. But the feminine verb form is better style (الْأَفْصَحُ). | ظَهَرَ النَّتِيجَةُ. |
Situation 2 The subject (فاعِلٌ) is feminine by nature (التَّأْنِيثُ حَقِيقِيٌّ) but the verb is separated from the subject by another word.
- ➤ You use the feminine verb form.
| Fātima appeared today. | حَضَرَتْ الْيَوْمَ فاطِمةُ. |
Could you also use the masculine verb form?
| Theoretically, yes. But the feminine verb form (as above) is considered a better style (الْأَفْصَحُ). | حَضَرَ الْيَوْمَ فاطِمةُ. |
Watch out: If the connection between the verb and the feminine subject is interrupted by إِلّّا, the masculine verb form is better (التَّذِكِيرُ أَفْصَحُ)!
| Only Fātima appeared today. | ما حَضَرَ الْيَوْمَ إِلَّا فاطِمةُ. |
Why is that? This has to do with the underlying, estimated meaning of the sentence:
| No one appeared today except for Fātima. | ما حَضَرَ الْيَوْمَ أَحَدٌ إِلّا فاطِمةُ. |
Siutation 3 The subject (فاعِلٌ)is a broken plural (جَمْعُ التَّكْسِيرِ) which is based on a masculine or feminine singular.
- Your choice! Both verb forms (masculine or feminine) are possible.
| No one appeared today except for Fātima. | حَضَرَ التَّلامِيذُ or حَضَرَتْ التَّلامِيذُ |
In the following example, the word شَواعِرُ is the plural form of the singular word شاعِرَةٌ which is a female poet.
| The poets recited their poems (referring to female poets). | أَلْقَى الشَواعِرُ قَصائِدَهُنَّ or أَلْقَتْ الشَواعِرُ قَصائِدَهُنَّ |
Wanna cite this article?
Drißner, G. (2026, May 7). Why is شَمْسٌ (“sun”) Feminine? A Guide to Arabic Verb Agreement & Gender. Arabic for Nerds. https://arabic-for-nerds.com/grammar/masculine-verb-with-feminine-subject-in-arabic/
Published: May 7, 2026
Please check the citation before use, especially if your style guide has local requirements.
Publication ISSN: 3055-1730
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There’s even more to it. A feminine form may be used with human plurals when the reference is to an entire set of people without exception or when their individual identities are not relevant. This occurs more often in early Arabic manuscripts than it does in modern writing, although I have seen it in the modern writings of some superb stylists. It is preserved in all of the spoken vernaculars with which I am aware.
A couple of examples, the first from Qur’ān 2:113 and the second from Q14:9:
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ لَيْسَتِ النَّصَارَى عَلَىَ شَيْءٍ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَى لَيْسَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى شَيْءٍ وَهُمْ يَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ
أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَبَأُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ وَثَمُودَ وَالَّذِينَ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُهُمْ إِلاَّ اللّهُ جَاءتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ