Rules for writing the ت of feminization

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

Continuing from Shaykh Uthaymeen’s rahimahullah قواعد في الإلمى (Rules for Writing), we learn how to write تاء التأنيث (the ت used for the feminine tense).

1. It is written in its مَربُوطة (rounded) form (ة) in:
   • Broken plurals (e.g. قُضاة [“the judges”]
   • Singular feminine nouns (e.g. شَجَرة), except for بِنت (“daughter”) and أُخت (“sister”)
2. It is written in its مَفتُوحة (open) form (ت) in:
   • The فِعل (action), such as قامَتْ (“she stood”)
   • The جَمع المُؤنّثِ السالِم (sound feminine plural), such as مُسلِمات (“Muslim women”)
   • حُرُوف (particles), such as ثُمَّتْ رُبَّتْ لَعَلَّتْ لاتَ

Extra points of benefit

The ت of the feminine

• It is pronounced when stopping on it instead of as ه, and can come on an ism, fi’l or harf
• In the ism:
  • At the end of بِنْت (daughter) and أخْت (sister)
  • At the end of sound feminine plural (جمع المُؤَنَّث السالم), such as in مُسلِمات (Muslim women) and مُؤمِنات (believing women)
  • As part of ات at the end of descriptions for masculine nouns, such as ثقات (trustworthy), أثبات (“reliable”), سادات (“master”)
• In the fi’l to make the doer feminine as in قالتْ (“she said”)
• At the end of 4 particles:
  • ثُمَّت – the ت here differentiates it from ثَمّة (“there”) with a fathah on the ث
  • رُبَّتْ
  • لَعَلَّتْ
  • لات

The ة of the feminine

• It can only appear on an ism
• If used at the end of a proper noun, it prevents it from taking tanwin (e.g. حَمزة or خَدِيجة)
• It can come to differentiate between the masculine and feminine (e.g. طَبِيب vs. طَبِيبة for male and female doctor)
• It can substitute for another letter, as in عدة (“promise” which actually has a root of و-ع-د), ثِقة (“reliable”, which actually stems from و-ث-ق)
• It can differentiate between the singular and the name for the species, as in الشَّجَرَة (“the tree”) vs. الشَّجَر (trees in general)
• It can come with the meaning of excessiveness, as in علّامَة (“very well-learned”)
• The letter before it will always have a fathah on it, explicitly as in فاطِمَة, or implied as in قُضاة (“judges”)

Until next time, السلام عليكم

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