Definite and Indefinite noun in Arabic

The definite and indefinite noun explained [click here]

           What do we mean by definite and indefinite nouns?
      Definite nouns in English have a "the" in front of the noun.
           The "the" allows us to refer to a specific noun.
           e.g. The book is on the table. (Book is definite)

           Indefinite nouns in English have a "a/an" in front of the noun.
           The "a/an" allows us to refer to a general class of nouns.
           e.g. A book is on the table. (Book is indefinite)

Only nouns – unlike verbs – can be definite or indefinite.

In Arabic to make a noun definite place 1-1 “il” in front of it. اِل for colloquial/spoken OR اَلْ for MSA/Classical.

And, for an indefinite noun there is no "a/an" in Arabic.

For MSA/Classical Arabic the article is pronounced "al" and in Colloquial/spoken Arabic the article is pronounced "il" unless there is assimilation.

Note:

In MSA/Classical nunation appears at the end of indefinite nouns and adjectives in the form of TWO dammas ٌ . Nunation gives nouns and adjectives a unique "un" sound to the ending.

To make life joyously complicated: Nunation can be nominative, accusative, and genitive in form carrying two dammas, two fathas, or two kasras.
Nominative nunation = two dammas ٌ sounding like un صَبيٌ
Accusative nunation = two fathas ً sounding like an صَبيً
Genitive nunation = two kasras ٍ sounding like in صَبيٍ

Nunation is written but not heard for word lists (Referred to as "pausal").

Therefore, for the words listed below you will not hear nunation in the recordings.

Oh, my! You say, kinda get nunation -- "it makes words end in a "un" sound when indefinite" -- but how do I know if a word is nominative, accusative, or genitive in case??

You will learn that as you go along.
For now, just think of the nominative case ُ or ٌ as the default form in Arabic.
If the noun is definite it carries one damma ُ
If the noun is indefinite it carries two dammas ٌ
Why two dammas?

Imagine the indefinite noun as deficient for not have a "a/an" in front of it. Therefore, compensated by two dammas instead of having just one!

How does this effect the "sound ending" of the word? Well, you hear at the end of the noun:
un = a/an = two damma
u = the = one damma

Arabic is a musical language -- case endings are like musical notes.

Ok, so you got a headache?

Examples of the definite and indefinite noun [click here]

Examples:

صَبيٌ
وَلَدْ
1 walad – a boy (masc. noun)

اَلصَبيُ
اِلْوَلَدْ
2 Il walad – the boy

فَتاةٌ
بِنْتْ
3 bint – a girl (fem. noun)

اَلْفَتاةُ
اِلْبِنْتْ
4 Il bint – the girl

مَلابِسٌ
هُدومْ
5 hoduum – cloths (plural noun)

اَلْمَلابِسُ
اِلْهُدومْ
6 Il hoduum - the cloths

Got it? Pretty simple, right?

Of course the real challenge is memorizing your nouns. While making a noun definite or indefinite is easy.

[07] the definite versus indefinite article