Adjectives in Algerian Arabic

Adjectives are what turn a list of nouns into speech. A learner who can say house has one word. A learner who can say a big house, an old house, an expensive house has thirty, and can start having opinions, which is where conversation actually lives.

This page is deliberately small, fifty four entries, because a small set of well chosen adjectives goes an extraordinarily long way. Big and small, beautiful and ugly, cheap and expensive, hot and cold. Most of what you will want to say about most things is on this page.

Learn them in opposite pairs

كبير and صغير are listed together for a reason. Pairs are easier to remember than singles, they are twice as useful, and they give you a ready made way to ask a question and answer it: big or small, expensive or cheap. Almost every entry here has a natural opposite. Take them two at a time.

The feminine form is not optional

You will see forms like شباب and شبّة sitting side by side. Which one you use depends on what you are describing, and using the wrong one is one of the most immediately noticeable learner errors there is. It does not stop you being understood. It does stop you sounding like somebody who has spoken the language before. Learn both shapes from the start rather than learning one and repairing it later.

Adjectives carry the compliment

A great deal of Algerian social warmth is carried by adjectives. Saying somebody looks well, that a meal was good, that a house is beautiful, that a child is clever: these are said often and expected. A learner who is grammatically correct and never says anything nice comes across as cold. Take three of the positive adjectives here and make a habit of using them.

What to do with this page

Pick ten adjectives in five pairs. Then go to the house page and describe every object in the room with one of them. Ten adjectives across twenty nouns is two hundred combinations, all of them sayable out loud right now, none of which needs another person. When those come without thinking, come back for the next ten.

25 words to start with