شخص: مؤنث\مذكر

[Sidjanga]

Hi,

If I use "شخص" with reference to women or girls, is it possible or even necessary to use the respective adjective in the مأنث form?
(I've just been told it has to be مأنث in that case).l

مثلاً:
أنا لست شخصاً خجولاً\خجولةً.


شكراً

 

[elroy]

The feminine form doesn't sound right to me. I would use the masculine form regardless of the gender of the person being referred to.

 

[גולם]

Hi,

If I use "شخص" with reference to women or girls, is it possible or even necessary to use the respective adjective in the مأنث form?
(I've just been told it has to be مأنث in that case).l

مثلاً:
أنا لست شخصاً خجولاً\خجولةً.


شكراً

Did you mean مؤنث?

 

[Abu Talha]

Did you mean مؤنث?

مؤنث is correct. The ـُ on the م is stronger than the ـَ on the ء so the seat of the ء is و.
----

Regarding the usage of شخص for a female, I find in الأصول في النحو لابن سراج:

السابع: تأَنيثُ المذكرِ علَى التأويلِ:

مِنْ ذلكَ قولُ الشاعر:

فكانَ مِجَنّى دونَ مَنْ كنتُ أتقَّي ... ثَلاثُ شُخوصٍ كاعبانِ ومُعْصِرُ١

فإنَّما أَنَّثَ الشخوصَ لقصدهِ النساءَ فحملهُ٢ على المعنى ثُمَّ أبانَ عَنْ إرادتِهِ وكشفَ عَنْ معناهُ بقولِه: كاعبانِ ومُعصرُ

However the footnote comments:

١ من شوا هد الكتاب ٢/ ١٧٥ عل تأنيث الشخص مراعاة لمعناه، لأنه أراد به المراة، أنث الشخوص ناث، فلو قال: ثلاثة شخوص كان أجود لان الشخص ذكر وأن كان لأنثى،

So it seems that treating شخص as feminine is permissible, because it is referring to female persons. But the footnote claims that treating it as masculine is better.

What do forum members think of the following sentences:

هي عضو رئيسي لِلَّجنة
هي عضو رئيسية لِلَّجنة

(assuming we don't want to use عضوة)

 

[Mahaodeh]

هي عضو رئيسية لِلَّجنة Is definitely wrong. رئيسي is describing عضو not describing هي, and as such it should follow عضو, and thus be masculine.

Even in English, it is the member that is primary, not her, she just happens to be that member.

Or am I missing something?

 

[Abu Talha]

Thanks @Mahaodeh . Your statement is certainly logical. It's just that the grammar book referred to seems to also permit matching the gender of the نعت with the meaning of the noun, not its grammatical gender.

Do you feel the same way about كانت إنسانًا طيبة ? (I know that إنسانة exists, but say that you wanted to use إنسان).

Similarly, هذه الإنسان الطيبة , etc.

I'm not a native, of course, but in this case I feel that it might not be too bad.

 

[Mahaodeh]

I would use إنسانة in this case.

However, I would use شخص and say: كانت شخصا طيبا.

 

[Abu Talha]

Thank you.

 

[Abu Talha]

How about
الشخص طالب.
vs
الشخص طالبة

When الشخص is referring to a female person, and طالب/طالبة is used as a substantive (common noun) meaning "a student"?

And does this change if طالب has a verbal meaning:

الشخص طالبٌ كتابَه
vs
الشخص طالبةٌ كتابَها.

Thank you

 

[cherine]

The words شخص and إنسان are always grammatically masculine even when referring to a woman. So no matter what example you think of, you’ll always need to keep the masculine. If it doesn’t sound good to you, or sounds strange, just go for the alternative إنسانة.

 

[Abu Talha]

Thank up @cherine. I appreciate your explanation, and I hope you won't mind if I dig into this a little deeper. Just trying to get a grip on handling these mismatched gender situations. And using native speakers' intuition as a very helpful guide.

So, for example, in this fake biography, does the masculine gender sound right?

فلانة بنت علان أديبة عربية مشهورة.
كان هذا الشخصُ الطيب منذ الطفولة ملازمًا للكتب والقراءة وكان تلميذًا مواظبًا في المدرسة .وبدأ هذا الشخص البارز حياته المهنية أستاذًا ومعلِّمًا في الجامعة.

I feel like it might ought to be تلميذة and أستاذة and معلمة ?

 

[cherine]

It does sound weird. I’m pretty sure any Arabic speaker wouldn’t use شخص in a biography, even when referring to a man. Here, the word شخصية (character, personality) is more suitable.
Interestingly, شخصية is always femine even when referring to a man. For example:
نجيب محفوظ شخصية عالمية أثرت في الأدب العربي الحديث.

Another example for شخص remaining masculine:
فلانة شخص محترم جدًا
By the way, in this kind of sentences, using شخص refers to personality or character more than “person”, for which we usually use إنسان - إنسانة.

 

[Abu Talha]

Thank you @cherine.