A relational adjective is the adjective that is used to relate one thing to another. In Arabic, this is called نِسْبَة ‘relation.’ This type of adjectives is common in Arabic. To form adjectives of this type, we simply add a suffix the end of nouns, that is يّ (ي with shaddah). This suffix/ي is called يَاء النَّسَب, the ي of attribution. This post is about how to make relational adjectives from regular nouns and some irregular nouns and provides list of some common nationality adjectives.

When we say مَحَمَّد يَمَنِي, we relate a person, مَحَمَّد, to a country, اليَمَن. To say بَلَد إِسْلامِي ‘an Islamic country’, we relate a word, بَلَد, to a religion, إِسْلام. To say رز هِنْدِي ‘Indian rice’, we relate a food, رُز, to a country, الهِنْد. To say بَحْث تَرْبَوِي ‘educational research’, we relate a research, بَحْث, to a field of research, التَّرْبِيَة. Therefore, we are describing someone or something tersely. That is, rather than saying مَحَمَّد مِن اليَمَن ‘Mohammed is from Yemen,’ رُز مِن إِنْتَاج الهِنْد ‘rice that is produced in India,’ we use the relational adjectives يَمَنِي and هنْدِي to form shorter phrases/sentence with similar meaning, مَحَمَّد يَمَنِي and رُز هِنْدِي.

Relational Adjectives of Regular Nouns:

Generally, to make a relational adjective from a noun we add kasrah to the last letter of this noun and then append the يّ to it. This rule is straightforward in regular nouns, i.e. nouns that end in sound letters (all letters other than ا, و, ء, and ي), as in this list:

Noun	Relational adjective
حَاسُوب ‘computer’	حَاسُوبِيّ ‘computational’
إِسْلام ‘Islam’	إِسْلامِيّ ‘Islamic’
مَغْرِب ‘Morocco’	مَغْرِبِيّ ‘Moroccan’
عِلْم ‘science’	عِلْمِيّ ‘scientific’
قُرْآن ‘Quran’	قُرْآنِيّ ‘Quranic’
رَمَضَان ‘Ramadhan’	رَمَضَانِيّ ‘of Ramadhan’
تِلْفُوْن ‘telephone’	تِلِفُوْنِيّ ‘telephonic’
اِسْتِعْلَام ‘information’	اِسْتعْلَامِيّ ‘informational’
اِقْتِصَاد ‘economy’	اِقْتِصَادِيّ ‘economic’

If the regular noun end in ـة / ة, i.e. feminine form, it must be dropped prior to adding the يّ of attribution, as in the following list:

Noun	Relational adjective
تِجَارَة ‘commerce’	تِجَارِيّ ‘commercial’
جَامِعَة ‘university’	جَامِعِيّ ‘of university’
مَكَّة ‘Mecca’	مَكِّيّ ‘Meccan’
وَرَقَة ‘paper’	وَرَقِيّ ‘of paper’
قَاهِرَة ‘Cairo’	قَاهِرِيّ ‘Cairene’
لَيْلَة ‘night’	لِيْلِيّ ‘nightly
زِرَاعَة ‘agriculture’	زِرَاعِيّ ‘agricultural’
صِنَاعَة ‘industry’	صَنَاعِيّ ‘industrial’
وِزَارَة ‘ministry’	وِزَارِي ‘ministerial’

Irregular nouns are uncommon and full of irregularities; therefore, they are not included here.

Relational Adjective of Common Irregular nouns:

Nouns that include a weak letter حَرْفُ عِلَّة (i.e. ا, و, ي or ء), especially in final position, are called irregular because they undergo some change prior to append the يّ of attribution. These changes are dropping a letter, replacing a letter by another, retaining a dropped letter, or adding an extra letter.

(1) Nouns that end in an alif ا:

If a noun is a three-letter word ending in an alif, the alif is changed to waw و before adding the يّ, as in these examples:

Noun	Relational adjective
رِبَا ‘usury’	رِبَوِيّ ‘usurious’
فَتَى ‘youth’	فَتَوِيّ ‘youthful’
هُدَى ‘guidance’	هُدَوِيّ ‘guiding’

If a noun is a four-letter word ending an alif, the alif is dropped prior to adding the يّ, as in these examples:

Noun	Relational adjective
كَنَدَا ‘Canada’	كَنَدِيّ ‘Canadian’
بَنَمَا ‘Panama’	بَنَمِيّ ‘Panamanian’
رُوْمَا ‘Rome’	رُوْمِيّ ‘Roman’

If a noun is a five-or-more-letter word ending in an alif, the alif is always dropped before adding the يّ of attribution, as in these examples:

Noun	Relational adjective
إِيْطَالِيَا ‘Italy’	إِيْطَالِيّ ‘Italian’
فَرَنْسَا ‘France’	فَرَنْسِي ‘French’
سَنْغَافُورا ‘Singapore’	سَنْغَافُوْرِيّ ‘Singaporean’
مُصْطَفَى  ‘Mustapha’	مُصْطَفِيّ ‘that of Musapha’
مُسْتَشْفَى  ‘hospital’	مُسْتَشْفِيّ ‘that of hospitals’

(2) Nouns that end in yaa ي:

If a noun is a three-letter word ending in yaa, the ي is changed to و before adding the يّ of attribution, as in these examples:

Noun	Relational adjective
عَلِي ‘Ali’	عَلَوِيّ ‘follower of Ali’
شَجِي ‘sad’	شَجَوِيّ ‘saddening’
حَيّ (حَيْيْ)  ‘living’	حَيَويّ ‘crucial’
نَبِي ‘prophet’	نَبَوِيّ ‘prophetic’

Forming relational adjectives from Nouns that are four-or-more-letter words are rare in Arabic; therefore, they are not listed here. One example of these is listed in the first paragraph, that is تَرْبَوِي which is derived from the word تَرْبِيَة ‘education.’ Here, the ـة is dropped and what remains is تَرْبِي, which is a four-letter word ending in ي. The is replaced by و followed by the يّ of relation, hence تَرْبَوِيّ. This is the case with most four-and-five-letter words ending in ي.

(3) Nouns ending in alif and hamzah اء:

In these nouns, if the hamzah is part of the noun and verb from which it is derived, we simply add the يّ of attribution to the noun to form the respective relational adjective, as in these examples:

Noun	Relational adjective
إِنٍشَاء ‘foundation’	إِنْشَائِيّ ‘foundational’
اِبْتِدَاء ‘prime’	اِبْتِدَائِي ‘primary’
اِجْرَاء ‘procedure’	اِجْرَائِيّ ‘procedural’

If the hamzah indicates the feminine form, it is normally changed to و prior to adding the relational يّ, as in these examples:

Noun	Relational adjective
صَحْرَاء ‘desert’	صَحْرَاويّ ‘that of a desert’
بَيْضَاء ‘white’	بَيْضَاوِي ‘that of the white’
خَضْرَاء ‘green’	خَضْراوِيّ ‘that of the green’

Some Common Adjectives of Nationalities:

Arab Countries:  

Country	Nationality
الأُرْدُن ‘Jordan’	أُرْدُنِيّ
الإِمَارَات ‘Emirates’	إِمَارَاتِيّ
البَحْرَيْن ‘Bahrain’	بَحْرَيْنِيّ
توُنِس ‘Tunisia’	تُوْنِسِيّ
الجَزَائِر ‘Algeria’	جَزَائِرِيّ
جِيْبُوِتِي ‘Djibouti’	جِيْبُوتِيّ
السِّعُوْدِيَّة‘Saudi Arabia’	سِعُوْدِيّ
السَّوْدِان ‘Sudan’	سُوْدَانِيّ
سُوْرِيَا ‘Syria’	سُوْرِيّ
الصُّوْمَال ‘Somalia’	صُوْمَالِيّ
العِرَاق ‘Iraq’	عِرَاقِيّ
عُمَان ‘Oman’	عُمَانِيّ
فَلَسْطِيْن ‘Palestine’	فَلَسْطِيْنِيّ
قَطَر ‘Qatar’	قَطَرِيّ
الكُوَيْت ‘Kuwait’	كَوَيْتِيّ
لُبْنَان ‘Lebanon’	لُبْنَانِيّ
لِيْبِيَا ‘Libya’	لِيْبِيّ
مِصْر ‘Egypt’	مِصْرِيّ
المَغْرِب ‘Morocco’	مَغْرِبِيّ
مُوْرِيْتَانِيَا ‘Mauritania’	مُوْرِيْتَانِيّ
اليَمَن ‘Yemen’	يَمَنِيْ

Other Countries:

Country	Nationality
إِثْيُوبِيَا ‘Ethiopia’	إِثْيُوبِيّ
الأَرْجَنْتِيْن ‘Argentina’	أَرْجَنْتِيْنِيّ
إِسْبَانِيَا ‘Spain’	إِسْبَانِيّ
أَلْمَانِيَا ‘Germany’	أَلْمَانِيّ
أَمْرِيْكَا ‘America’	أَمْرِيْكِيّ
إِنْدُونِيْسِيَا ‘Indonesia’	إِنْدُونِيْسِيّ
إِيْرَان  ‘Iran’	إِيْرَانِيّ
إيْطَالِيَا ‘Italy’	إِيْطَالِيّ
بَاكِسْتَان ‘Pakistan’	بَاكِسْتَانِيّ
البَرازِيْل ‘Brazil’	بَرَازِيْلِيّ
بِرِيْطَانَيَا ‘Britain’	بِرِيْطَانِيّ
تُرْكِيَا ‘Turkey’	تُرْكِيّ
تِشَاد ‘Chad’	تِشَادِيّ
رُوْسِيَا ‘Russia’	رُوْسِيّ
السِّنْغَال  ‘Senegal’	سِنْغَالِيّ
الصِّيْن ‘China’	صَيْنِيّ
فَرَنْسَا ‘France’	فَرَنْسِيّ
كَنَدَا ‘Canada’	كَنَدِيّ
كُوْرِيَا ‘Korea’	كُوْرِيّ
كِيْنِيَا ‘Kenya’	كِيْنِيّ
مَالِيْزِيَا ‘Malaysia’	مَالِيْزِيّ
المَكْسِيْك ‘Mexico’	مَكْسِيْكِي
نَيْجِرِيَا ‘Nigeria’	نَيْجِرِيّ
الهِنْد ‘India’	هِنْدِيّ
اليَابَان  ‘Japan’	يَابَانِيّ