Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
هذا و هذه are two of the demonstrative pronouns (اﻷسماء الإشارة ) which both mean ‘this’ in the English language. But unlike the ‘this’ in the English Language, Arabic Language differentiates between the demonstrative pronouns used for the male and the female gender. The male gender here does not mean only a boy or a man; it includes every noun (living عاقل and non-living غير عاقل ) that do not have a ‘closed taa’ while the female gender covers all the female (human)proper nouns (with or without a closed taa)e.g مريم، زينب، فاطمة e.t.c and other non-living things and animals that have a closed-taa e.g مروحة، نظارة ، بقرة e.t.c 
In addition to the above, the body parts that are in twos such as the eyes and the legs are used with the demonstrative pronoun هذه. All nouns in the Arabic language therefore are either masculine or feminine. So when students learn a new word, they must learn its gender also as some words do not follow the general rule stated above. As regards the pronunciation of these pronouns, the ه in each of هذا and هذه is pronounced with an alif madd but it is never written with the alif.
Saodat Alimi holds an ijaaza in Qur’an Memorization, a higher diploma in Arabic and Islamic studies and a Bachelor degree in Chemistry education.
Her works include Quran Arabic for Beginners , Qur’an Reading Made Easy and Arabic Reading Course 101 among others.
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