Malagasy Feminine
Learning the Malagasy Feminine is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the Malagasy language. But first we need to know what the role of Feminine is in the structure of the grammar in Malagasy.
Malagasy feminine refers to female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls or things considered feminine. The complement to feminine is masculine.
Grammar Tips:
In Malagasy,
there is no distinction between a feminine or a masculine noun, adjective or
even pronoun. The context tells you if it is about a male or a female. Some
time the word “lahy” (male) and “vavy” (female) is added. Here are some
examples:
Zanaka
lahy (son) becomes zanaka vavy (daughter), mpianatra lahy (student masc.)
becomes mpianatra vavy (student fem.)
Note that
some words cannot change into feminine; examples: Lehilahy (man), dadatoa
(uncle)
Here are some examples:
| English Feminine | Malagasy Feminine |
| Feminine | vehivavy |
| he is happy | faly izy |
| she is happy | faly izy |
| he is American | Amerikanina izy |
| she is American | Amerikanina izy |
| |
| man | lehilahy |
| woman | vehivavy |
| father | ray/dada |
| mother | mama/ neny |
| brother | rahalahy |
| sister | rahavavy |
| uncle | dadatoa |
| aunt | nenitoa |
| bull | omby dia |
| cow | kisoa |
| boy | lehilahy/ ankizilahy |
| girl | vehivavy/ankizivavy |
As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Feminine in Malagasy has a logical pattern. Locate the Feminine above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Malagasy.
List of Feminine in Malagasy
Below is a list of objects, can you determine whether they're feminine, masculine or plural in Malagasy? Memorizing this table will also help you add very useful and important words to your Malagasy vocabulary.
| English Vocabulary | Malagasy Vocabulary |
| objects | zavatra |
| bathroom | efitrano fisasàna |
| bed | fandriana |
| bedroom | efitrano |
| ceiling | tafo trano |
| chair | seza |
| clothes | akanjo |
| coat | akanjo ambony lava |
| cup | kaopy |
| desk | latabatra |
| dress | raoby |
| floor | tany |
| fork | sotro rovitra |
| furniture | fitaovana ao an-trano |
| glass | vera |
| hat | satroka |
| house | trano |
| ink | ranomainty |
| jacket | palitao |
| kitchen | lakozia |
| knife | antsy |
| lamp | jiro |
| letter | taratasy |
| map | saritany |
| newspaper | gazety |
| notebook | boky fandraisana naoty |
| pants | pataloha |
| paper | taratasy |
| pen | penina |
| pencil | pensily hazo |
| pharmacy | trano fivarotam-panafody |
| picture | sary |
| plate | lovia |
| refrigerator | vata fampangatsiahana |
| restaurant | trano fisakafoanana |
| roof | tafo trano |
| room | efitrano |
| rug | lamba firakotra/bodofotsy |
| scissors | hety |
| shampoo | savony fanasàna loha |
| shirt | zipo |
| shoes | kiraro |
| soap | savony |
| socks | bà kiraro |
| spoon | sotro kely |
| table | latabatra |
| toilet | trano fivoahana/trano fidiovana |
| toothbrush | borosy nify |
| toothpaste | dantifrisy |
| towel | seriveta |
| umbrella | helo |
| underwear | atin'akanjo |
| wall | rindrina |
| wallet | fasiana vola |
| window | varavaran-kely |
| telephone | finday/telefaonina |
Feminine and Masculine have a very important role in Malagasy, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with Malagasy Feminine, you might want to check the rest of our Malagasy lessons here: Learn Malagasy. Don't forget to bookmark this page.