single phoneme /ə/. Also notable among the differences between Classical Arabic and Algerian Arabic is the deletion of short vowels entirely from open syllables and thus word final positions, which creates a stark distinction between written Classical Arabic, and casually written Algerian Arabic. One point of interest in Algerian Arabic that sets it apart from other conservative Arabic dialects is its preservation of phonemes in (specifically French) loanwords that would otherwise not be found in the language: , , and are all preserved in French loanwords such as (French: 'sure', English: 'sour') or /kɔnɛksiɔ̃/ (connection). Grammar Nouns and adjectives Conjunctions and prepositions Some of them can be attached to the noun, just like in other Arabic dialects. The word for in, "fi", can be attached to a definite noun. For example, the word for a house has a definite form "ed-dar" but with "fi", it becomes "fed-dar". Gender Algerian Arabic uses two genders for words: masculine and feminine. Masculine nouns and adjectives generally end with a consonant while the feminine nouns generally end with an a. Examples: "a donkey", "a female donkey". Pluralisation Hilalian dialects, on which the modern koine is based, often use regular plural while the wider use of the broken plural is characteristic to pre-Hilalian dialects. The regular masculine plural is formed with the suffix -in, which derives from the Classical Arabic genitive and accusative ending -īna rather than the nominative -ūna: mumen (believer) → mumnin For feminine nouns, the regular plural is obtained by suffixing -at: Classical Arabic: bint (girl) → banat Algerian Arabic: bent → bnat The broken plural can be found for some plurals in Hilalian dialects, but it is mainly used, for the same words, in pre-Hilalian dialects: Broken plural: ṭabla → ṭwabəl. Article The article el is indeclinable and expresses a definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives. It follows the solar letters and lunar letters rules of Classical Arabic: if the word starts with one of these consonants, el is assimilated and replaced by the first consonant: , , , , , , , , , , . Examples: rajel → er-rajel "man" (assimilation) qeṭṭ → el-qeṭṭ "cat" (no assimilation) Important Notes: When it is after lunar letters consonant we add the article le-. Examples: qmer → le-qmer "moon" ḥjer → le-ḥjer "stone" We always use the