All Arabic nouns are either masculine or feminine, whether they are animate (living) or inanimate (non-living).
The gender of animate nouns is based on their meaning:
man (masculine) رَجُلٌ
mother (feminine) أُمٌّ
Most inanimate feminine nouns end in ة , and most inanimate masculine nouns end in another letter:
tree (feminine) شَجَرَةٌ
school (feminine) مَدْرَسَةٌ
book (masculine) كِتابٌ
heart (masculine) قَلْبٌ
Cities and most countries are feminine.
Damascus دِمَشْقُ
Egypt مِصْرُ
One exception to this rule is:
Lebanon لُبْنانُ
See also: