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Here is the breakdown of these three expressions. Level 1 "What is this?" ما هٰذِهِ؟ Mā hādhihi? Word by word: ما (mā) → what هٰذِهِ (hādhihi) → this (feminine) هٰذِهِ is the feminine form of the demonstrative pronoun. It ends with ه because it points to something feminine and near. If the noun were masculine, you would say: ما هٰذا؟ Arabic grammar already tells you the gender before you name the thing. Level 2 "This is a cat." هٰذِهِ قِطَّةٌ Hādhihi qiṭṭatun Word by word: هٰذِهِ (hādhihi) → this (feminine) قِطَّةٌ (qiṭṭatun) → a cat قِطَّةٌ takes tanween (the double vowel ـٌ) because it is indefinite. When you identify something for the first time, you use the indefinite form. If you were talking about a specific cat already mentioned, you would say: القِطَّة (al qiṭṭah). Level 3 "This is a dog." هٰذَا كَلْبٌ Hādhā kalbun Word by word: هٰذَا (hādhā) → this (masculine) كَلْبٌ (kalbun) → a dog Notice the switch from هٰذِهِ to هٰذَا. The demonstrative pronoun now matches the masculine noun. This is one of the first patterns you notice in Quranic Arabic: agreement between pointer and noun in gender and number. Once you see it, you see it everywhere. Watch this video to learn how to get fluent in Arabic: https://youtu.be/djyY0QYIoNU
