lesson 2 - Arabic Gems

Lesson 2: Plurals
In English when speaking of numbers of something in grammar, we have two grammatical
accounts-
1. Singular – meaning one of something.
2. Plural – meaning two or more.
In Arabic however, you find three grammatical accounts of numbers1. Singular – meaning one of something.
2. Dual – meaning specifically two of something.
3. Plural – meaning three or more.
This lesson deals with plurals.
Arabic has two forms of the plural –
1. Sound Plural – which is divided into 2 categories1- Sound masculine plural
2- Sound feminine plural
2. Broken Plural
Sound Plurals
Sound plurals are easy to recognise and form, because all you need to do is add the plural suffix
to the end of the word in its singular form.
There is however more than one suffix which is used, depending on whether the word is
masculine or feminine.
Masculine Sound Plural
Applies to only 3 categories of words:
1. Human traits
2. Human professions
3. Human nationalities
Masculine sound plurals do not apply to
non-human words!
Feminine Sound Plural
These apply to all non-human words, as well as
human words.
Usually ( although not exclusively) feminine
sound plurals will be made from singular words
ending in taa’marboota
‫ة‬
(However note: not all words ending in
taa’marboota will be a sound feminine plural –
many in fact will actually have a broken plural,
and some may have a sound masculine plural.)
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Sound Masculine Plurals
َ‫ ون‬or َ‫ ين‬is added to the singular word.
A dummah will be placed on letter before َ‫ ون‬suffix, or a kessrah before َ‫ ين‬.
To form a sound Masculine plural, the suffix
The suffix used will depend on which case the word is in:
When
‫مرفوع‬
When
‫ مجرور‬or ‫منصوب‬
َ‫ون‬
َ‫ين‬
َ
*lesson 2 only deals with the suffix َ‫ – ون‬lesson 3 deals with case and how it effects the suffix to
be either
َ‫ ون‬or َ‫ ين‬. The different cases are mentioned here only to aid future revision
inshallah.
How to do it:
َ‫ُمؤ ِم ُن‬
َ‫َُمؤ ِمنون‬
‫ُمؤ ِمن‬
َ‫ُمؤ ِمن‬
believers
Add the suffix
believer
َ‫ ون‬or َ‫ين‬
on the end (depending on
which case it is)
Replace the final vowel
with a dummah
Remove the tanween
from the end if
indefinite
Start with word in
singular form
A sound masculine plural will never end in tanween even when indefinite- this
is because the does the job of the tanween. The fatha will always remain!
-note: the final fatha will
always stay no matter what!
Sound Feminine Plurals
َ to the end.
‫ات‬
When ‫مجرور‬
To form a sound Feminine Plural, remove the taa’marboota and add the suffix
When
‫مرفوع‬
When
‫منصوب‬
Definite
Indefinite
Definite
Indefinite
Definite
Indefinite
ُ
َ‫ات‬
َ‫ات‬
َ‫ت‬
ِ ‫ا‬
َ‫ات‬
َ‫ت‬
ِ ‫ا‬
َ‫ات‬
The final vowel will alter depending on what case the word is in, and whether it is definite or indefinite. (this
How to do it:
lesson only deals with the ending
َ‫ – َات‬lesson 3 explains the rest. The table above is mentioned to aid future
revision inshallah.
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َ‫ُمؤ ِمنات‬
َ‫ُمؤ ِمن‬
َ‫َُمؤ ِمنة‬
believers
Add ‫ ات‬on the end
believer
Remove both the final tanween (if
indefinite) and
Note:
Not all words ending in taa’marboota will be
a sound feminine plural – some may
actually have a sound masculine plural.
For example:
The only common one is
‫ َس َنة‬with its plural
‫ون‬
َ ‫( سِ ُن‬in Modern Standard Arabic you find
the plural ‫س َنوات‬
َ )
‫ ة‬taa’ marbootah
Start with word in
singular form
Note:
Not all words ending in taa’marboota will be
a sound feminine plural – many will be a
broken plural.
For example:
َ‫قُرى‬
Settlements/
Villages
َ‫قرْ ية‬
settlement/
village
Similarly, some words will not end
‫ ة‬but will
have a sound feminine plural.
Broken Plurals
Unlike sound plurals which keep the singular word intact whilst adding a suffix, broken plurals will
“break” the singular word to form the plural. They involve breaking up the singular word and
making changes to either the vowels or the letters themselves. Similar to which we find in English
words such as mouse / mice and foot / feet etc.
This means that there is not a set way or pattern to form a broken plural.
Broken plurals should be learnt and memorised alongside its singular counterpart when learning
vocab.
For example:
َ‫ِعباد‬
servants /
slaves
َ‫عبْد‬
servant /
slave
‫َم َنا ِف ُع‬
‫َم ْن َف َعة‬
benefits
benefit
Although with experience, eventually it may become possible to predict from the singular noun
what its broken plural form will be. – However when learning from the beginning Arabic, this is
impossible to make such predictions!
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Important rule:*
All non-human plurals are treated grammatically as feminine singular!
This means that an adjective describing a non-human plural, instead of agreeing with the
noun in gender and number as we learnt in lesson 1, it will actually be feminine and
singular!
Non-human plural noun
Feminine singular adjective
Ie:
َ‫َ م‬
‫َم َنافِ ُع ك ِثيرة‬
Many benefits
Remember: sound masculine plurals only refer to human nouns – therefore you will not find
a non-human sound masculine plural! -
*however, be aware that although this is the general rule, at times there are exceptions to this, and you can find a
non-human broken plural noun will not be treated as feminine singular, but will instead have a broken plural
adjective.
For example:
Broken plural adjective
Non-human plural noun
َ‫أُخ ُر‬
َ‫أيَّام‬
Other days
Singular words with a plural meaning
Sometimes, words which although they are grammatically singular, in meaning they are plural. In
this case, the adjective must also be plural.
For example:
Plural adjective
َ‫الق ْو َُم الكافِرون‬
Grammatically singular noun – but
has plural meaning
The disbelieving people
“and”
َ‫و‬
َ‫“ – و‬and”
As it is a single letter word, it can not be written independently alone. It must be linked to the
following word.
For example:
ُ ِ‫ال ُم ْسلِمونَ وَال ُم ْسل‬
َ‫مات‬
(the) muslim men and (the) muslim women
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Lesson 2: Quick revision summary
Masculine Sound Plurals: Add suffix to end of singular word

‫ مرفوع‬add suffix َ‫ ون‬preceded by dummah
When ‫ مجرور‬or ‫ منصوب‬add suffix َ‫ ين‬preceded by kessrah
When
.
Sound Feminine Plurals: Add suffix
When
‫مرفوع‬
َ‫ ات‬to end of singular word
When ‫منصوب‬
When
‫مجرور‬
Definite
Indefinite
Definite
Indefinite
Definite
Indefinite
ُ
َ‫ات‬
َ‫ات‬
َ‫ت‬
ِ ‫ا‬
َ‫ات‬
َ‫ت‬
ِ ‫ا‬
َ‫ات‬
Broken Plurals: No set formula or pattern. Learn broken plurals alongside singular in vocab.
All non-Human Plurals are treated grammatically as feminine singular
Non-human plurals therefore will have feminine singular adjectives.
(with some words being the exception to the rule, and instead they will take a broken plural
adjective)
Grammatically singular words that have plural meaning will be treated as plural, and therefore will
take plural adjectives.
َ‫“ – و‬and”
Must be linked to following word as can not be written independently alone.
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