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Plural in Arabic

  1. Types of plural nouns in Arabic
  2. Sound plural in Arabic
  3. Broken Plural in Arabic
  4. Arabic terminologies for plurals
  5. Examples of Arabic sound masculine plurals
  6. Examples of Arabic sound feminine plurals
  7. Arabic broken plurals list

Types of plural nouns in Arabic

The Arabic language has two types of plural nouns.

  1. Plurals that are formed according to a fixed formula or pattern are called sound plurals.
  2. Plurals that are formed without any rule are called broken plurals.

They are also classified as regular and irregular plural forms.

Sound plural in Arabic

The sound or regular plural is formed by adding a suffix to the singular masculine noun. Suffixes are different for masculine and feminine nouns. Sound plurals are mainly of adjectives.

  1. In masculine nouns, the vowel damma ( ُ ) is added on the last letter singular noun and then the suffix ( وْنَ ) is added.
    مُؤْمِنٌ ⇜ مُؤْمِنُوْنَ
  2. In feminine nouns with ة (ta-marbootah), ة is omitted and the suffix ( اتٌ ) is added.
    مُؤْمِنَةٌ ⇜ مُؤْمِنَاتٌ

Broken Plural in Arabic

In the formation of a broken plural, the stem of the singular word is broken. Either some letter is added or omitted from the base of the word. There is no fixed formula to form broken plurals. They have to be learned by heart.

We have already discussed that sound plurals are mostly of adjectives, while broken plurals are mostly of nouns, e.g.

Plural
(Broken) 		Singular
كُتُبٌ
Books 		كِتَابٌ
Book
رِجَالٌ
Men 		رَجُلٌ
Man

Arabic terminologies for plurals

English Arabic
Singular وَاحِدٌ
Dual مُثَنّٰي
Plural جَمْعٌ
Sound Plural جَمْعُ السَّالِمُ
Broken Plural جَمْعُ الْمُكَسَّرُ


Examples of Arabic sound masculine plurals

Following are some examples of masculine sound plurals of the same words that we used in the previous two lessons.

Solid masculine plurals are made by adding the suffix ـُ وْنَ to the singular form.
In everyday spoken Arabic, the last vowel of the last word in a sentence is normally dropped. In that case, the sound of the suffix would be ـُ وْن . In this course, we are not going to drop the vowel on the last letter.

On small screens, please drag the table right and left to see the full width of the table.
جَمْعُ السَّالِم
Sound Plural 		مُثَنّٰي
Dual 		وَاحِد
Singular
مُؤْمِنُوْنَ
Believer men 		مُؤْمِنَانِ
Two believer men 		مُؤْمِنٌ
Believer man
مُسْلِمُوْنَ
Muslim men 		مُسْلِمَانِ
Two muslim men 		مُسْلِمٌ
Muslim man
كَافِرُوْنَ
Non believer men 		كَافِرَانِ
Two non believer men 		كَافِرٌ
Non believer man
سَائِقُوْنَ سَائِقَانِ
Two driver (male) 		سَائِقٌ
Driver (male)
نَجَّارُوْنَ
Carpenters (male) 		نَجَّارَانِ
Two carpenters (male) 		نَجَّارٌ
Carpenter (male)
مُعَلِّمُوْنَ
Teachers (male) 		مُعَلِّمَانِ
Two teachers (male) 		مُعَلِّمٌ
Teacher (male)
صَدِيْقُوْنَ
Two friends (male) 		صَدِيْقَانِ
Friends (male) 		صَدِيْقٌ
Friend (male)
فَاسِقُوْنَ
Disobedient (males) 		فَاسِقَانِ
Two disobedient (males) 		فَاسِقٌ
Disobedient (male)
صَادِقُوْنَ
Honest (males) 		صَادِقَانِ
Two honest (males) 		صَادِقٌ
Honest
كَاذِبُوْنَ
Untruthful (males) 		كَاذِبَانِ
Two untruthful (males) 		كَاذِبٌ
Untruthful (male)


Examples of Arabic sound feminine plurals

Solid feminine plurals are made by removing ta marbutah ( ة ) and adding the suffix ـَ اتٌ to the singular form.

As discussed earlier in masculine solid plurals the suffix ـُ وْنَ is reduced to just ـُ وْن , in a similar manner ـَ اتٌ is reduced to ـَ ات by dropping the last double vowel. This last vowel however plays an important role in understanding the grammar cases. So, again we are not dropping the last double vowel.

جَمْعُ السَّالِم
Sound Plural 		مُثَنّٰي
Dual 		وَاحِد
Singular
مُؤْمِنَاتٌ
Believer women 		مُؤْمِنَتَانِ
Two believer women 		مُؤْمِنَةٌ
Believer woman
مُسْلِمَاتٌ
Muslim women 		مُسْلِمَتَانِ
Two muslim women 		مُسْلِمَةٌ
Muslim woman
كَافِرَاتٌ
Non believer women 		كَافِرَتَانِ
Two non believer woman 		كَافِرَةٌ
Non believer woman
سَائِقَاتٌ
Drivers (female) 		سَائِقَتَانِ
Two drivers (female) 		سَائِقَةٌ
Driver (female)
نَجَّارَاتٌ
Carpenters (female) 		نَجَّارَتَان
Two carpenters (female) 		نَجَّارَةٌ
Carpenter (female)
مُعَلِّمَاتٌ
Teachers (female) 		مُعَلِّمَتَانِ
Two teachers (female) 		مُعَلِّمَةٌ
Teacher (female)
طَالِبَاتٌ
Two students (female) 		طَالِبَتَانِ
Two students (female) 		طَالِبَةٌ
Student (female)
صَدِيْقَاتٌ
Friends (males) 		صَدِيْقَتَانِ
Two friends (female) 		صَدِيْقَةٌ
Friend (female)
فَاسِقَاتٌ
Disobedient (females) 		فَاسِقَتَانِ
Two disobedient (females) 		فَاسِقَةٌ
Disobedient (females)
صَادِقَاتٌ
Honest (females) 		صَادِقَتَانِ
Two honest (females) 		صَادِقَةٌ
Honest (female)
كَاذِبَاتٌ
Untruthful (males) 		كَاذِبَتَانِ
Two untruthful (females) 		كَاذِبَةٌ
Untruthful (frmale)

Arabic broken plurals list

جَمْعُ الْمُكَسَّرُ
Broken Plural 		مُثَنّٰي
Dual 		وَاحِد
Singular
اَبْنَاءُ
Sons 		اِبْنَانِ
Two sons 		اِبْنٌ
Son
اَوْلَادٌ
Boys 		وَلَدَانِ
Two boys 		وَلَدٌ
Boy
عُلَمَاءُ
Scholars (male) 		عَالِمَانِ
Two Scholars (male) 		عَالِمٌ
Scholar (male)
جُهَلَاءُ
Ignorants (male) 		جَاهِلَانِ
Two ignorants (male) 		جَاهِلٌ
Ignorant (male)
سُفَرَاءُ
Ambassadors (male) 		سَفِيْرَانِ
Two ambassadors (male) 		سَفِيْرٌ
Ambassador (male)
فُقَرَاءُ
Poor (males) 		فَقِيْرَانِ
Two poor (males) 		فَقِيْرٌ
Poor (male)
مَسَاكِيْنُ
Poor (males) 		مِسْكِيْنَانِ
Two poor (males) 		مِسْكِيْنٌ
Poor (male)
بُيُوْتٌ
Houses 		بَيْتَانِ
Two houses 		بَيْتٌ
House
قُلُوْبٌ
Hearts 		قَلْبَانِ
Two hearts 		قَلْبٌ
Heart
نُجُوْمٌ
Stars 		نَجْمَانِ
Two stars 		نَجْمٌ
Star
طُلَّابٌ
Students (male) 		طَالِباَنِ
Two students (male) 		طَالِبٌ
Student (male)
بِلَادٌ
Countries 		بَلَدَانِ
Two countries 		بَلَدٌ
Country
نِسَاءٌ
Women 		اِمْرَأَتَانِ
Two women 		اِمْرَأَةٌ
Woman

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