In this article, we will learn about the Arabic language and the 3 types of plural, what are they, and how to use them. Let’s get started.
3 types of plurals in Arabic
There are three types of Arabic plural nouns and they are:
- Sound masculine plural جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السَّالِم
- Sound feminine plural جَمْعُ المُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِم
- Broken plural جَمْعُ التَّكْسِيْر.
Let’s learn more about each one of them.
1. Sound Masculine Plurals جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السَّالِم:
To turn a noun into a Sound Masculine Plurals all you will do is adding “ون” to the end of the word, here are some examples:
singular form | Masculine Plurals |
مهندس | مهندسون |
لاعب | لاعبون |
طباخ | طباخون |
معلم | معلمون |
مسلم | مسلمون |
مقاتل | مقاتلون |
خياط | خياطون |
محاسب | محاسبون |
مزارع | مزارعون |
If the noun is in an object position or comes after a preposition or if it’s the second noun of a genitive construction, then instead of adding “ون” we add “ين”. Here are some examples:
singular form | Masculine Plurals |
مهندس | مهندسين |
لاعب | لاعبين |
طباخ | طباخين |
معلم | معلمين |
مسلم | مسلمين |
مقاتل | مقاتلين |
خياط | خياطين |
محاسب | محاسبين |
مزارع | مزارعين |
The directors are in their offices.
المديرونَ في مكتبِهِم
This memo is from the directors.
هذه المذكرة من المديرينَ
2. Sound Feminine Plurals جَمْعُ المُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِم:
To make the noun in the form of Sound Feminine Plurals all you need to do is to add “ات” to the end of the word. Here are some examples:
singular form |
Feminine Plurals |
مهندسة |
مهندسات |
لاعبة |
لاعبات |
طباخة |
طباخات |
معلمة |
معلمات |
مسلمة |
مسلمات |
مقاتلة |
مقاتلات |
خياطة |
خياطات |
محاسبة |
محاسبات |
مزارعة |
مزارعات |
The change of the position of the noun in the sentence doesn’t change the form of the Sound Feminine Plurals. You will always add the “ات” to the end of the word to change it. Here are some examples:
المهندساتُ الجديدات
الطلباتُ يجلسْنَ على المقعد
رأيت المهندساتِ
تَحَدَّثْتُ مع المهندساتِ
3. Broken plural.
Broken plural is called broken because its singular form is changed by adding or removing a letter from the word. Here are some examples:
singular | Plurals |
ثوب |
اثواب |
كتاب |
كتب |
باب |
ابواب |
صوت |
اصوات |
عيد |
اعياد |
خنجر |
خناجر |
شجرة |
اشجار |
كوب |
لكواب |
جد |
اجداد |
عم |
اعمام |
علم |
اعلام |
كلب |
كلاب |
قطة |
قطط |
كتف |
اكتاف |
عنق |
اعناق |
As you can see in the broken plural the diacritics of the singular change, while in the masculine and feminine plurals, it doesn’t happen. And no letters are added to the word or dropped.
What are plural words in Arabic?
Here are some examples of plural words in the Arabic language:
singular form | Plurals |
مهندسة |
مهندسات |
لاعبة |
لاعبات |
طباخة |
طباخات |
معلمة |
معلمات |
مسلمة |
مسلمات |
مقاتلة |
مقاتلات |
خياطة |
خياطات |
محاسبة |
محاسبات |
مزارعة |
مزارعات |
ثوب |
اثواب |
كتاب |
كتب |
باب |
ابواب |
صوت |
اصوات |
عيد |
اعياد |
خنجر |
خناجر |
شجرة |
اشجار |
كوب |
لكواب |
جد |
اجداد |
عم |
اعمام |
علم |
اعلام |
كلب |
كلاب |
قطة |
قطط |
كتف |
اكتاف |
عنق |
اعناق |
مهندس |
مهندسين |
لاعب |
لاعبين |
طباخ |
طباخين |
معلم |
معلمين |
مسلم |
مسلمين |
مقاتل |
مقاتلين |
خياط |
خياطين |
محاسب |
محاسبين |
مزارع |
مزارعين |
مهندس |
مهندسون |
لاعب |
لاعبون |
طباخ |
طباخون |
معلم |
معلمون |
مسلم |
مسلمون |
مقاتل |
مقاتلون |
خياط |
خياطون |
محاسب |
محاسبون |
مزارع |
مزارعون |
How do you identify singular dual and plural in Arabic?
We know that there are different forms of Arabic nouns depending on the number of people or objects we are talking to or referring to. And they are divided into singular if we are talking about one person or object, dual if we are talking about two people or objects, and plural when talking about more than two people or objects.
We have already talked about the 3 types of plural in Arabic, so let’s learn about Dual.
The Dual.
To make a word a dual depends on its grammatical state, meaning if the word is مرفوع, مجرور, or منصوب.
To construct a dual noun in the state of رفع, just add “ان” to the end of the word, here are some examples:
رأيت الطالبان.
تحدثت مع المدرسان.
To construct a dual noun in the state of نصب or جر just add “ين” to the end of the word, here are some examples:
رأيت الطالبين.
رأيت المرسين.
مررت بالطالبين
Here are some notes to keep in mind:
If the verb comes before the subject, then the verb must be singular as follows:
ذهب الولدان الى المدرسة.
If the subject comes before the verb, then the verb will be dual, as follows:
الولدان ذهبا الى المدرسة.
الطفلان يلعبان مع القطة.
The Plural:
There are three types of plurals and they are:
- Sound masculine plural جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السَّالِم
- Sound feminine plural جَمْعُ المُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِم
- Broken plural جَمْعُ التَّكْسِيْر.
And we have discussed each one of them in the above section.
How many broken plural patterns are there in Arabic?
There are around 31 patterns of the broken plural in the Arabic language, some of the famous patterns are:
1- فُعَّالٌ
Examples of this pattern are:
طالب——طلاب
عمل——-عمال.
تاجر——-تجار.
2- فِعَالٌ
Examples of this type of broken plural are:
جبل———جبال
كبير——–كبار
رجل——–رجال.
3- أَفْعَالٌ
Examples of this pattern are:
قلم———-اقلام
ولد———-اولاد
زوج———-ازواج.
4- فُعُوْلٌ
Examples of this type include:
ضيف——-ضيوف.
قلب———قلوب.
بيت———بيوت.
5- فِعْلَةٌ
Examples of this type of broken plural are:
اخ———اخوة.
فتى——–فتية.
6- فُعُلٌ
Examples of this type include:
كتاب————كتب
رسول———رسل
جديد————جدد
7- فُعَلاَءُ
Examples of this type of broken plural are:
فقير————-فقراء
وزير———-وزراء.
زميل———–زملاء.
Conclusion.
There are three types of Arabic plural nouns and they are:
- Sound masculine plural جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السَّالِم
- Sound feminine plural جَمْعُ المُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِم
- Broken plural جَمْعُ التَّكْسِيْر.
To turn a noun into a Sound Masculine Plurals all you will do is add “ون” to the end of the word, for example, مدرس will become مدرسون.
To make the noun in the form of Sound Feminine Plurals all you need to do is to add “ات” to the end of the word. For example, مدرسة will become مدرسات.
Broken plural is called broken because its singular form is changed by adding or removing a letter from the word. For example, ثوب will become اثواب.
That’s it for today’s article, I hope you found it useful, and for more information visit our website AlifArabic.com