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12.3: Plurals In Arabic الجمع

  • Page ID
    251289
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    Learning Objectives

    In this section, you will:

    • Learn how to form Plural nouns and adjectives using suffixes.
    • Learn how to use Plurals depending on different grammatical cases.

    10.4.1. The Plural

    The Plural (الجمع) has two types in Arabic: Regular (Sound) Plural (جمع سالم) and Irregular (Broken) Plural (جمع تكسير). Regular Plural is itself divided into two types: Sound Masculine Plural (جمع مذكّر سالم) and Sound Feminine Plural (جمع مؤنّث سالم).

    Sound Masculine Plural is formed by adding ين/-ون- to the end of the word in masculine nouns/adjectives depending on the grammatical case of the word.

    Sound Feminine Plural is formed by adding ات- to the end of the word in feminine nouns/adjectives.

    Broken Plural does not follow rules, but is formed by breaking the word and adding certain letters to it to make it plural.

    This table illustrates how to use the different suffixes of Plural Nouns/Adjectives:
    Type of Plural The Plural Letters in Arabic Pronunciation When to Use Example Recording
    Sound Masculine Plural ون- 'oon Used in nominative-case nouns/adjectives that don't end in ة (masculine nouns/adjectives)

    مبرمجٌ ← مبرمجون

    المبرمجُ ← المبرمجون

    Sound Masculine Plural ين - 'een Used in accusative and genitive-case nouns/adjectives that don't end in ة (masculine nouns/adjectives)

    مبرمجاً ← مبرمجين

    المبرمجَ ← المبرمجين

    مبرمجٍ ← مبرمجين

    المبرمجِ ← المبرمجين

    Sound Feminine Plural ات- aat Used in all-case nouns/adjectives that end in ة (feminine nouns/adjectives)

    عازفةٌ/عازفةً/عازفةٍ ← عازفات

    العازفةُ/العازفةَ/العازفةِ

    ← العازفات

    أستاذَة ← أستاذات

    طبيبة ← طبيبات

    Broken Plural Various letters No specific pronunciation No specific rule

    أستاذ ← أساتذة

    عمل ← أعمال

    قاضي ← قضاة

    جيش ← جيوش

    ضابط ← ضبّاط

    طبيب/طبيبة ← أطبّاء

    ملعب ← ملاعب

    The video below presents the types of Plural and how they are formed:

    10.4.3. Activities

    Query \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    Drag the suffixes and put them in their correct places:

    Query \(\PageIndex{2}\)

    Drag the suffixes and put them in their correct places:

    Type in Arabic using this link (http://www.arabic-keyboard.org/) to do the exercise below:

    Query \(\PageIndex{3}\)
    Query \(\PageIndex{4}\)
    Query \(\PageIndex{5}\)

    12.3: Plurals In Arabic الجمع is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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