10.4: Plurals In Arabic

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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
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
Broken Plural	Various letters	No specific pronunciation	No specific rule	أستاذ/أستاذة ← 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 \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Dual and Plural Separate Subject Personal Pronouns

Previously in Chapter 2: Section 2.4: Grammar, you were introduced to the following Separate Subject Personal Pronouns:

أنا - أنتِ - أنتَ - أنتُم - نحنُ - هو - هي - هُم. In addition, in this chapter, you will be introduced to four more Separate Subject Personal Pronouns: أنتُما - هُما indicating dual personal pronouns, and هُنَّ - أنتُنَّ indicating feminine plural personal pronouns.

This table demonstrates the four Separate Subject Personal Pronouns:
Pronoun in Arabic	Pronoun in English	Number of People and Gender
أنتُما	You both (two)	2nd person dual (masculine/feminine)
أنتُنَّ	You all (f.)	2nd person plural (only feminine)
هُما	They both (two)	3rd person dual (masculine/feminine)
هُنَّ	They all (f.)	3rd person plural (only feminine)