The dual in Arabic | الْمُثَنَّى

Introduction

 

In English, there is only singular and plural. However, there are three numbers in Arabic, Singular, plural, and dual.

 

Singular	المُفْرَدُ
Dual	الْمُثَتَّى
Plural	الْجَمْعُ

Its formation

It is formed by adding the suffix fatha, alif, and noon with kasrah:

انِ -َ

in the nominative case (حَالةُ الرَّفَعِ) and fatha, sukoon and noon with kasra:

يْنِ -ِ

in both the accusative and genitive cases for masculine nouns.

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Masculine dual

 

Examples

 

Nominative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى
مُسْلِمٌ	مُسْلِمانِ
A Muslim	Two Muslims

 

Accusative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى
مُسْلِمًا	مُسْلِمَيْنِ
A Muslim	two Muslims

 

Genitive case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى
مُسْلِمٍ	مُسْلِمَيْنِ
A Muslim	two Muslims

 

Example from the Quran:

 

وَأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَامَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ

“And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city” (18:82)

 

Feminine dual

For feminine in Arabic, the nouns end in (Ta Marbouta):

ة

This changes in dual to an ordinary (Ta maftooha):

ت

The suffixes:

انِ -َ يْنِ -ِ

will be added as in masculine duals.

 

Examples:

 

Nominative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى
مُسْلِمَةٌ	مُسْلِمَتَانِ
A Muslim	Two Muslims

 

Accusative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى
مُسْلِمَةً	مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ
A Muslim	two Muslims

 

Genitive case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى
مُسْلِمَةً	مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ
A Muslim	two Muslims

Examples from the Quran:

 

جَعَلْنَا لِأَحَدِهِمَا جَنَّتَيْنِ مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ

We granted to one of them two gardens of grapevines (18:32)

وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ

But for he who has feared the position of his Lord are two gardens (55:46)

This Arabic lesson is now finished. The next one will be insha’Allah about the plural in Arabic.

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