Introduction
In English, there is only singular and plural. However, there are three numbers in Arabic, Singular, plural, and dual.
المُفْرَدُ
Singular
الْمُثَتَّى
Dual
الْجَمْعُ
Plural
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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.
Masculine dual
Examples
Nominative case:
Singular
مُسْلِمٌ – a muslim
Dual
مُسْلِمانِ – two muslims
Accusative case:
Singular
مُسْلِمًا – a muslim
مُسْلِمَيْنِ – two muslims
Genitive case:
Singular –
مُسْلِمٍ – a muslim
Dual – مُسْلِمَيْنِ – 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
مُسْلِمَةٌ
A muslim
Dual
مُسْلِمَتَانِ
two muslims
Accusative case:
Singular
مُسْلِمَةً
A muslim
Dual
مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ
Two muslims
Genitive case:
Singular
مُسْلِمَةً
A muslim
Dual
مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ
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
This Arabic lesson is now finished. The next one will be insha’Allah about the plural in Arabic.
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