The plural in Arabic | الْجَمْعُ

Feminine sound plural

 

For feminine plurals fatha, alif, and taa with tanween dammah:

اتٌ -َ

is suffixed for nominative, and fatha, alif, and taa with tanwin kasrah:

اتٍ-ِ

for accusative and genitive cases.

 

Examples:

 

Nominative case:

 

Singular

 

مُسْلِمَةٌ

a muslim woman

 

 

Dual

مُسْلِمَتانِ

Two muslim women

 

Plural

مُسْلِماتٌ

Muslim women

 

 

Accusative case:

 

Singular

 

مُسْلِمَةً

Muslim woman

 

Dual

مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ

Two Muslim

 

Plural

مُسْلِماتٍ

Muslim women

 

 

 

Genitive case:

 

Singular

مُسْلِمَةٍ

Muslim woman

 

Plural

مُسْلِماتٍ

Muslim women

 

Note: In the singular form, we observe that the nominative, accusative, and genitive cases are evident by the harakat (short vowel marks) on the last letter of:

مُسْلِمٌ

tanwin dammah

-ٌ

, tanwin fatha

-ً

and tanween kasrah

-ٍ

 

In the dual and plural forms, the grammatical cases (i’rab – الإِعْرَابُ) are not evident with harakat but represent the nominative, accusative, and genitive cases with the use of letters as :

 

وْنَ -ِ يْنَ -َانِ -ُ -ِ وْنَ -َ وْنَ

 

Example from the Noble Quran:

 

 

إِنَّ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمَاتِ وَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْقَانِتَاتِ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالصَّادِقَاتِ وَالصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّابِرَاتِ وَالْخَاشِعِينَ وَالْخَاشِعَاتِ وَالْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَالْمُتَصَدِّقَاتِ وَالصَّائِمِينَ وَالصَّائِمَاتِ وَالْحَافِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَالْحَافِظَاتِ وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّـهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ أَعَدَّ اللَّـهُ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

 

Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward. (33:35)