The plural in Arabic | الْجَمْعُ

Introduction

There are two types of plurals in Arabic:

 

Sound plural	اَلْجَمْعُ السَّالِمُ
Broken plural	اَلْجَمْعُ الْمُكَسَّرُ

The sound Plural – اَلْجَمْعُ السَّالِمُ

 

Masculine sound plural

 

In the formation of sound plural, the original form of the noun does not change. It has different masculine and feminine forms and is formed by suffixing dammah, waw with sukoon, and noon with fatha in the nominative:

وْنَ -ُ

and Kasra, yaa with sukoon and non with fatha:

يْنَ -ِ

in the accusative and genitive cases to the end of the masculine nouns.

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Examples:

 

Nominative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
مُسْلِمٌ	مُسْلِمَانِ	مُسلِمُوْنَ
A Muslim	Two Muslims	Muslims

 

Accusative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
مُسْلِمًا	مُسْلِمِيْنَ	مُسْلِمِيْنَ
A Muslim	Two Muslims	Muslims

 

Genitive case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
مُسْلِمِيْنَ	مُسْلِمِيْنَ	مُسْلِمٍ
Muslims	Two Muslims	A Muslim

 

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 – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
مُسْلِمَةٌ	مُسْلِمَتانِ	مُسْلِماتٌ
Muslim woman	Two Muslim women	Muslim women

 

Accusative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
مُسْلِمَةً	مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ	مُسْلِماتٍ
Muslim woman	Two Muslim women	Muslim women

 

Genitive case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
مُسْلِمَةٍ	مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ	مُسْلِماتٍ
Muslim woman	Two Muslim women	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)

The broken plural – اَلْجَمْعُ الْمُكَسَّرُ

 

Unlike sound plurals, where the original form of the word is retained, the broken plural is formed by making internal changes to the noun’s structure by means of deletions, prefixes, and suffixes.

 

Examples of broken plurals for the word book – كِتَابٌ is as follows:

 

 

Nominative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
كِتَابٌ	كِتَابَانِ	كُتُبٌ
Book	Two books	Books

 

Accusative case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
كِتَابًا	كِتابَيْنِ	كُتُبًا
Book	Two books	Books

 

Genitive case:

 

Singular – مُفْرَد	Dual – مُثَنَّى	Plural – جَمْع
كِتَابٍ	كِتابَيْنِ	كُتُبٍ
Book	Two books	Books

Here we see that the dual formation is the same as that of the sound plural in the nominative, accusative, and genitive cases.

 

Listed below are some examples of broken plurals:

 

Singular مُفْرَد	Plural جَمْع
وَلَدٌ	أَوْلادٌ
Boy	Boys
رَبٌّ	أَرْبَابٌ
Lord	Lords
مَالٌ	أَمْوَالٌ
Property	Properties
نَهْرٌ	أَنْهَارٌ
River	Rivers
زَوجٌ	أَزْواجٌ
Wife	Wives
رِجْلٌ	أَرْجُلٌ
Foot	Feet
عَيْنٌ	عُيُوْنٌ
Eye	Eyes
سَيْفٌ	سُيُوْفٌ
Sword	Swords
رَجُلٌ	رِجَالٌ
Man	Men
اِمْرَءَةٌ	نِسَاءٌ
Woman	Women
أَمْرٌ	أُمُورٌ
Command/affair	Commands/affairs
نَبِيٌّ	أَنْبِيَاءٌ
Prophet	Prophets
رُوْحٌ	أَرْوَاحٌ
Soul	Souls
شَهْرٌ	شُهُورٌ
Month	Months
مَدِيْنَةٌ	مُدُنٌ
City	Cities
سَفِينَةٌ	سُفُنٌ
Ship	Ships
قَلْبٌ	قُلُوْبٌ
Heart	Hearts
جَبَلٌ	جِبَالٌ
Mountain	Mountains
بَيْتٌ	بُيُوْتٌ
House	Houses
قَلَمٌ	أَقْلَامٌ
Pen	Pens

Examples from the Noble Quran:

 

وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ

And these days [of varying conditions] We alternate among the people (3:140)

وَجَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ

And gardens beneath which rivers flow [in Paradise] (3:136)

أَأَرْبَابٌ مُّتَفَرِّقُونَ خَيْرٌ أَمِ اللَّـهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ

are separate lords better or Allah, the One, the Prevailing? (12:39)

وَالْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا

And the mountains as stakes? (78:7)

لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ بِهَا

They have hearts with which they do not understand (7:179)

فَانكِحُوا مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاءِ

then marry those that please you of [other] women (4:3)

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

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