Elementary Arabic Morphology 2

Plural Nouns

  1. What is a plural?

  2. How many forms of plurals are there?

  3. What is a sound plural?

  4. How many kinds of sound plurals are there?

  5. What are the signs of a masculine sound plural?

  6. When is a noun (non-adjective) put into the masculine sound plural form?

  7. When is an adjective put into the masculine sound plural form?

  8. What are the signs of a feminine sound plural?

  9. When is a noun (non-adjective) put into the feminine sound plural form?

  10. When is an adjective put into the feminine sound plural form?

  11. What is a broken plural?

  12. How many kinds of broken plurals are there?

  13. Are there rules for some of the forms of broken plurals?

  14. What are some forms of broken plurals for nouns (non-adjectives)?

  15. What are some forms of broken plurals for adjectives?

  16. A plural is a noun that indicates more than two people, animals, or things. For example: نجَّارون (carpenters).

  17. There are two types of plurals: sound plurals and broken plurals.

  18. A sound plural is a plural where the word remains the same and the plural letters are added to it. For example: مُعَلِّم (teacher) becomes مُعَلِّمونَ (teachers).

  19. There are two types of sound plurals: masculine sound plurals and feminine sound plurals.

  20. The plural letters for a masculine sound plural are:

• Wāw and nūn with a fathah when it is in the nominative state. For example: قَدِمَ الزَّائِرُونَ (The visitors came)

• Yā' and nūn with a fathah when it is in the accusative state. For example: رَأیتُ المُومِنینَ (I saw the believers)

• Yā' and nūn with a fathah when it is in the genative state. For example: سلَّمتُ علی القادمینَ (I greeted the arrivers)

  1. A noun (non-adjective) is put into the masculine sound plural form if it is a proper male name that does not have a feminine tā'. For example: زید becomes زیدونَ.

  2. An adjective is put into the masculine sound plural form if:

• it is an adjective of a human that does not have a feminine tā' when it is masculine and it is made feminine by adding a feminine tā'. For example: عالِم (scholar) becomes عالِمونَ (scholars).

• it is an adjective of a human in the comparative/superlative form. For example: أکرَم becomes أکرَمونَ

  1. The plural letters for a sound feminine plural are an alif and tā' which is added after erasing the feminine tā'. For example: مومنة (believer woman) becomes مومنات (believer women).

  2. A noun (non-adjective) is put into the feminine sound plural form if:

• it is a female proper name, even if it does not end in the feminine tā'. For example: مریم becomes مریمات.

• it is a infinitive that has more than three letters. For example: تعریف (definition) becomes تعریفات (definitions).

• it is a noun (masculine or feminine) that ends in one of the feminine letters. For example: وَرَقَة (paper) becomes وَرَقات (papers).

  1. An adjective is put into the feminine sound plural form if it ends in one of the feminine letters. For example: کَبیرة (big female) becomes کَبیرات (big females).

  2. A broken plural is a plural where the original letters of the word change. For example: کتاب (book) becomes کُتب (books).

  3. There are three types of broken plurals:

• by changing the verbalization of the word, for example: أسَدٌ (lion) becomes أُسدٌ (lions).

• by erasing one of the letters of the word, for example: رَسولٌ (messenger) becomes رُسُلٌ (messengers).

• by adding letters to the word, for example: رَجُلٌ(man) becomes رِجالٌ (men).

  1. Yes, there are some rules for some of the broken plurals.

  2. Broken plural forms for some nouns (non-adjectives):

• فَعَل becomes فِعال, for example: جَمَل (camel) becomes جِمال (camels)

• فِعَل becomes أفعال, for example: عِنَب (grape) becomes أعناب (grapes)

• فَعِل becomes أفعال, for example: کَتِف (shoulder) becomes أکتاف (shoulders)

• فِعل becomes أفعال, for example: طِفل (child) becomes أطفال (children)

• فُعلَة becomes فُعَل, for example: عُلبَة (box) becomes عُلَب (boxes)

• فِعلَة becomes فِعَل, for example: حِرفة (occupation) becomes حِرَف (occupations)

• فاعِل becomes فَواعل, for example: خاتِم (ring) becomes خواتم (rings)

• فاعلة becomes فَواعل, for example: قائمة (leg) becomes قوائم (legs)

• فعیلة becomes فَعائل, for example: قبیلة (tribe) becomes قبائل (tribes)

• فعیلة becomes فَعایل, for example: مکیدة (scheme) becomes مکاید (schemes)

• مِفعَل becomes مَفاعِل, for example: مِنجَل (sickle) becomes مَناجِل (sickles)

• مِفعال becomes مَفاعیل, for example: مِفتاح (key) becomes مَفاتیح (keys)

  1. Broken plural forms for some adjectives:

• أفعَل which becomes feminine in the following form فَعلاء becomes فُعل, for example: أحمَر (red) becomes حُمر

• أفعَل which is the comparative/superlative form becomes أفاعِل, for example: أفضَل (better) becomes أفاضِل