Introduction to Arabic Plurals (Seq # 41)

Arabic plurals are categorized mainly into two categories, Regular plurals and Broken plurals. Regular plurals are further divided into Sound Masculine Plurals and Sound Feminine Plurals. Regular Plurals will have regular forms (Masculine==> ون , ين) and (Feminine ==> ات) in the end of the words.

Keep this chart in mind.

Exercises

• State TRUE or FALSE: In the Arabic language plurals are divided into two broad categories namely: Regular plurals and Broken plurals.
• State TRUE or FALSE: In the Arabic language sound masculine plurals will ends with regular forms (وُن, يِن).
• State TRUE or FALSE: In the Arabic language sound masculine plurals and sound feminine plurals are under the main category of broken plurals.

Sound Masculine Plurals (Seq # 42)

The sound masculine plurals are the plurals for masculine nouns like Muslimun, kaafirun etc. These plurals are sound because they have regular plural endings. They end with ون  in Marfoun case (sign of Marfoun is و) and يــن  in مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ and Majroor case (sign of مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ and majroor is ي).

Observe the following table and their corresponding endings.

S.no	Singular	Marfoun	مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ	Majroor
1	مُسْلِمٌ	مُسْلِمُون	مُسْلِمِيْن	مُسْلِمِيْن
2	مُؤْمِنٌ	مُؤْمِنُون	مُؤْمِنِيْن	مُؤْمِنِيْن
3	كَافِرٌ	كَافِرُوْن	كَافِرِيْن	كَافِرِيْن
4	صَابِرٌ	صَابِرُوْن	صَابِرِيْن	صَابِرِيْن
5	عَامِلٌ	عَامِلُوْن	عَامِلِيْن	عَامِلِيْن
6	مَــاكِــثٌ	مَــاكِــثُــون	مَــاكِــثِــيــن	مَــاكِــثِــيــن

The meaning of مَــاكِــثٌ is “one who resides”.

Exercises

• State TRUE or FALSE: In the verse Quran (18:2) the word المـُؤْمِنِيْنَ is not مَرْفُوعٌ.
• State TRUE or FALSE: In the verse Quran (18:29) the phrase لِلظَّلِمِيْنَ is Jaar-Majroor and ظَلِمِيْنَ is Majroor.
• State TRUE or FALSE: In the verse Quran (18:49), there are two sound masculine plurals (مُجْرِمِينَ and مُشْفِقِينَ).
• State TRUE or FALSE: The verse Quran (18:50) has a Jaar-Majroor with sound masculine plural (ظَلِمِيْنَ).
• State TRUE or FALSE: The verse Quran (18:53) does not have any sound masculine plural.

Sound Feminine Plurals (Seq # 43)

Now, let us learn Sound feminine plurals. Sound feminine plurals are the plurals for feminine gender singular nouns. They always end with ات . Marfoun case will have two Dammah (two paish), and مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ, Majroor cases will have two kasrah (two Zair) (Extreme Specialty). See below examples carefully.

S.no	Singular	Marfoun	مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ	Majroor
1	مُسْلِمَةٌ	مُسْلِمَاتٌ	مُسْلِمَاتٍ	مُسْلِمَاتٍ
2	مُشْرِكَةٌ	مُشْرِكَاتٌ	مُشْرِكَاتٍ	مُشْرِكَاتٍ

Exercises

• State TRUE or FALSE: The plurals for the word كَلِمَةٌ (a word) is كَلِمَاتٌ (مَرْفُوعٌ), كَلِمَاتٍ (مَــنْــصُــوْبٌ) and كَلِمَاتٍ (مَجْرُورٌ).
• State TRUE or FALSE: The plural مَجْرُورٌ case of the word كَلِمَةٌ is present in the verse Quran (18:109).
• State TRUE or FALSE: The plural مَجْرُور case of the word اَيَتٌ (a sign, a verse) is present in the verse Quran (18:105).

Broken Plurals (Seq # 44)

Any plural that does not fall under sound category are broken plurals. It means that they will not have وُن, يِن pattern of Sound Masculine plurals and اَت pattern of sound feminine plurals. And these plurals may be triptote or diptote.

Listed below are some examples of broken plurals in the format (singular, plural, meaning) organized as 5 words per day to have easy practice/memorization.

Day # 1

(يُــوْمٌ,أَيّــامٌ , days), (قَــلْــبٌ, قُــلُــوْبٌ, hearts), (رَسُــوْلٌ,رُسُــلٌ, messengers), (كِــتَــابٌ, كُــتُــبٌ, books), (صَــدَرٌ,صُــدُوْرٌ, chests).

Day # 2 

(رَجُــلٌ,رِجَــالٌ, men), (بَــيْــتٌ,بُــيُــوْتٌ, houses), (وَجْــهٌ,وُجُــوْهٌ, faces), (عِــنَــبٌ,اَعْــنَــابٌ, grapes), (رِيْــحٌ,رِيَــاحٌ, winds).

Day # 3

(جَــبَــلٌ,جِــبَــالٌ, mountains), (عَــمَــلٌ,اَعْــمَــالٌ, deeds), (عَــبْدٌ,عِــبَــادٌ, servants), (اٰيَــةٌ,اٰيٰــتٌ, signs/verses), (نَــفْــسٌ,اَنْــفُــسٌ/نُــفُــوْسٌ, souls).

Day # 4

(عَــيْــنٌ,اَعْــيُــنٌ, eyes), (مَــلَــكٌ, مَلٰٓئِكَةٌ,angels).

Exercises

• State TRUE or FALSE: The broken plural word of the singular word “heart” is present in the verse Quran (18:14) and it is مُضَاف.
• State TRUE or FALSE: The broken plural word of the singular word “messenger” is present in the verse Quran (18:106) and it is مُضَاف.
• State TRUE or FALSE: The word كَفِرِيْنَ in the verse Quran (18:100) is not a broken Plural.

All the broken plurals are treated as feminine singular (Seq # 45)

In the Arabic language broken plurals are treated as feminine singular. They are considered as feminine singular when referred by demonstrative pronouns, personal pronouns, relative pronouns and/or by verbs. In the below table, demonstrative pronoun تِلْكَ (that feminine singular) is used for referring nouns which are broken plurals. Knowledge of broken plurals will come by time. The reader should keep on observing them.

Treatment as feminine singular	Phrase example	Broken plural
تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ	Those messengers	رُسُلٌ
تِلْكَ الْأمْثَالُ	Those examples	أَمْثَالٌ
تِلْكَ الْقُرَىَ	Those towns	قُرَىَ

Answers to Exercises:

Introduction to Arabic Plurals (Seq # 41)	T, T, F
Sound Masculine Plurals (Seq # 42)	T, T, T, T, F
Sound Feminine Plurals (Seq # 43)	T, T, T
Broken Plurals (Seq # 44)	T, T, T