Plural In Arabic: A MASTER Guide On Arabic Plurals

The plural in Arabic is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun in Arabic typically denotes a quantity greater than two.

In this lesson, you will the meaning of plural in Arabic, explanation of the types of plural, how to change singular to plural, examples of plurals in Arabic and many more.

What Is The Word For Plural In Arabic?

The Arabic word for plural is جَمْع and the pronunciation is jam’. In Arabic, words are of three categories with regards to number: singular (مُفْرَد), indicating one, dual (مُثَنَّى), indicating two and plural (جَمْع) indicating more than two. 

In Arabic there are two types of plural – the sound plural and the broken plural. The sound plural is further divided into two: feminine sound plural and masculine sound plural.

3 Types Of Plural In Arabic

The three types of plural in Arabic are as follows:

• Sound masculine plural
• Sound feminine plural
• Broken plural

Sound Plural In Arabic

The Arabic word for sound plural is called جَمْع السالمِ and the pronunciation is jam’ as-salim. In Arabic, the sound plural is one in which the singular form of the word remains intact (sound) with some addition at the end. 

Arabic sound Plural are created simply by adding a suffix to the singular form (ـوْنَ  or ـيْنَ for the masculine and ـاتٌ for the feminine). It is of two types:

• Masculine
• Feminine

Sound Masculine Plural

The Arabic word for sound masculine plural is called جَمْع المُذَكَّرِ السالمِ and pronounced as jam’ al mudhakkar as-salim.

The sound masculine plurals are the plurals for masculine Arabic nouns like Muslimun. These plurals are sound because they have regular plural endings. 

When we form the sound masculine plural from a singular noun, we do not change the form of the singular noun, we just add the suffix (ending) ون in thenominative case and يــن to the end of the singular noun in the accusative and genitive.

You should note that not all singular nouns are able to form the sound masculine plural, there are some conditions that have to be present in the singular noun to be able to form the sound plural.

• It has to be a masculine (not feminine) noun.
• It has to be singular (to form the plural).
• It has to be an adjective for a rational or living person (human being).

The adjectives must be related to living (rational) persons and we could therefore form the sound plural.

If the adjective is for a non rational (non living), we cannot form the sound plural from it, but we express the meaning of the plural by using its singular feminine form.

Read also Time In Arabic (Guide To Master All Arabic Times)

Examples Of Masculine Sound Plural

The following table is examples of masculine plural and their corresponding endings.

Singular	Nominative case	Accusative case	Genitive case	Meaning
عَامِلٌ	عَامِلُونَ	عَامِلِينَ	عَامِلِينَ	Worker
مُوَظَّفٌ	مُوَظَّفُونَ	مُوَظَّفِينَ	مُوَظَّفِينَ	Employee
مُعَلِّمٌ	مُعَلِّمُون	مُعَلِّمِيْن	مُعَلِّمِيْن	Teacher
مُزَارِعٌ	مُزَارِعُون	مُزَارِعِيْن	مُزَارِعِيْن	Farmer
كَاتِبٌ	كَاتِبُونَ	كَاتِبين	كَاتِبين	Writer
مُدَرِّسٌ	مُدَرِّسُونَ	مُدَرِّسين	مُدَرِّسين	Teacher
مهندس	مهندسُون	مهندسِين	مهندسِين	Engineer
لاَعِبٌ	لاَعِبُونَ	لاَعِبين	لاَعِبين	Player
نَاجِحٌ	نَاجِحين	نَاجِحين	نَاجِحين	Successful
مَشْهُورُ	مَشْهُورُونَ	مَشْهُورين	مَشْهُورين	Famous
مُسْلِمٌ	مُسْلِمُون	مُسْلِمِيْن	مُسْلِمِيْن	Muslim
كَافِرٌ	كَافِرُوْن	كَافِرِيْن	كَافِرِيْن	Disbliever
خَيَّاطٌ	خَيَّاطُون	خَيَّاطِيْن	خَيَّاطِيْن	Tailor
مُقَاتِلٌ	مُقَاتِلُون	مُقَاتِلِيْن	مُقَاتِلِيْن	Fighter
مَاهِرٌ	مَاهِرُونَ	مَاهِرين	مَاهِرين	Clever

Sound Feminine Plural

The Arabic word for sound feminine plural is called جَمْع المُؤَنَّثِ السالمِ and pronounced as jam’ al mu’annath as-salim.

The sound feminine plural is defined in Arabic as “every plural feminine word suffixed with (ات) added to the singular form without changing the structure or the voweling of the singular form.

What happens is that we replaced ة with ات.

The only condition to say that this word is a sound feminine plural is that it should have ات suffix. When this suffix is deleted, we will have the singular intact again.

For example, if we delete the plural prefix ” ات ” from the word ” فَاطِمات” and restore the ” ة “, we will have the intact singular ” فاطِمَةُ ” again.

They always end with ات. It remains the same regardless of the position of the sound feminine plural noun in the sentence. 

The parsing marks of this type of noun is similar to that of singular nouns, that they get DHammah, if nominative, and kasrah, if accusative or genitive.

Examples Of Sound Feminine Plural

The following table is examples of sound feminine plural and their corresponding endings.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
طَالِبَةٌ	طَالِباتٌ	Student (f)
طَالِبَةٌ	مُمَرِّضاتٌ	Nurse
طَبِيبَةٌ	طَبِيبَاتٌ	Doctor
فَاطِمَةُ	فَاطِماتٌ	Fatima
جَيِّدَةٌ	جَيِّداتٌ	Good
مُهَنْدِسَةُ	مُهَنْدِسَاتُ	Engineer
زَّوْجَةُ	زَّوْجَاتُ	Wife
مدِيرَةُ	مدِيرَاتُ	Headmistress
مُدَرِّسَةَ	مُدَرَّسَاتِ	Teacher
وَفِيَّةٌ	وَفِيَّاتٌ	Faithful
نَشِيطَةٌ	نَشِيطَاتٌ	Active
مُسْلِمَةٌ	مُسْلِمَاتٌ	Muslimah
مُعَلِّمَةٌ	مُعَلِّمَاتٌ	Teacher

Broken Plural In Arabic (Irregular Plurals In Arabic)

What is broken plural in Arabic?

The Arabic word for broken plurals is جَمْعُ التَّكْسِيْر. The broken plural is one in which the form of the singular word is broken, that is, changed. It has no fixed rule for making it. 

Sometimes alphabets are added or deleted and sometimes there is merely a change in the  harakat (vowels).

Broken Plural In Arabic Examples

Here are some examples of broken plurals in Arabic.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
حَبْل	أَحْبُل	Rope
بَحْر	أَبْحُر	Sea
بَيْتَ	أَبْيَات	House
ثَوْب	أَثْوَاب	Garment
وَصْف	أَوْصَاف	Description
وَقْت	أَوْقَات	Time
جَمَل	أَجْمَال	Camel
عَلَم	أَعْلام	Flag
قَلْب	قُلُوب	Heart
عِلْم	عُلُوم	Science
طَعَام	أَطْعِمَة	Food
مَرِيْض	مَرْضَى	Patient
صَعْب	صِعَاب	Difficult
عِنَب	أَعْنَاب	Grape

Verbal Plurals In Arabic

The plural marker with verbs is ون in the case of sound masculine plural and نْ in the case of sound feminine plural. 

If the verb is subjunctive or jussive, the ن of sound masculine plural marker is dropped and replace by ا (alif). The نْ of the sound feminine plural remains the same regardless of the mood of the verb.

Examples

• Indicative     يُعَالِجْن     يَكْتُبْنَ     يِشْرَحُون
• Subjective     يُعَالِجْن     يَكْتُبْنَ     يِشْرَحُوا
• Jussive          عَالِجْنَ     يَكْتُبْنَ    اِشْرَحُوا

For the plural marker suffix (i.e. ون, وا, or نْ) to appear on the verb, the plural noun must precede the verb. That is, if the plural noun appears after the verb, the verb is always singular in form.

Friends In Arabic Plural

The plural of friends in Arabic is أصْدِقاء and the pronunciation is asdiqaa’. It is a broken plural.

Plural of Book in Arabic

The plural of book in Arabic is كُتُب and it is pronounced as kutub.

Plural of chair in Arabic

The plural of chair in Arabic is كَرَاسِي and the pronunciation is karaasiy.

Plural of big in Arabic

The common plural word for big in Arabic is كِبَار‎ (kibar), masculine plural كُبَرَاء‎ (kubara), feminine plural كَبِيرَات‎ (kabirat) or كَبَائِر‎ (kabaʾir), elative أَكْبَر‎ (akbar).

Plural of room in Arabic

The plural of room in Arabic is غُرَف and the pronunciation is guraf.