Arabic nouns and adjectives are inflected for three numbers:
- Singular / المُفْرَِد
- Dual / المُثَنّى
- Plural / الجَمْع
Dual and plural in Arabic have different specificities which we’ll learn here.
Dual / المُثَنّى
When referring to two items or individuals, the dual is used – between the singular (for one thing/person) and plural (three or more things/people). To form a dual noun in Arabic, simply replace the singular ending with one of these suffixes:
- In the nominative case (مَرْفُوع)
🢡 ـانِ… /āni/
- In the accusative (مَنْصوب) and genitive cases (مَجْرور)
🢡 ـَيْنِ… /ayni/
Dual nominative (المُثَنّى المَرْفُوع) | Dual accusative/genitive (المُثَنّى المَنْصُوب/المَجْرور) | Singular (المُفْرَد) |
---|---|---|
كِتابانِ two books | كِتابَيْنِ two books | كِتاب a book |
وَلَدانِ two boys | وَلَدَيْنِ two boys | وَلَد a boy |
Note: The final tā marbūṭa (ة …ـة…) in singular nouns, is replaced by a regular ـتـ /t/ in dual endings:
Dual nominative
(المُثَنّى المَرْفُوع) Dual accusative / genitive
(المُثَنّى المَنْصُوب / المَجْرور) Singular
(المُفْرَد) مَدْرَسَتانِ
two schools مَدْرَسَتَيْنِ
two schools مَدْرَسَةٌ
a school
Noun modifications
In some cases, when the root of a word is weak or finishes with ي, و or hamza, its ending transforms before adding the dual suffix.
– Words ending with اء:
- 🢡 If the ending اء is the mark of the feminine, the hamza turns into و :
Dual (المُثَنّى) | Singular (المُفْرَد) |
---|---|
صَحْراوانِ two deserts | صَحْراء a desert |
رِجْلانِ حَمْراوانِ two red legs | رِجْل حَمْراء a red leg |
- 🢡 If the ending in اء is the mark of a weak root, the hamza is maintained or sometimes turns into و:
Dual (المُثَنّى) | Singular (المُفْرَد) |
---|---|
كِساءان two pieces of clothes | كِساء a piece of clothing |
لِقاءان (not لِقاوانِ) two meetings | لِقاء a meeting |
– If a singular noun ends with a ى, it will become a ي:
Dual (المُثَنّى) | Singular (المُفْرَد) |
---|---|
مُسْتَشْفَيانِ two hospitals | مُسْتَشْفى a hospital |
صَدَيانِ two echoes | صَدى an echo |
Plural / الجَمْع
There are two types of plural in Arabic:
- The sound plural (الجَمْعُ السالِمُ) which can be compared to the English regular plural.
- The broken plural (جَمْعُ التَكْسِيرِ) which can be compared to the English irregular plural.
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