In english you have singular and plural nouns.
- Singular i.e. 1, for example pen
- Plural i.e. more than 1, for example pens.
In arabic you have an additional, in between:
- mufrad Singular
- i.e. 1
- muthanna Dual
- i.e. 2
- muthanna are made from mufrad by changing the last letter to a fatha and then adding alin and nun with kasra (aani)
- so rajulun (man) becomes rajulani (men)
- in the case of atta marbutatu, it will be written like a normal Tha:
- so jannatun (garden) becomes jannaTani (two gardens)
- muthanna never has a tanween, but it can have an ‘al’ (alif Lam)
- if it has a ‘al’ then is will be ma’rifatun (definite)
- if it does not have ‘al’, it will be nakira (indefinite)
- Jam-un Plural
- i.e. more than 2
- there are two types of plurals:
- regular al-Jam-un salim
- this follows a fixed pattern, like adding an ‘s’ to English words, and sometimes ‘es’
- for muzakkar (al-Jam-un muzakkar as-salim) is made plural by placing dhamma on the last letter of the mufrad (singular) and then add ‘oona’ (nun & fatha(na) + wow & sukun)
- for example muslimun becomes, muslimoona
- for muannath (al-Jam-un muannath as-salim), is made by removing ‘at-tahu marbutatu’ on the llast letter and then adding aatun (t+dhammatain & alif)
- for e.g muslimathun becomes muslimaatun
- irregular
- this…
- regular al-Jam-un salim
keywords
Related topic(s)
Additional resources
- Book(s): First Steps to Understanding Arabic, Al Qalam Institute
- Video(s): FSTU Arabic - 1.3: Number