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ARABIC ONLINE

اللّغة
العربيّة

• Welcome!

• Viewing Arabic
Texts

• Introduction

• Alphabet

• Pronunciation
•
Words
•
Vowels
•
Reading
out

• Accent and Stress

• Rules of Pause

• Writing of Letter 'alif

• Roots

• Root
Extraction

• Nouns

• Irregular
Nouns

• Declension

• Noun Gender

• Feminine Markers

• Singular Nouns

• Dual
Nouns

• Plural Nouns
EDITED

• Masculine Plural
Nouns
EDITED

• Feminine Plural
Nouns

• Irregular Plural
Nouns
• Articles

• Case Inflection

• Case Endings

• The Six
Nouns

• Noonation

• Adjectives

• Genitive Construction

• Am/Is/Are
Sentences

•
Verbs

• Irregular
Verbs

•
Verb
Forms

• Perfective Verbs

• Perfective
Conjugation

•
Irregular
Perfective Conjugation

• Imperfective
Verbs

• Imperfective Conjugation

•
Irregular Imperfective Conjugation

• Moods

• Subjunctive Mood

• Jussive
Mood

• Mood
Signs

• Energetic Mood

• Imperative
Mood

• Passive
Voice

• Passive Perfective
Verbs

• Passive
Imperfective Verbs

• Passive
of Irregular Verbs

• Subject
Pronouns

• Object
Pronouns

• Demonstratives

• Relative Pronouns

• Sentences

• To
Have

• Incomplete
Verbs

• Frozen
Verbs

• Verb-Like Particles

• Negation

• Present
Negative

•
Past
Negative

•
Future
Negative

•
Negation+Exclusion Style

• Interrogation

• Yes/No Questions

•
Interrogative
Pronouns

• Polite
Request

• Introductory Particles

•
Infinitival/Indefinite maa

• Prepositions

• Conjunctions

• Adverbs

• Inactive
Particles

• Ablative
Particles

• Vocative
Particles

• Exclamatory
Style

• Praise
& Disparagement

•
Derived Nouns

•
Verbal Nouns

• Active Participles

• Passive
Participles

• Participle-like
Adjectives

• Comparatives

• Place-nouns

• Time-nouns

• Tool-nouns

• Attributives

• Diminutives

• Vocabulary

•
Dialects

• Survival Phrases

• History & Culture

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Nouns

Number of
Nouns

Plural Nouns

Irregular Plural Nouns
(continued)

I. Fewness Structures جُمُوْعُ
الْقِلَّةِ

These structures are supposed to
be used for plurals that refer to no more than ten unites, but this is not
obligatory.

'af"ul

أَفْعُل

'af"ila(t)

أَفْعِلَة

'af"aal

أَفْعَاْل

fi"la(t)

فِعْلَة

In order to be able to use these
structures you will need to know the root of the singular noun.

The truth is that there are no
real solid rules for when to use each one of these structures, however,
there are some general directions that could be mentioned.

۞ 'af"ul أَفْعُل

This structure is
generally used for the singular nouns that are of the following
structures:

1. fa"l فَعْل

Examples:

Plural

Singular

'anhur

أَنْهُر

nahr

نَهْر

rivers
(fem.)

river
(masc.)

'abhur

أَبْحُر

bahr

بَحْر

seas
(fem.)

sea
(masc.)

'ashhur

أَشْهُر

shahr

شَهْر

months
(fem.)

month
(masc.)

'awjuh

أَوْجُه

wajh

وَجْه

faces / aspects
(fem.)

face / aspect
(masc.)

However, there are many
irregularities to this rule.

Examples:

Plural

Singular

quloob

قُلُوْب

qalb

قَلْب

hearts
(fem.)

heart
(masc.)

huroob

حُرُوْب

harb

حَرْب

wars
(fem.)

war
(fem.)

shuhoor

شُهُوْر

shahr

شَهْر

months
(fem.)

month
(masc.)

wujooh

وُجُوْه

wajh

وَجْه

faces / aspects
(fem.)

face / aspect
(masc.)

'anhaar

أَنْهَاْر

nahr

نَهْر

rivers
(fem.)

river
(masc.)

bihaar

بِحَاْر

bahr

بَحْر

seas
(fem.)

sea
(masc.)

kilaab

كِلاب

kalb

كَلْب

dogs
(fem.)

dog
(masc.)

Most of the fa"l
nouns that have middle weak-letters
in their triliteral roots don't follow this rule.

Most of the fa"l nouns that
haveو  as first letter
of their triliteral roots don't follow this rule.

Again, it should be known that
many nouns can be irregularly pluralized using more than one
structure.

2. f*"aal / f*"eel / f*"ool

Figurative feminine quadriliteral
nouns that have a long vowel as third letter will be pluralized
as 'af"ul أَفْعُل.

Plural

Singular

'athru"

أَذْرُع

thiraa"

ذِرَاْع

arms
(fem.)

arm
(fem.)

'aymun

أَيْمُن

yameen

يَمِيْن

right hands
(fem.)

right hand
(fem.)

۞ 'af"ila(t) أَفْعِلَة

This structure is generally used for the
following singulars:

1. f*"aal / f*"eel / f*"ool

Masculine quadriliteral nouns that
have a long vowel as their third letter.

Plural

Singular

'at"ima(t)

أَطْعِمَة

ta"aam

طَعَاْم

foods
(fem.)

food
(masc.)

'a"mida(t)

أَعْمِدَة

"amood

عَمُوْد

poles
(fem.)

pole (pillar)
(masc.)

There are
irregularities.

2. fa"aal فَعَاْل / fi"aal  فِعَاْل

Provided that the second and the
third root-letters be the same, any noun of these structures will be
pluralized as 'af"ila(t)
أَفْعِلَة .

Plural

Singular

'abniya(t)

أَبْنِيَة

binaa'<

بِنَاْء

buildings
(fem.)

building
(masc.)

'arrifa(t)

أَرْغِفَة

rareef

رَغِيْف

loafs
(fem.)

loaf
(masc.)

There are
irregularities.

۞ 'af"aal أَفْعَاْل

This structure is
generally used for all the triliteral nouns that do not take the first
structure 'af"ul أَفْعُل. This
includes:

fa"l فَعْل nouns that have a
middle weak-letter in their triliteral roots.

fa"l فَعْل nouns that
haveو  as first letter
of their triliteral roots don't follow this rule.

Every triliteral noun that is not of the structure
fa"l فَعْل .

Examples:

Plural

Singular

'abwaab

أَبْوَاْب

baab

بَاْب

doors
(fem.)

door
(masc.)

'awqaat

أَوْقَاْت

waqt

وَقْت

times
(fem.)

time
(masc.)

'ajdaad

أَجْدَاْد

jadd

جَدّ

grandfathers
(masc.)

grandfather
(masc.)

'aqlaam

أَقْلام

qalam

قَلَم

pens
(fem.)

pen
(masc.)

'akbaad

أَكْبَاْد

kabid

كَبِد

livers
(fem.)

liver
(fem.)

'a"daad

أَعْضَاْد

"adud

عَضُد

upper arms
(fem.)

upper arm
(masc.)

'asmaa'<

أَسْمَاْء

'ism

اِسْم

names
(fem.)

name
(masc.)

'a"naab

*أَعْنَاْب

"inab

*عِنَب

grapes
(fem.)

grapes
(masc.)

'aabaat

آبَاْط*

'Ibit

إِبِط

armpits
(fem.)

armpit
(masc.)

'aqfaal

أَقْفَاْل

qufl

قُفْل

locks
(fem.)

lock
(masc.)

'artaab

*أَرْطَاْب

rutab

*رُطَب

unripe dates
(fem.)

unripe dates
(masc.)

'ahlaam

أَحْلام

hulum

حُلُم

dreams
(fem.)

dream
(masc.)

*Both the
singular and plural nouns here refer to plural fruits (the singular is a
singulare tantum noun).

*See: special
transformations of hamza(t).

۞ fi"la(t) فِعْلَة

This is a rare structure that is
used with few nouns.

Examples:

Plural

Singular

fitya(t)

فِتْيَة

fataa

فَتَىْ

boys (masc.)

boy
(masc.)

sibya(t)

صِبْيَة

sabiyy

صَبِيّ

boys (masc.)

boy
(masc.)

II. Plentifulness Structures جُمُوْعُ
الْكَثْرَةِ

Those structures are used for
plurals without regard of their numbers. They also enjoy a large deal of
irregularity in usage, just like the previous ones.

More
information about these structures is to be added later

Gender of
Plural Nouns

1) Masculine
Plurals

Nouns that
end with a masculine plural ending are always masculine words.

2) Feminine
Plurals

Nouns that
end with a feminine plural ending are always feminine words.

3) Irregular
Plurals

The gender
of an irregular plural noun will not always match the gender of its
singular. Classically, all irregular plurals were considered and treated
as singular feminine nouns, no matter what the
gender of the referents were. E.g. one would say "this men" or "this
dishes" instead of "these men" and "these dishes" if "men" and "dishes"
were irregular plurals. Also one would say "the men does what she
promises" instead of "the men do what they promise."

However,
irregular plurals of nouns referring to persons (like men and
women) had another possibility; such plurals could be treated as regular
plural nouns alongside the general rule of treating them as singular
feminines.

In the
modern language, irregular plurals referring to persons are usually
treated as regular plural nouns in terms of grammar, except
for declension, where they will
still be declined as singulars.

Grammatical Treatment of Irregular
Plurals

Reference

Gender

Number

to
persons

matches the gender of the referents

plural

to
persons
(classical)

feminine

singular

to objects or animals

feminine

singular

Examples on
the gender of irregular plurals:

Plural

Singular

rijaal

رِجَاْل

rajul

رَجُل

men
(masc.)

man
(masc.)

rijaal

رِجَاْل

rajul

رَجُل

men
(fem.)

in
classical Arabic

man
(masc.)

banaat

بَنَاْت

bint

بِنْت

girls/daughters
(fem.)

girl/daughter
(fem.)

'awraaq

أَوْرَاْق

waraqa(t)

وَرَقَة

papers
(fem.)

paper
(fem.)

'aqlaam

أَقْلاَم

qalam

قَلَم

pens
(fem.)

pen
(masc.)

Type of
Plural

Use

Gender of
the plural word

Masculine
Plural

For
nouns that refer to definite male persons

Masculine

Feminine
Plural

For
nouns that refer to female persons

For
nouns that end with feminine markers

For
some nouns that refer to feminine or masculine objects

Feminine

Irregular Plural

For
nouns that refer to persons

Masculine

Feminine

For nouns that
refer to masculine or feminine objects

Feminine

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