Gulf Arabic The plural nouns

Gulf Arabic The plural nouns

Plural Patterns in Arabic

In Arabic, there is no simple formula for adding s for making singular plural nouns
In English, the general rule for forming plurals would be to add the letter “s” but many nouns do not follow this rule same applies to Arabic

The Plural الْجَمْع is subdivided into two categories: sound plural جَمْع تَصْحِيْحٍ Jam3utas7ii7in and broken plural جَمْع تَكْسِيْرٍ Jam3u taksiir

In Arabic, nouns form their plurals (that is, more than two males or females)
In general, masculine nouns are made plural by adding +iin ـين to the end.
For feminine nouns that end within a taa marbuuta (ـة ة) drop the taa marbuuta (ـة ة) and add suffix +aat ات
”. This is particularly so when the plural is referring to a human being.
First, you will learn in two basic rules: by adding a suffix, or by changing the vowel pattern within the word these irregular plurals do follow patterns.
After a while you will be able to recognize various patterns in the beginning however trying to memorize all Patterns is more confusing than helping you have to learn
The plural form of each noun.

The Suffixation

The nouns that pluralize by adding a suffix can be divided into three
Groups according to the suffix used, and examples are provided below.
Nouns that pluralize by internal vowel change and actually change the structure of the original word – the so-called ʻbroken plural Jam3u taksiir ʼ جَمْع تَكْسِيْرٍ

1- The Suffix –iin ـين

Human sound masculine plurals Arabic Many Masculine human nouns denoting occupations and professions,
are made plural by adding the suffix -iin ـين
Examples:

Singular Plural Masculine

Notes ملاحظات
if the singular ends in -i, -yy- is inserted before the -iin
suffix, just as it is before the -ayn ʻdualʼ suffix.
Plural Human nouns that take masculine form can refer to either group all men, or a group of men and women.

2- The Suffix –aat ات

examples

Mu3alimah/معلم female teacher mu3alimaat معلمات
mudarrisa /مدرِّسة ʻfemale teacherʼ مدرّساتmudarrisaat ʻfemale teachersʼ
shurT iyya شرطيّة ʻpolicewomanʼ shurTiyyaat شرطيّاتʻpolicewomenʼ

Fanaana-h /فنانة female artist /fanaanaat فنانات/ female artists sa7afiyah /صحفية female journalist/ sa7afiyaat /صحفيات/ female journalists

Mumasilah / ممثلة actess /mumasilaatممثلات/ actresses
The same suffixes are used for the plurals of nouns denoting nationality
or origin:
Qatari قطريʻqatari ʼ Qatariyin قطريين Qataris
Qatariya قطريّه ʻqatariyya womanʼ Qatariyyáat قطرياتʻqatari women ʼ

Regular Feminine Plurals
This suffix is the feminine equivalent of -iin, ين-and is used where a wholly
the female group is being referred to (-iin is used where the group is mixed
male and female).

However, when the plural is referring to objects, the feminine ending “aat” ـاتwill be used regardless of the gender of the noun.
For example, the word تِلِيفُون (tilifoon) which obviously means “telephone”, is a masculine noun, but because it’s an object, its plural is formed by adding the feminine ending تِلِيفُونَات (tilifoonaat).

3 –The suffix -iyya ـيَّة
Nouns, denoting professions or occupations,
That pluralizes by adding the suffix -iyya. Most of them are borrowed nouns
example:
sikirtiir / سكرتير ʻsecretaryʼ sikirtiiriyyaسكرتيريّه ʻsecretariesʼ
loofar لوفارʻlayaboutʼ loofariyyaلوفريَّه ʻlayaboutsʼ
draywilدرويل ʻdriverʼ draywiliyya دروليَّهʻdriversʼ

4 –The Suffix -aatـات with inanimate nouns
Some of these have the feminine ending –a,
while many others are borrowed from other languages,
example:
sayyara / سيارة ʻcarʼ sayyaaraat ساراتʻcarsʼ
sharika / شركة ʻcompanyʼ sharikáatشركات ʻcompaniesʼ
baaS / باص ʻbusʼ baaSaat /بصاتʻbusesʼ
sandawíich/ سندويجʻsandwichʼ sandawiichaat/سندويجات ʻsandwichesʼ
kaylo/كيلو ʻkilogramʼ kaylowaat/ كيلواتʻkilogramsʼ

The Irregular Plurals (broken) جَمْع تَكْسِيْرٍ
These irregular plurals do follow patterns

The Arabic Root System and Vowels :

The root of an unfamiliar word will often help you to guess its meaning
The root k t b,ك ت ب which has the basic meaning writing, different vowel
Patterns can be applied to form words that modify this basic meaning
The vowels and non-root letters gave the word its specific meaning
Pattern maCCaC where C is a root letter means Place so مكتب maktab means place of writing,

For example, we can derive:
Pattern
Kitaabكتاب ʻbookʼ CiCaaC = Noun اسْم
kaatibكاتب ʻclerk; one who CaaCiC = Agent noun اسم الفاعل
writesʼ
maktab مكتب ʻoffice; a place where maCCaC = Noun of place اسم مكان
writing is doneʼ
maktuubمكتوب ʻwritten; letterʼ maCCuuC = Passive Participle. اسم مفعول
All Arabic words are derived from roots.
To make the plural of most nouns, a new vowel pattern is applied to the
root consonants of the singular form.
kitaab كتاب has the plural kutub,كتب
kaatib كاتِبthe plural kuttaab كُتَّاب(note the doubling of the middle consonant),
Maktab مكتب has makaatibمكاتب and maktuub مكتوبhas makaatiib.مكاتيب Some of the

The Patterns Alawzaanالأوزان
1 Singular CaCCaaC plural CaCaaCiiC
2 Singular CaaCiC plural CuCCaaC

These two patterns always denote jobs titles, professions, or occupations:

Note ملاحظة
Some common patterns that apply to many different singular patterns:

3 The plural pattern aCCaaCأفعال
walad / وَلَد boy awlaad/أَولاَد ʻboysʼ
3am/عم paternal Uncle a3maam /اعمام paternal uncles
qisim / قسم section ,department aqsaam /اقسام section, departments
galam / قلم pen aglaam /اقلام pens

baab /باب door/ Abwaab أبوابdoors
Nahar/نَهْر river anhaar/ أَنهار

suug /سوق market/aswaag أسواق markets
filim /فلم aflaam/ أفلام ʻfilmsʼ
loon / لون color Alwan/ ألوان colors
kuub / كون cup akwaab / اكواب cups

4 The plural pattern CuCuuC فعول

5 The plural pattern CaCaaCiC مِفْاَعِيْل