Lesson 56 – الدَّرْسُ السَّادِسُ وَالْخَمْسُونَ
The sound masculine plural - جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السَّالِمِ
Conditions of the sound masculine plural – شُرُوط جَمْع المُذَكَّر السَّالِم
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- Some conditions have to be found in the noun to form the Arabic sound masculine plural from, this is apparent from its name, i.e.
- 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).
- Let’s study these conditions in detail with some examples:
The first condition: the noun has to be singular, e.g.:
/lāξibun/ | /mudarribun/ | /mudarrisun/ | /dārisun/ | /kātibun/ | Arabic |
Player | Trainer | Teacher | Studier | Writer | English |
- This is a logic condition, we naturally cannot make plural of dual nouns as the following:
/lāξibāni/ | /mudarribāni/ | /dārisāni/ | /kātibāni/ | Arabic |
Two players | To trainers | Two studiers | Two writers | English |
- But if there is somebody whose name is ended with (ان /ān/) (i.e. not indicating a dual) , we can make the sound plural of it, e.g.:
Sound plural | Name |
/ξuthmānūna/ | /ξuthmānu/ |
/ħassānūna/ | /ħassānu/ |
- So, the condition of changing any noun into sound masculine plural is that the noun should be singular as follows:
Sound plural | Singular | |
English | Arabic | |
Teacher | ||
Studier | ||
Writer |
- The second condition of forming the sound masculine plural is that the noun has to be indicating masculine noun or adjective, i.e. it should not be a feminine noun like (زَيْنَب /zaynab/) - a female name -, nor feminine adjective as (طالِق /ŧâliq) - a female adjective meaning divorced.
- On the other hand the words which are valid to form the sound masculine plural indicate masculine nouns or adjectives as in the following examples:
Picture | Sound plural | Singular | ||
English | Arabic | English | Arabic | |
| These are truthful men | /hā’ulā’I ridĵālun ŝâdiqūna/ | This is a truthful man | /hādhā raĵulun ŝâdiqun/ |
| The engineers are active | /al muhandisūna nashīŧūna/ | The engineer is active | /al muhandisu nashīŧun/ |
| These are players | /hā’ulā’i lā’ibūna/ | This is a player | /hādhā lāξibun/ |
| you are trustful | /antum ŝâdiqūna/ | you are trustful | /anta ŝâdiqun/ |
- The third condition: If the noun is an adjective, and we need to form the sound plural from it, it has to be an adjective for a rational noun – i.e. (living person).
Picture | Sound plural | Singular | ||
English | Arabic | English | Arabic | |
| Polite boys | /awlādun muhaddhabūna/ | Polite boy | /waladun muhaddhabun/ |
| The doctors are travelling | /al aŧibbā’u musāfirūna/ | The doctor is travelling | /aŧ-ŧabību musāfirun/ |
| The players are clever | /al lāξibūna māhirūna/ | The player is clever | /al lāξibu māhirun/ |
| The students are successful | /aŧŧullābu nāĵiħūna/ | The student is successful | /aŧ-ŧâlibu nāĵiħun/ |
| The artists are famous | /al fannānūna al mashhurūna/ | The artist is famous | /al fannānu al mashhūru/ |
- As you notice, all the adjectives in the above mentioned examples are adjectives 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 as you see in the following examples:
Picture | Plural الجمع | Singular المفرد | ||
English | Arabic | English | Arabic | |
| The birds are emigrating | /aŧ-ŧuyūru muhāgiratun/ | The bird is emigrating | /aŧ-ŧayru muhādjirun/ |
| The animals are dirty | /al ħayawānātu wasikhatun/ | The animal is dirty | /al ħayawānu wasikhun/ |
| The films are famous | /al aflāmu mashhūratun/ | The film is famous | /al filmu mashhūrun/ |
| The diseases are dangerous | /al amrâđu khŧīratun/ | The disease is dangerous | /al marađu khaŧīrun/ |