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.:

لاَعِبٌ

/lāξibun/

مُدَرِّبٌ

/mudarribun/

مُدَرِّسٌ

/mudarrisun/

دَارِسٌ

/dārisun/

كَاتِبٌ

/kātibun/

Arabic

Player

Trainer

Teacher

Studier

Writer

English

  • This is a logic condition, we naturally cannot make plural of dual nouns as the following:

لاَعِبانِ

/lāξibāni/

مُدَرِّبَانِ

/mudarribāni/

دَارِسَان

/dārisāni/

كَاتِبانِ

/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

عُثْمَانُونَ

/ξuthmānūna/

عُثْمَانُ

/ξuthmānu/

حَسَّانُونَ

/ħassānūna/

حَسَّانُ

/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

مُدَرِّسُونَ

Teacher

مُدَرِّسٌ

دَارِسُونَ

Studier

دَارِسٌ

كَاتِبُونَ

Writer

كَاتِبٌ

  • 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

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

These are truthful men

هَؤُلاء رِجَالٌ صَادِقُونَ

/hā’ulā’I ridĵālun ŝâdiqūna/

This is a truthful man

هَذا رَجُلٌ صَادِقٌ

/hādhā raĵulun ŝâdiqun/

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The engineers are active

المُهَنْدِسُونَ نَشِيطُونَ

/al muhandisūna nashīŧūna/

The engineer is active

المُهَنْدِسُ نَشِيطٌ

/al muhandisu nashīŧun/

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These are players

هَؤُلاءِ لاَعِبُونَ

/hā’ulā’i lā’ibūna/

This is a player

هَذَا لاَعِبٌ

/hādhā lāξibun/

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you are trustful

أَنْتُمْ صَادِقُونَ

/antum ŝâdiqūna/

you are trustful

أَنَتَ صَادِقٌ

/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

Madinaharabic.com lesson image

Polite boys

أَوْلادٌ مُهَذَّبُونَ

/awlādun muhaddhabūna/

Polite boy

وَلَدٌ مُهَذَّبٌ

/waladun muhaddhabun/

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The doctors are travelling

الأَطِبَّاءُ مُسَافِرُونَ

/al aŧibbā’u musāfirūna/

The doctor is travelling

الطَّبِيبُ مُسَافِرٌ

/aŧ-ŧabību musāfirun/

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The players are clever

اللاعِبُونَ مَاهِرُونَ

/al lāξibūna māhirūna/

The player is clever

اللاَّعِبُ مَاهِرٌ

/al lāξibu māhirun/

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The students are successful

الطُّلاَّبُ نَاجِحُونَ

/aŧŧullābu nāĵiħūna/

The student is successful

الطَّالِبُ نَاجِحٌ

/aŧ-ŧâlibu nāĵiħun/

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The artists are famous

الفَنَّانُونَ مَشْهُورُونَ

/al fannānūna al mashhurūna/

The artist is famous

الفَنَّانُ مَشْهُورُ

/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

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The birds are emigrating

الطُّيُورُ مُهَاجِرَةٌ

/aŧ-ŧuyūru muhāgiratun/

The bird is emigrating

الطَّيْرُ مُهَاجِرٌ

/aŧ-ŧayru muhādjirun/

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The animals are dirty

الحَيَواناتُ وَسِخَةٌ

/al ħayawānātu wasikhatun/

The animal is dirty

الحَيَوانُ وَسِخٌ

/al ħayawānu wasikhun/

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The films are famous

الأَفْلامُ مَشْهُورَةُ

/al aflāmu mashhūratun/

The film is famous

الفِيلْمُ مَشْهُورُ

/al filmu mashhūrun/

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The diseases are dangerous

الأَمْرَاضُ خَطِيرَةٌ

/al amrâđu khŧīratun/

The disease is dangerous

المَرَضُ خَطِيرٌ

/al marađu khaŧīrun/