If you've been paying attention, you will have noticed that we've already discussed plural verbs, but not plural nouns, until now. That's because in Arabic they can be a bit tricky sometimes.
In English you usually add an -S or an -ES to the end of the word to make it plural. For example: student/students, rabbit/rabbits, dictionary/dictionaries.
In Arabic, however, there are different endings for masculine and feminine plural nouns and adjectives. And Arabic makes an important distinction between nouns for people and nouns which are for things. "Human" and "Non-human."
We'll start with feminine nouns, because they are generally the easiest. Most feminine nouns that end with the sound -AH (the taa marbuuah) make their plurals by simply adding the ending -AAT. This includes any nouns for women, and also many feminine nouns for things.
But there are some exceptions: Some feminine nouns don't form the plural with a regular -AAT ending, and the plurals must be memorized, such as these words you know:
The masculine human plural ending is -UUN or -IIN. When you're writing, you need to know which form to use. (It has to do with the grammar, that is, how the word is used in the sentence.) But when speaking, most Arabs are only going to use the -IIN ending. In Egypt, for example, they don't ever use the -UUN ending in regular, daily speech.
Nouns starting with MU- usually take these regular human plural endings, for example:
Mudarrisah/Mudarrisaat = teacher/s (f) Mudarris/Mudarrisuun or Mudarrisiin = teacher/s (m)
Muhandisah/Muhandisaat = engineer/s (f) Muhandis/Muhandisuun or Muhandisiin = engineer/s (m)
Mudiirah/Mudiiraat = director/s (f) Mudiir/Mudiiruun or Mudiiriin = director/s (m)
Muslimah/Muslimaat = Muslim/s (f) Muslim/Muslimuun or Muslimiin = Muslim/s (m)
Also, those adjectives that end with -ii, formed from the names of countries, take these regular plural endings when they are used to describe people:
Sacuudii/Sacuudiyyuun or -iin = Saudi/s (m) Sacuudiyyah/Sacuudiyyaat = Saudi/s (f)
cIraqii/cIraqiyyuun or -iin = Iraqi/s (m) cIraqiyyah/cIraqiyyaat = Iraqi/s (f)
Lubnaanii/Lubnaaniyyuun or -iin = Lebanese (m) Lubnaaniyyah/Lubnaaniyyaat = Lebanese (f)
Mirii/Miriyyuun or -iin = Egyptian/s (m) Miriyyah/Miriyyaat = Egyptian/s (f)
Suudaanii/Suudaaniyyuun or -iin = Sudanese (m) Suudaaniyyah/Suudaaniyyaat = Sudanese (f)
Amriikii/Amriikiyyuun or -iin = American/s (m) Amriikiyyah/Amriikiyyaat = American/s (f)
If there's a group of people including both men and women, then you just use the masculine plural form to refer to all of them.
In English there are all those weird plurals that you just have to learn. And they can be very confusing for people who are learning English for the first time. If English is not your native language, or you have friends from different countries who are learning English, then you know what I mean. The plural of "Mouse" is "Mice" not "Mouses," but the plural of "House" is not "Hice" but "Houses." The plural of "Goose" is "Geese," but the plural of "Moose" is not "Meese," it's "Moose"--the same as the singular. Why? Because English is a wonderful language. And Arabic is also a wonderful language....
Many nouns in Arab have plurals that don't fit the -AAT/-UUN patterns. When you're learning your vocabulary words, you have to memorize the plural form of the nouns and adjectives along with the singular. Here are some words you already know, along with their plurals. You can probably tell that there are some patterns for the plurals, changes that happen with the syllables and vowels--see if you can pick them out. But you still have to memorize which one goes with which noun.
Here are a few practice sentences using plural subjects with the plural verb forms you already know:
Al-Muhandisuun yacmaluun fii Philadelphia. The engineers work in Philly.
A-ullaab yadrusuun fii Jaamicat Pennsylvania. The students study at the University of Pennsylvania
Al-Asaatitha yudarrisuun al-lughah al-cArabiyyah. The professors teach the Arabic language.
Plural Nouns and Adjectives Remember how adjectives work with nouns. They follow the noun, and they also have to be the same gender as the noun they describe. Also if the noun is definite, then the adjective must be definite too. Now you will learn that adjectives have to agree with the nouns they describe in a third way: in number.
As mentioned above, Arabic makes an important distinction between nouns for people and nouns which are for things. "Human" and "Non-human." Human plurals take plural adjectives. For the feminine ones, again, you just add the suffix "-AAT." For the masculine ones you usually just add "-UUN" or "-IIN," but some irregular ones just have to be memorized. Now here's the tricky part: non-human plurals, in Arabic, are considered to be feminine singular, so you use the feminine singular adjective with them. Let's practice. Look at these examples changing the singular nouns and adjectives to plural ones:
mudiir muhimm = an important m. director mudiiruun muhimmuun = important directors mudiirah muhimmah = an important f. director mudiiraat muhimmaat = important f. directors
jariidah muhimmah = an important newspaper jaraa'id muhimmah = important newspapers
aalib jadiid = a new m. student aalibah jadiidah = a new f. student ullaab judud = new students aalibaat jadiidaat = new f. students a-aalib al-jadiid = the new student a-ullaab al-judud = the new students
mudarris Mirii = a m. Egyptian teacher mudarrisuun Miriyyuun = Egyptian teachers al-mudarris al-Mirii = the Egyptian teacher al-mudarrisuun al-Miriyyuun = the Egyptian teachers
bint jamiilah = a beautiful girl banaat jamiilaat = beautiful girls al-bint al-jamiilah = the beautiful girl al-banaat al-jamiilaat = the beautiful girls
kitaab sahl = an easy book kutub sahlah = easy books al-kitaab as-sahl = the easy book al-kutub as-sahlah = the easy books
baab aghiir = a small door abwaab aghiirah = small doors al-baab a-aghiir = the small door al-abwaab a-aghiirah = the small doors
sayyaarah jadiidah = a new car sayyaaraat jadiidah = new cars as-sayyaarah al-jadiidah = the new car as-sayyaaraat al-jadiidah = the new cars
madiinah kabiirah = a big city mudun kabiirah = big cities al-madiinah al-kabiirah = the big city al-mudun al-kabiirah = the big cities
Qaabaltu ullaab kathiiriin. = I met many students. Qaabaltu aalibaat kathiiraat. = I met many f. students. Qara'tu kutub kathiirah. = I read many books.
The demonstrative pronouns "haathaa" and "haathihi" (this m/f) must also agree in gender, so if you are talking about non-human plurals, you will use the feminine form haathihi, as in these examples:
Maa fahimna haathaa ad-dars. = We did not understand this lesson. Maa fahimna haathihi ad-duruus. = We did not understand these lessons.
Qara'tu haathaa al-kitaab al-jadiid. = I read this new book. Qara'tu haathihi al-kutub al-jadiidah. = I read these new books.
Hal qara'ta haathihi al-jariidah? = Did you read this newspaper? Hal qara'ta haathihi al-jaraa'id? = Did you read these newspapers?
