Table of Contents
The plural of an Arabic noun can be regular (healthy) or irregular (broken).
Healthy Plural
The healthy plural is created using simple suffixes. For masculine nouns, the suffix ون -ûn is used. For feminine nouns, the ta marbuta ة -ta is transformed into ات -ât.
| Singular | English | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| معلم | one male teacher | معلمون | many male teachers |
| معلمة | one female teacher | معلمات | many female teachers |
Broken Plural
There are several possible forms of the broken plural. The most common ones have the structure فِعَل fi3al or أفعال 'af3âl.
| Singular | English | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| رجل | one man | رجال | many men |
| قلم | one pen | أقلام | many pens |
| طويل | long (sgl) | طِوَال | long (pl) |
Most of the Arabic words, have either a healthy or broken plural. Sometimes words might even have more than one plural. In this case, usually one version is more common than the other one. Further information can be taken from the used dictionary.
Some words only exist in the plural form, and they are called collective nouns. One example is خضروات which means vegetables.
Create the plural from the following words:
a) طائرة
b) مخبز
c) مكتبة
d) مخزن
a) الطائرات
b) مخابز
c) مكتبات
d) مخازن
Vocabularies
| Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| طويل | long |
| طائرة | airplane |
| مخبر | bakery |
| مكتبة | library, bookstore |
| مخزن | warehouse, store |
| خضروات | vegetables |