Sound Plurals
Sound masculine plural (-ون/-ين) and sound feminine plural (-ات)
I can form sound masculine and feminine plurals
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
المُعَلِّمونَ في المَدرَسَةِ
The teachers (m.) are in the school
مَعَ المُعَلِّمينَ
With the teachers (m.)
المُعَلِّماتُ مُمتازاتٌ
The female teachers are excellent
خَمسُ سَيّاراتٍ
Five cars
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
الجمع السالم (Sound Plurals)
Sound plurals are regular — they add a suffix without changing the word's internal structure.
| Type | Nominative | Accusative/Genitive | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masc. sound | ـون | ـين | مُعَلِّمون / مُعَلِّمين |
| Fem. sound | ـات | مُعَلِّمات | |
Masc. sound plural: for male humans only (مُعَلِّم→مُعَلِّمون). Changes based on case: ون (nom.) vs ين (acc./gen.).
Fem. sound plural: replace ة with ات (مُعَلِّمة→مُعَلِّمات). Case shown by vowel on ت.
Common Error Patterns
Using masculine sound plural for non-human nouns
ون/ين is only for male humans. Objects/animals use broken or ات plural.
Using ون in genitive/accusative instead of ين
مع المعلمين (not المعلمون) — ين after prepositions
المُعَلِّمونَ في المَدرَسَةِ
The teachers (m.) are in the school
معلم → معلمون (nom. sound masc. plural with ون).
مَعَ المُعَلِّمينَ
With the teachers (m.)
After preposition مع → genitive: معلمون becomes معلمين.
المُعَلِّماتُ مُمتازاتٌ
The female teachers are excellent
معلمة → معلمات (fem. sound plural: replace ة with ات).
خَمسُ سَيّاراتٍ
Five cars
سيارة → سيارات. Non-human fem. nouns also use ات plural.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises