Sound Plurals

A1 — صرف

Arabic sound plurals: masculine ـونَ / ـينَ for men and mixed groups, feminine ـات for women, many things and verbal nouns, the dropped ن in مُعَلِّمو المَدْرَسَةِ, and agreement with plurals of things.

I can talk about groups of people and things with sound plurals, using ـونَ or ـينَ according to the position, ـات for women and many things, and the right agreement afterwards.

Examples

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
المُهَنْدِسونَ المِصْرِيّونَ يَعْمَلونَ في دُبَيّ. — The Egyptian engineers work in Dubai.
سَلَّمْتُ عَلى المُعَلِّمينَ وَالمُعَلِّماتِ. — I greeted the male and female teachers.
بَدَأَتِ الامْتِحاناتُ في الجامِعَةِ. — The exams have started at the university.

OtherA1

Sound Plurals

Learning Goal

I can talk about groups of people and things with sound plurals, using ـونَ or ـينَ according to the position, ـات for women and many things, and the right agreement afterwards.

Exam Skills:ReadingWriting

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?

الجَمْعُ السّالِمُ - the sound plurals

A sound plural keeps the singular whole and adds an ending: مُعَلِّم → مُعَلِّمونَ - teachers, مُعَلِّمَة → مُعَلِّمات - female teachers. Arabic calls it "sound" (سالِم) because nothing inside the word breaks. There are two of them.

Plural	Nominative (-u)	Object, after a preposition (-a, -i)	Example
masculine: ـونَ / ـينَ	المُعَلِّمونَ	المُعَلِّمينَ	مَعَ المُعَلِّمينَ - with the teachers
feminine: ـات	المُعَلِّماتُ	المُعَلِّماتِ	رَأَيْتُ المُعَلِّماتِ - I saw the teachers (f.)

The masculine plural ـونَ / ـينَ

It has two forms. ـونَ is the nominative: the subject, but also the predicate of a sentence without a verb and an adjective agreeing with either (المُعَلِّمونَ مُمْتازونَ - the teachers are excellent). ـينَ covers the other two cases: the object of a verb, a noun after a preposition or after another noun in an idafa, and the predicate after كانَ (كانوا مُهَنْدِسينَ - they were engineers): المُهَنْدِسونَ هُنا - the engineers are here; سَلَّمْتُ عَلى المُهَنْدِسينَ - I greeted the engineers. It is used for men and for mixed groups, and mostly with words for people built on regular patterns: participles such as مُعَلِّم، مُهَنْدِس، مُسْلِم, and adjectives in ـيّ: مِصْرِيّ → مِصْرِيّونَ - Egyptians. It is used almost only for people: a handful of old words such as سِنونَ, years (from سَنَة), are the exceptions. Many common words for people take a broken plural instead: طالِب usually becomes طُلّاب.

When a genitive follows, the ن drops: مُعَلِّمو المَدْرَسَةِ - the school's teachers.

The feminine plural ـات

Replace ة with ات: سَيّارَة → سَيّارات. The ending ـات has only two case vowels: -u in the nominative, -i everywhere else, even where other nouns take -a: رَأَيْتُ سَيّاراتٍ كَثيرَةً. ـات is used for:

women: مُعَلِّمات، طالِبات، مِصْرِيّات;
many things and ideas in ة: سَيّارات - cars. Not all of them: غُرْفَة (room) usually becomes غُرَف, so check the dictionary;
verbal nouns of the longer verb forms, even masculine ones: اِمْتِحان → اِمْتِحانات - exams, اِجْتِماع → اِجْتِماعات - meetings;
many borrowed and masculine nouns without a broken plural: حَمّام → حَمّامات, جُنَيْه → جُنَيْهات.

Agreement

A plural of people takes a plural adjective and verb: المُعَلِّمونَ مُمْتازونَ, المُعَلِّماتُ مُمْتازاتٌ. A plural of things in ـات takes a feminine singular one: السَّيّاراتُ جَديدَةٌ - the cars are new. And with numbers 3-10 the gender comes from the singular: خَمْسُ سَيّاراتٍ, but عَشَرَةُ جُنَيْهاتٍ.

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

Practice Exercises

1. ـونَ on things or animals: *سَيّارونَ, *كِتابونَ. The masculine sound plural is for people, apart from a handful of old words such as سِنونَ, years. 2. ـونَ after a preposition or as an object: *مَعَ المُعَلِّمونَ. Use ـينَ: مَعَ المُعَلِّمينَ. 3. An -a ending on ـات: *رَأَيْتُ السَّيّاراتَ. The feminine plural has -i there: رَأَيْتُ السَّيّاراتِ. 4. A plural adjective with a plural of things: *السَّيّاراتُ جَديداتٌ. Use the feminine singular: السَّيّاراتُ جَديدَةٌ. 5. Keeping ن before a genitive: *مُعَلِّمونَ المَدْرَسَةِ. Say مُعَلِّمو المَدْرَسَةِ. English speakers: English adds -s to everything. Arabic sound plurals are the regular option only for some words; for many everyday nouns the plural is broken, so learn each plural with its singular.

Common Error Patterns

Using masculine sound plural for non-human nouns

ون/ين is for men and mixed groups, apart from a handful of old words such as سنون. Objects and animals use a broken or ات plural.

Using ون in the genitive or accusative instead of ين

مع المعلمين (not المعلمون): ين after prepositions and for the object; ون is the nominative, subject or predicate

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.

المُهَنْدِسونَ المِصْرِيّونَ يَعْمَلونَ في دُبَيّ.

The Egyptian engineers work in Dubai.

Three ـونَ in a row: the noun المُهَنْدِسونَ, its adjective المِصْرِيّونَ (people take a plural adjective), and the verb يَعْمَلونَ, plural because the subject comes first.

سَلَّمْتُ عَلى المُعَلِّمينَ وَالمُعَلِّماتِ.

I greeted the male and female teachers.

After عَلى both plurals are genitive: the masculine takes ـينَ, the feminine ـاتِ with -i.

بَدَأَتِ الامْتِحاناتُ في الجامِعَةِ.

The exams have started at the university.

اِمْتِحان is masculine, yet its plural is اِمْتِحانات: verbal nouns of the longer verb forms take ـات. As a plural of things it takes a feminine singular verb: بَدَأَتْ, with a linking i before the article.

The check for this topic is still being prepared

Ask Sofi

Ready-made hints are free

Practice in course

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

A1 Course

← Back to topics

Put it into practice

Try a free exercise from the course

3. Family, possession and number

Frequently asked questions

When do you use Sound Plurals?: A sound plural keeps the singular whole and adds an ending: مُعَلِّم → مُعَلِّمونَ - teachers, مُعَلِّمَة → مُعَلِّمات - female teachers. Arabic calls it "sound" (سالِم) because nothing inside the word breaks. There are two of them.
How do you form Sound Plurals?: It has two forms. ـونَ is the nominative: the subject, but also the predicate of a sentence without a verb and an adjective agreeing with either ( المُعَلِّمونَ مُمْتازونَ - the teachers are excellent). ـينَ covers the other two cases: the object of a verb, a noun after a preposition or after another noun in an idafa, and the predicate after كانَ ( كانوا مُهَنْدِسينَ - they were engineers): المُهَنْدِسونَ هُنا - the engineers are here; سَلَّمْتُ عَلى المُهَنْدِسينَ - I greeted the engineers.
What are common mistakes with Sound Plurals?: 1. ـونَ on things or animals: *سَيّارونَ, *كِتابونَ. The masculine sound plural is for people, apart from a handful of old words such as سِنونَ, years. 2. ـونَ after a preposition or as an object: *مَعَ المُعَلِّمونَ. Use ـينَ: مَعَ المُعَلِّمينَ. 3. An -a ending on ـات: *رَأَيْتُ السَّيّاراتَ. The feminine plural has -i there: رَأَيْتُ السَّيّاراتِ. 4. A plural adjective with a plural of things: *السَّيّاراتُ جَديداتٌ. Use the feminine singular: السَّيّاراتُ جَديدَةٌ. 5. Keeping ن before a genitive: *مُعَلِّمونَ المَدْرَسَةِ. Say مُعَلِّمو المَدْرَسَةِ. English speakers: English adds -s to everything.

Sources

W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896
§ 301 (p. 192): the sound plural of masculine nouns "is formed by adding the termination" ـونَ to the singular, and that of feminine nouns ending in ة "by changing" ة into ـات. § 300 (pp. 191-192) explains the name: in the sound plural "all the vowels and consonants of the singular are retained".
W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896
§ 302 (pp. 194-195): the masculine sound plural is formed from proper names of men, from verbal adjectives whose feminine ends in ة, from elatives and from the relative adjectives in ـيّ; rem. a: "Adjectives, however, have the plur. sanus masc. only when joined to substantives denoting rational beings." This backs مُعَلِّمونَ، مِصْرِيّونَ and "people only".
W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896
§ 303 (pp. 197-199): the feminine sound plural is formed from, among others, names of women, feminine adjectives whose masculine has a sound plural, the verbal nouns of the derived forms, substantives of foreign origin, and "many masc. substantives, which have no plur. fractus", with "a warm bath" (حَمّام) among the examples. This backs اِمْتِحانات and حَمّامات.
W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896
§ 315 (c) (p. 250): when a genitive follows, "the pluralis sanus loses the termination" ن, as in "the sons of the king came". This is مُعَلِّمو المَدْرَسَةِ.
A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Karin C. Ryding) — Cambridge University Press, 2005
Chapter 7, "Noun inflections: gender, humanness, number, definiteness, and case" (pp. 119-204), is the modern reference treatment of sound plurals and of humanness as a category of agreement. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record (table of contents); the chapter text was not consulted.

Plural

Nominative (-u)

Object, after a preposition (-a, -i)

Example

masculine: ـونَ / ـينَ

المُعَلِّمونَ

المُعَلِّمينَ

مَعَ المُعَلِّمينَ - with the teachers

feminine: ـات

المُعَلِّماتُ

المُعَلِّماتِ

رَأَيْتُ المُعَلِّماتِ - I saw the teachers (f.)

Frequently asked questions

When do you use Sound Plurals?

A sound plural keeps the singular whole and adds an ending: مُعَلِّم → مُعَلِّمونَ - teachers, مُعَلِّمَة → مُعَلِّمات - female teachers. Arabic calls it "sound" (سالِم) because nothing inside the word breaks. There are two of them.

How do you form Sound Plurals?

It has two forms. ـونَ is the nominative: the subject, but also the predicate of a sentence without a verb and an adjective agreeing with either ( المُعَلِّمونَ مُمْتازونَ - the teachers are excellent). ـينَ covers the other two cases: the object of a verb, a noun after a preposition or after another noun in an idafa, and the predicate after كانَ ( كانوا مُهَنْدِسينَ - they were engineers): المُهَنْدِسونَ هُنا - the engineers are here; سَلَّمْتُ عَلى المُهَنْدِسينَ - I greeted the engineers.

What are common mistakes with Sound Plurals?

Sources

W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

§ 301 (p. 192): the sound plural of masculine nouns "is formed by adding the termination" ـونَ to the singular, and that of feminine nouns ending in ة "by changing" ة into ـات. § 300 (pp. 191-192) explains the name: in the sound plural "all the vowels and consonants of the singular are retained".

W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

§ 302 (pp. 194-195): the masculine sound plural is formed from proper names of men, from verbal adjectives whose feminine ends in ة, from elatives and from the relative adjectives in ـيّ; rem. a: "Adjectives, however, have the plur. sanus masc. only when joined to substantives denoting rational beings." This backs مُعَلِّمونَ، مِصْرِيّونَ and "people only".

W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

§ 303 (pp. 197-199): the feminine sound plural is formed from, among others, names of women, feminine adjectives whose masculine has a sound plural, the verbal nouns of the derived forms, substantives of foreign origin, and "many masc. substantives, which have no plur. fractus", with "a warm bath" (حَمّام) among the examples. This backs اِمْتِحانات and حَمّامات.

W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

§ 315 (c) (p. 250): when a genitive follows, "the pluralis sanus loses the termination" ن, as in "the sons of the king came". This is مُعَلِّمو المَدْرَسَةِ.

A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Karin C. Ryding) — Cambridge University Press, 2005

Chapter 7, "Noun inflections: gender, humanness, number, definiteness, and case" (pp. 119-204), is the modern reference treatment of sound plurals and of humanness as a category of agreement. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record (table of contents); the chapter text was not consulted.