Introduction
In English, there are only two grammatical numbers: singular and plural. However, in Arabic, there are three forms — singular, dual, and plural.
المُفْرَدُ – singular
الْمُثَنَّى – dual
الْجَمْعُ – plural
Formation
The dual in Arabic is formed by adding the suffix fatha, alif, and the letter nûn with a kasrah in the nominative case (حَالةُ الرَّفْعِ):
انِ
In the accusative and genitive cases, we add:
يْنِ
Masculine Dual
Examples:
Nominative Case
مُسْلِمٌ – one Muslim
مُسْلِمانِ – two Muslims
Accusative Case
مُسْلِمًا – one Muslim
مُسْلِمَيْنِ – two Muslims
Genitive Case
مُسْلِمٍ – one Muslim
مُسْلِمَيْنِ – two Muslims
Quranic Example
وَأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَامَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ
As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city (18:82)
Feminine Dual
For the feminine, words ending with ta marbouta (ة) become ta maftouha (ت) in the dual form, with the suffixes انِ and يْنِ.
Examples:
Nominative Case
مُسْلِمَةٌ – one Muslim woman
مُسْلِمَتَانِ – two Muslim women
Accusative and Genitive Cases
مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ – two Muslim women
Quranic Examples
جَعَلْنَا لِأَحَدِهِمَا جَنَّتَيْنِ مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ
To one of them, We granted two gardens of grapevines (18:32)
وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ
And for those who fear standing before their Lord, there will be two gardens (55:46)
This free Arabic lesson is now complete. The next lesson, insha’Allah, will be about the plural in Arabic.
Aucun commentaire
Aucun commentaire pour le moment.