3.5C - Property 4 Continued - Plurals

 

 

3.5C. Plural اَلْجَمْعُ al-jam'u

 

A plural specifies a number more than two and is usually a modified version of the Single مُفْردٌ muf-ra-dun. The plural is either Mentioned لَفْظًا laf-zanas in رِجَالٌ ri-jaa-lun (plural for رَجُلٌ ra-ju-lun meaning “several men”) or Assumed/Implicit تَقْدِيرًا taq-dee-ranbased on pattern/scale of فُلْكٌ full-kun meaning “boats”.

 

Mentioned Plurals are of two kinds: Broken plural جَمْعُ الْتَّكْسِيْرِ jam-ut taksee-ri also called اَلْجَمْعُ الْمُكَسَّرُ jam-ulmu-kas-sari and Sound plurals جَمْعُ التَّصْحِيْحِ jam-uttas-hee-hi also called السَّالِمِ جَمْعُ jam-us saa-limi.

Broken Plural جَمْعُ الْتَّكْسِيرِ jam-ut-taksee-ri

 

This is where the form of the singular is broken and does not remain intact. For example, for رَجُلٌ (ra-jul-un) meaning “a man”, the plural is رِجَالٌ (ri-jaal-un) meaning “several men” and for مَسْجِدٌ(masji-dun). the plural is مَسَاجِدٌ (ma-saa-ji-dun). The patterns أَوْزَانٌ au-zaan for a broken plural for three-alphabet root word ثُلَاثِيْ(thu-laa-thi) come from what is heard from an Arabic speaker and there is no room for guessing in it. The concept of root word will be defined later in chapter 8 on Verb.

In a four-alphabet root word رُبَاعِيْ (rubaa-yee) and five-alphabet root word (khu-maa-si) خُمَاسِيْ, the broken plural comes from the pattern of فَعَالِلُ(fu-aa-li-lu) as in جَعْفَرٌ (Jaa-fa-run) to جَعَافِرُ (ja’a-fi-ru). and جَحْمَرِشُ (jah-ma-ri-shu) to جَحَامِرُ (ja-haa-mi-ru) by removing the fifth alphabet from it. When جَحْمَرِشُ (jah-ma-ri-shu) was made a plural, alphabet (ش) was deleted that was the fifth alphabet in the single Noun and adding (ا) as in فُعَالِلُ (fu-a’a-li-lu).

 

Sound Plural جَمْعُ التَّصْحِيْحِ (Jam-ut-tas-hee-hi) /or Unbroken Plural جَمْعُ السَّالِمِ (jam-us-saalimi)

 

This one is where the form of the singularمُفْرَدٌ (muf-ra-dun) remains untouched and these are of two kinds:

 

1.Sound Masculine Plural جَمْعُ الْمُذَكَّرِالسَّالمِ (jam-ul muzak-karis-saa-li-mi)

2.Sound Feminine Plural جَمْعُ الْمُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِمِ (jam-ul mun-nath-il-saa-limi).

 

Sound Masculine Plural جَمْعُ الْمُذَكَّرِ السَّالِمِ

(jam-ul muzak-karis-saa-limi)

 

This is where an alphabet (و) with dammah (ُ) or alphabet (ي) with kasrah (ِ) are added at the end, ahead of alphabet noon (ن) with fathah (َ). For example, from مُسْلِمٌ (mus-li-mun) we getمُسْلِمُوْنَ (mus-li-moo-na) and مُسْلِمِيْنَ. (mus-li-meena) Both meaning “Muslims”, the first one in the Nominative رَفْعٌ (raf-un) and the second one in both the Accusative نَصْبٌ (nas-bun) and Genitive جَرٌّ (jarr-un).

 

Sound Feminine Plural جَمْعُ الْمُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِمِ

(jam-ul mun-nath-il-saa-li-mi)

This is where an alphabet (ا) and alphabet (ت) are added at the end as inمُسْلِمَاتٌ  (mu-li-maa-tun).  The singular here was مُسْلِمَةٌ (mus-li-ma-tun) and the alphabet (ة) was deleted and alphabets (ا) and (ت) were added.

Broken Plural اَلْجَمْعُ الْمُكَسَّرُ (al-jam-'ul mu-kas-sa-ru) is further divided into two types:

 

1. Lesser Plural جَمْعُ الْقِلَّةِ (jam-'ul-qil-lati) for less than 10 and

2. Large Plural جَمْعُ الْكَثْرَةِ (jam-'ul-kas-ra-ti) for 10 or more.

 

Lesser Plural جَمْعُ الْقِلَّةِ (jam-'ul-qil-lati) for Broken Plural الْتَّكْسِيرِ جَمْعُ (jam-'ut-tak-see-ri): This is the one where less than ten in number is implied and for this, there are four patterns/scales أَوْزَانٌ (au-zaa-nun):

 

1) أَفْعُلٌ (af-u-lun) as in أَكْلُبٌ (ak-lub-un) meaning “dogs”, plural for كَلْبٌ(kalb-un)

2) أَفْعَالٌ (af-aal-un) as in أَقْوَالٌ (aq-waal-un) meaning “sayings”, plural for قَوْلٌ (qawl-un)

3) أَفْعِلَةٌ (af-ee-la-tun) as in أَعْوِنَةٌ (a’-wi-na-tun) meaning “co-operative”, plural for عَوْنٌ ('awn-un)

4) فِعْلةٌ (fei-la-tun) as in غِلْمَةٌ (ghil-ma-tun) meaning “servants”, plural for غُلَامٌ(ghu-lam-un)

And Sound Plurals without alphabets (ا) and (ل) are included in Small Plurals, as in:

 

5) مُسْلِمُوْنَ (mus-li-moona) meaning “muslims”

6) مُسْلِمَاتٌ (mus-li-maa-tun) meaning “muslim women”

 

Large Plural جَمْعُ الْكَثْرَةِ (jam-ul-kath-ra-ti): This plural implies 10 or more and its patterns/scales أَوْزَانٌ (au-zaan-un) are all others, other than the six that have been mentioned above. It is widely used in the Arabic language and has many scales. Some of the commonly used scales are given in the table below:

 

Table 8 - Large Plural Scales وْزَانُ الْجمْعُ الْكَثْرَةُاَلْأَ al-au-zaan-ul jam-'ul kath-ra-tu

 

Note that these scales can be مُعَرَّبٌ mu-ra-bunflexible (diptote مُنصَرِفٌ mun-sa-ri-fun  and غَيْرُ مُنصَرِفٍ ghai-ru mun-sa-ri-fin triptote) or مَبْنِيْ non-flexible.

 

Examples						Scale
Plural	Single	Plural	Single	Plural	Single
رِجَالٌ  (ri-jaal-un) men	رَجُلٌ  (ra-jul-un) A man	عِبَادٌ  (ibaad-un) slaves	عَبَدٌ  (abd-un) slave	جِبَالٌ  (ji-baal-un) mountains	جَبَلٌ  (Ja-bal-un) mountain	فِعَالٌ  (Fe-aal-un)
بُيُوْتٌ  (bu-yoot-un) houses	بَيْتٌ (Bayt-un) house	نُجُوْمٌ  (nu-joom-un) stars	نَجْمٌ  (najm-un) star	قُلُوْبٌ  (quloob-un) hearts	قَلْبٌ  (qalb-un) heart	فُعُوْلٌ   Fa-oo-lun
سُرُرٌ  (surur-un) pleasures	سُرُوْرٌ  (su-roor-un) pleasure	رُسُلٌ  (ru-su-lun) messengers	رَسُوْلٌ  (ra-sool-un) messenger	كُتُوْبٌ  (Ku-toob-un)	كِتَابٌ  (kitaab-un) A book	فُعُلٌ   Fa-u-lun
خُدَّامٌ  (khud-daam-un) servants	خَادِمٌ  (khaa-dim-un) A servant	حُكَّامٌ  (huk-kaam-un) governors	حَاكِمٌ  (haa-kim-un) governor	كُفَّارٌ  (kuf-far-un) Non-believers	كَافِرٌ  (kaa-fir-un) A non-believer	فُٰعَّالٌ   Fu-aa-lun
كَتَبَةٌ  (kata-ba-tun) writings	كَتَبٌ  (ka-ta-bun) writings	بَرَرَةٌ  (bara-ra-tun) Pious (plural)	بَرَرٌ  (bara-run) pious	طَلَبَةٌ  (tala-ba-tun) students	طَالِبُ  (taa-lib-un) A student	فَعَلَةٌ   Fa-a-la-tun
سُفْهَاءُ  (Suf-haa-u) Foolish (plural-un)	سَفَهٌ  (saf-fa-hun) foolish	شُرْكَاءُ  (shur-kaau) partners	شَرِيْكٌ  (sha-reek-un) partner	غُرْبَاءُ  (ghur-baa-u) strangers	غَريْبٌ  (gha-ree-bun) stranger	فُعْلَاءُ   Fu-laa-u
اَصْدِقَاءُ  (as-di-qaa-u) Truthful (plural)	صَادِقٌ  (saa-di-qun) truthful	اَولِيَاءٌ  (au-li-ya-u) friends	وَلِيٌ  (wali-un) A friend	اَنْبِيَاءُ  (am-biya-u) prophets	نَبِيٌ  (nabee-un) A prophet	اَفْعِلَاءُ   Af-alaa-u
فَوَاحِشٌ  (fa-waa-hi-shun) Vulgar (plural)	فُحْشٌ  (fah-shun vulgar	عَوَامِلٌ  (awaa-mil-un) Affective factors	عَامِلٌ  (aa-mi-lun) worker	قَوَاعِدٌ  (qawai-dun) methods	قَاعِدةٌ  (qaa-i-dun) method	فَوَاعِلُ   Fa-waa-i-lu
خَبِائِثُ  (kha-baa-yi-thu) Malignant (plural)	خَبِيْثٌ  (kha-bee-thun) malignant	كَبَائِرُ  (kabaai-run) Large (plural)	كَبِيْرٌ  (ka-bee-run) large	صَغَائِرُ (sa-ghaai-ru) Small (plural)	صَغيْرٌ  (saghee-run) small	فَعَائِلُ   Fa-aa-ilu
مَنَاظِرُ  (manaa-ziru) scenes	مَنظَرٌ  (man-zar-un) scene	مَنَازِلُ  (mana-zi-lun) Houses/stages	مَنْزِلٌ Man-zilun) house	مَسَاجِدُ  (masaa-ji-du) mosques	مَسْجِدٌ  (mas-jid-un) mosque	مَفَاعِلُ   Ma-faa-i-lu
قَتْلٰى  (qut-laa) Killed (plural)	مَقْتُوْلٌ  (maq-tool) Killed (single)	مَوْتٰى  (mau-taa) Dead (plural)	مَيِّتٌ  (mayyi-tun) Dead (single)	مَرْضٰى  (mar-daa) patients	مَرِيْضٌ  (maree-dun) Patient/sick	فُعْلٰى   Fu-laa

 

 

 

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