The plural: broken shapes
There are two kinds of plural here. The sound one — for words on the taa marbuta: add "-aat" and it is done. nazzaraat — glasses, bahhaarraat — spices, jawaazaat — passports. This road is the easy one, and feminine words take it. For example: “أرى أشجارا كبيرة في الحديقة” — I see big trees in the garden. A rule from the Arabic course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
There are two kinds of plural here. The sound one — for words on the taa marbuta: add "-aat" and it is done. nazzaraat — glasses, bahhaarraat — spices, jawaazaat — passports. This road is the easy one, and feminine words take it.
The broken one is the local specialty: the root is the same, the "shell" is another. kitaab — a book, kutub — books; madiina — a city, mudun — cities. They have to be learned as separate words — the same way English learned "foot — feet".
Agreement is economical: non-living things in the plural behave as a feminine singular — al-kutub jadiida — the books are new, al-asmaak taazija — the fish are fresh. One adjective serves everything non-living; only people are truly counted.
Numbers from three to ten demand exactly the plural: salaasa kutub — three books. You have seen it in the basic numbers — now you see where that shape came from.
Table
| Singular | Reading | Plural | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| كتاب — a book | kitaab | كتب — books | kutub |
| مدينة — a city | madiina | مدن — cities | mudun |
| قلم — a pen | qalam | أقلام — pens | aqlaam |
| شجرة — a tree | shajara | أشجار — trees | ashjar |
| مدرسة — a school | madrasa | مدارس — schools | madaaris |
By example
- أرى أشجارا كبيرة في الحديقةара аджжааран кябира фи аль-хадиикаI see big trees in the garden
- الكتب قديمةаль-кутуб кадиимаThe books are old
- الأسماك طازجة اليومаль-асмаак тазиджа аль-йаумThe fish is fresh today
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Broken plurals in Arabic?
The broken one is the local specialty: the root is the same, the "shell" is another. kitaab — a book, kutub — books; madiina — a city, mudun — cities. They have to be learned as separate words — the same way English learned "foot — feet".
The sound feminine plural aat in Arabic?
There are two kinds of plural here. The sound one — for words on the taa marbuta: add "-aat" and it is done. nazzaraat — glasses, bahhaarraat — spices, jawaazaat — passports. This road is the easy one, and feminine words take it.
Why kutub is the plural of kitaab?
There are two kinds of plural here. The sound one — for words on the taa marbuta: add "-aat" and it is done. nazzaraat — glasses, bahhaarraat — spices, jawaazaat — passports. This road is the easy one, and feminine words take it.
Arabic plurals of non-humans?
There are two kinds of plural here. The sound one — for words on the taa marbuta: add "-aat" and it is done. nazzaraat — glasses, bahhaarraat — spices, jawaazaat — passports. This road is the easy one, and feminine words take it.
What does it look like in a Arabic example sentence?
“أرى أشجارا كبيرة في الحديقة” (ара аджжааран кябира фи аль-хадиика) — I see big trees in the garden. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.