Arabic Feminine Plural Nouns

 

Masculine agent nouns with an augmentative -a(t) are pluralized by the feminine plural ending:

 

 

Some masculine nouns that refer to objects and have too many letters (five or more) or assume complex structures are pluralized via the feminine plural instead of the irregular plural.

 

Examples,

 

The feminine plural ending can sometimes be added to collective nouns (irregular plural nouns) as an augmentative suffix.

 

Examples,

 

 

When -aatun / -aatin is added to “men” the meaning becomes “prominent men:” and when it is added to “families” the meaning becomes “prominent families.”

The irregular plurals can also take the dual and masculine plural endings as augmentative suffixes, but all these are rare cases.

 

۩Summary

The feminine plural ending is added to:

• Feminine nouns (and adjectives) with feminine markers (-a(t), -aa'<, & -aa).

• Feminine adjectives without feminine markers (q.v.)

• Nouns used as female names regardless of their gender.

• Nouns with non-feminine (augmentative) suffixes -a(t), -aa'<, or -aa.

• Arbitrarily, some masculine derived nouns (mostly verbal nouns).

• Some nouns referring to objects and which have too many letters or are too complex to fit into an irregular plural structure.

• Few irregular plural nouns as an augmentative suffix.

 

Irregular nouns

For description of irregular noun types, you may click here

 

I. Shortened Nouns

Shortened nouns are nouns that end with a long A vowel (-aa  ـا / ـى ).

 

۩ Shortened Nouns With Three Letters

The weak ‘alif of the ending will be changed back to its origin (either w or y) when attaching the feminine plural ending. This form of ‘alif :  ـاwill be changed back to w, and this one: ـى  will be changed back to y. The short A vowel preceding the weak ‘alif will remain intact.

–aa→  -aW–fem. plu. ending

–aa→  –aY–fem. plu. ending

 

 

۩ Shortened Nouns With More Than Three Letters

The weak ‘alif  will be always changed to y when attaching the feminine plural ending, regardless of its origin.

–aa→  –aY–fem. plu. ending

 

 

A final weak ‘alif of any Arabic word with more than three letters takes this figure ـى  regardless of its true origin. This suits well the rules of declension. However, there is one exception, which is when the letter preceding the final weak ‘alif in such words is y ; in that case, the ‘alif takes the figure ـاeven though the rules still stand.

Examples:

 

II. Extended Nouns

Extended nouns are nouns that end with a long A vowel followed by a terminal glottal stop or hamza(t) (-aa'<  ـَاْء ).

۩ Extended Nouns With Four Letters or Fewer

In extended nouns with four letters or fewer, the final hamza(t) ء is always an original letter. When attaching the dual ending, the ء will be changed back to its origin (w or y) if the ء itself is not the origin.

-aa‘<→  –aa‘–fem. plu. ending

-aa‘<→  –aaW–fem. plu. ending

-aa‘<→  –aaY–fem. plu. ending

 

Unlike the shortened ‘alif whose figure denotes its origin, the origin of the hamza(t) of anextended ‘alif cannot be told from its written figure.

It is possible, though not ideal, to keep the hamza(t) of theextended ‘alif always without change when attaching the feminine plural ending. This is typical of Modern Standard Arabic.

Examples:

 

۩ Extended Nouns With More Than Four Letters

In extended nouns with more than four letters,there is a chance that thehamza(t) ء of the extended ‘alifis an additional letter (i.e. the extended ‘alif is a suffix).

 

If the hamza(t) is an original letter, it will be changed back to its origin (w ,  y, or kept ‘ ) when adding the feminine plural suffix.

-aa‘<→  –aa‘–fem. plu. ending

-aa‘<→  –aaW–fem. plu. ending

-aa‘<→  –aaY–fem. plu. ending

 

However, it is possible to always keep the hamza(t) unchanged when attaching the feminine plural ending. This is typical of Modern Standard Arabic.