Arabic Feminine Plural Nouns

Examples:

 

When the-aa'< is a feminine marker, the hamza(t) is always turned into w when attaching the feminine plural ending.

-aa‘<→  –aaW–fem. plu. ending

 

 

In the language of the Koran, which is the source of Standard Arabic, fa“laa'< adjectives are never pluralized regularly but always through the irregular structure fu“l(un).

 

III. Defective Nouns

Defective nouns are nouns that end with a long I vowel (-iy ـِيْ ) whose terminal y belongs to the root.

Defective nouns take the feminine plural ending just as regular nouns.

-iY →  –iY–fem. plu. ending

 

 

Examples:

 

Extra Note: Man & Woman

 

The standard word for “a man” in Arabic is:

 

رَجُلٌ

 

rajul(un)

A man

 

This is an agent noun of the structure fa“ul(un); it literally means “a walker.”

 

Other words for “a man” in Standard Arabic include:

 

اِمْرُؤٌ/ مَرْءٌ

 

‘imru‘(un) / mar’(un)

A man

 

Etymology: mra‘un

 

In modern spoken Arabic, words of the root R J L are used standardly:

 

 

The standard classical word rajul(un) can still be heard today in some rare dialects with varying pronunciations (e.g. “rajil” in Palestinian Arabic).

 

The feminine form of this word, rajula(tun) رَجُلَةٌ = “a woman” was uncommon in Classical Arabic and it is not a standard word.

 

Rather, the standard word for “a woman” in formal Arabic is the feminine of ‘imru‘(un)/mar’(un):

 

اِمْرَأَةٌ/ مَرْأَةٌ

 

‘imra‘a(tun) / mar’a(tun)

A woman

 

Etymology: mra‘atun

 

This word is used in many modern dialects (e.g. Arabia, Northern Levant, Iraq) with variable pronunciations (most commonly, “mara“). Another word that is common in modern Arabia is “hurma” حُرْمَة (plural:  “hareem” حَرِيْم).

 

Dialects that are derived mostly from classical Yemeni Arabic (Egyptian and South Levantine) use a non-Arabic word for “a woman”:

 

سِتّ

 

sitt

 

A woman

 

This is not an Arabic word but a word that is commonly found in South Semitic languages (e.g. Ethiopian languages). It appears that this word was also used in Old South Arabian languages (ancient Yemeni languages spoken before Arabic).

 

Anyway, this word has found its way into modern Egyptian, Palestinian, and Lebanese Arabic. The plural is sittaat سِتَّاْت . This word is used in other modern dialects as a word for a “grandmother.” This is found in dialects that started out as Yemeni-based dialects but deviated later (North Levantine).

 

The plural of rajul(un) is:

رِجَاْلٌ

 

rijaal(un)

Men

Note that rajul(un) cannot be regularly pluralized (cannot take –oona).

 

However, the words ‘imru‘(un),mar’(un), ‘imra‘a(tun), and mar’a(tun) cannot be pluralized at all.

 

This leaves the word for “a woman” without a plural. The plural word for “a woman” in Standard Arabic is:

 

نِسَاْءٌ

 

nisaa’(un)

Women

Another less common variant:

نِسْوَةٌ

 

niswa(tun)

Women

 

Both words do not have singulars (plurale tantum). These words are related to the following words:

 

 

The roots ‘ N S and N S are apparently cognates and they mean “man, human.”

 

Etymologies

nsun  → ‘insun (man/human)

nsaatun → nisaa’un (women)

 

The root N S / N SH is common in Semitic languages (e.g. Akkadian nishoo (people), Aramaic ‘anaash / ‘eesh (man), Hebrew ‘anōsh / ‘eesh (man)).

 

In modern spoken Arabic, the following words are used for “men”:

 

 

Other rare forms include rajaajeel (Eastern to Central Arabia).

 

The words for “women” include:

 

 

Extra Note: Modern Spoken Arabic

In modern spoken Arabic, the feminine plural declension is used similarly to Classical Arabic but without the terminal case/state inflected part:

-aat

However, some Arabian dialects preserve the state inflection; like Najdi Arabic (central Arabian Arabic):

 

Najdi dialect preserves the state inflection in singular nouns too; but it does not preserve any case inflection.

 

The feminine plural ending is overused in Syrian Arabic. It is added to many masculine nouns referring to objects and also to nouns referring to male humans in a way totally inadmissible in Classical Arabic.

 

For example,

 

This is believed to be related to the Syriac substratum.

 

Since that the long A vowel is usually very changeable between the different dialects, the feminine plural ending will sound different from one place to the other. The spectrum of changeability extends between –ēt and-ōt, with these two themselves being very rare in the modern pronunciation.

 

Most commonly today, the long A will be pronounced either like the a in an American “man,” or “can;” or it will be pronounced similar to the a in “father.” The first pronunciation is typical of North Africa, southern Levant (Palestine and Lebanon), and northernmost Levant (northern Syria). These may be called the “E-regions.” The second pronunciation is heard mainly in western and central Syria, in the Persian Gulf region and in some parts of southern Arabia (the “O-region”). A “normal” long A is generally heard elsewhere.

 

Examples from other Semitic languages:

 

 

In later western dialects of Aramaic (later dialects are called Syriac), the long A vowel becomes a long O like in Hebrew.

 

Exercise 1

Can you change the following singular nouns to feminine plural nouns in the subject case?

 

Answers

 

 

Exercise 2

Can you change the following feminine plural nouns to singular nouns?

 

 

Answers