The complete list of Arabic broken plural patterns

Before discussing irregular plural patterns, let's restudy the following subject:

• Sound plural: sound masculine and sound feminine plural
• Sound plural in nominative, accusative, and genitive case
• Dual noun in nominative, accusative, and genitive case

As we've already known that Arabic nouns (and adjectives) are inflected for three types of number, they are:

1. singular (مفرد)
2. dual (مثنّى)
3. plural (جمع)

In this lesson, we are going to restudy dual and plural. Let's start from dual noun.

Dual noun in Arabic

We use dual for pairs or for two persons or things of the same kind.

The dual noun has particular pattern. We form the dual by replacing the case ending of the singular form with the following suffixes, -aani (انِ) and -ayni (يْنِ).

Examples:

Singular  رَجُلٌ (a man).

Dual: رَجُلاَنِ (two men).

The dual form انِ is for nominative case (مرفوع).

The form of dual for accusative (منصوب) and genitive (مجرور) is رَجُلَيْنِ (rajulayni).

Sound plural (regular plural) in Arabic

There are two plural types in Arabic, they are:
 

• The sound plural (الجمع السّالم), or we can say it a regular plural.
• The broken plural (الجمع التّكسير), or we can say it irregular plural.

In this section, we are discussing about the sound plural.

- We form the sound masculine plural (جمع المذكّر التّكسير) by replacing the case ending of the singular with these suffixes: -uuna (ونَ) and -iina (يْنَ).

Example:

Singular: مُدَرِّسٌ (a teacher).

Plural: مُدَرِّسُوْنَ (teachers).

مُدَرِّسُوْنَ is in nominative case, whereas accusative and genitive case is مُدَرِّسِيْنَ (mudarrisiina).

- We form the sound feminine plural (جمع المؤنّث السّالم) by adding the following suffixes : -aatun (اتٌ), -aatin (اتٍ).

Example:

Singular: مُدَرِّسَةٌ (a teacher).

Plural in nominative case: مُدَرِّسَاتٌ (mudarrisaatun).

Plural in accusative and genitive: مُدَرِّسَاتٍ (mudarrisaatin).

 
Now, let's discuss the broken plural.

Arabic plural system

Arabic plural system is talking about the plural patterns both regular plural (الجمع السّالم) and irregular plural (الجمع التّكسير).

Regular plural is also called sound plural, whereas irregular plural is also called broken plural.

We've studied regular plural in the former lesson. Now, the focus is on broken plural.

Broken plurals are formed from the singular by some changes based on the patterns below.

The broken plural occurs more frequently than the sound plural and there are hardly any rules about how to form the broken plural from the singular. We know the form by reading the Arabic dictionary or hearing the native Arabic people (simaa'iy).

Arabic broken plural patterns

I'll show you the singular form first, then the broken plural pattern with the example.

Note: some singular may have more than one form of the broken plural, some may have both sound and broken plural. In this lesson, I only show you one form.

Below are the most common patterns of the broken plural

Pattern 1

a. Singular form: فَعَلٌ
b. Plural form: أَفْعَالٌ

Example:

Singular: قَلَمٌ (a pen)
Plural: أَقْلاَمٌ


Pattern 2

a. Singular form: فَعَلٌ
b. Plural form: فِعَالٌ

Example:

Singular: جَبَلٌ
Plural: جِبَالٌ


Pattern 3

a. Singular form: فَعْلٌ
b. Plural form: فُعُولٌ

Example:

Singular: فَصْلٌ
Plural: فُصُولٌ



Pattern 4

a. Singular form: فَعِلٌّ
b. Plural form: أَفْعِلَاءُ

Example:

Singular: قَوِيٌّ
Plural: أَقْوِيَاءُ



Pattern 5

a. Singular form: فَعِلٌّ
b. Plural form: فِعْلَانٌ

Example:

Singular: صَبِيٌّ
Plural: صِبْيَانٌ



Pattern 6

a. Singular form: فُعْلَةٌ
b. Plural form: فُعَلٌ

Example:

Singular: صُوْرَةٌ
Plural: صُوَرٌ



Pattern 7

a. Singular form: فَعِلَةٌ
b. Plural form: فَعِلاَةٌ

Example:

Singular: كَلِمَةٌ
Plural: كَلِمَاتٌ



Pattern 8

a. Singular form: فَاعِلٌ
b. Plural form: فُعَّالٌ

Example:

Singular: كَاتِبٌ
Plural: كُتَّابٌ



Pattern 9

a. Singular form: فَاعِلٌ
b. Plural form: فَوَاعِلُ

Example:

Singular: شَارِعٌ
Plural: شَوَارِعُ



Pattern 10

a. Singular form: فَاعِلٌ
b. Plural form: فُعَلاَءُ

Example:

Singular: عَالِمٌ
Plural: عُلَمَاءُ



Pattern 11

a. Singular form: فَاعِلَةٌ
b. Plural form: فَوَاعِلُ

Example:

Singular: قَاعِدَةٌ
Plural: قَوَاعِدُ



Pattern 12

a. Singular form: مَفْعَلٌ
b. Plural form: مَفَاعِلُ

Example:

Singular: مَرْكَزٌ
Plural: مَرَاكِزُ



Pattern 13

a. Singular form: مَفْعَلَةٌ
b. Plural form: مَفَاعِلُ

Example:

Singular: مَدْرَسَةٌ
Plural: مَدَارِسُ



Pattern 14

a. Singular form: فَعِيْلٌ
b. Plural form: فُعَلاَءُ

Example:

Singular: أَميرٌ
Plural: أُمَرَاءُ



Pattern 15

a. Singular form: فَعِيْلٌ
b. Plural form: أفعلاء

Example:

Singular: طَبِيْبٌ
Plural: أَطِبَّاءُ



Pattern 16

a. Singular form: فَعِيْلٌ
b. Plural form: فَعْلَى

Example:

Singular: مَرِيْضٌ
Plural: مَرْضَى


Pattern 17

a. Singular form: فَعِيْلَةٌ
b. Plural form: فَعَائِلُ

Example:

Singular: حَقِيْقَةٌ
Plural: حَقَائِقُ


Pattern 18

a. Singular form: فَعِيْلَةٌ
b. Plural form: فَعَالَى

Example:

Singular: قَضِيَّةٌ
Plural: قَضَايَا


Pattern 19

a. Singular form: فَعِيْلَةٌ
b. Plural form: فُعُلٌ

Example:

Singular: طَرِيْقَةٌ
Plural: طُرُقٌ


Pattern 20

a. Singular form: فِعَالٌ
b. Plural form: فُعُلٌ

Example:

Singular: كِتَابٌ
Plural: كُتُبٌ


Pattern 21

a. Singular form: فِعَالٌ
b. Plural form: أَفْعِلَةٌ

Example:

Singular: جِهَازٌ
Plural: أَجْهِزَةٌ


Pattern 22

a. Singular form: فَعَّالٌ
b. Plural form: فَعَّالُوْنَ

Example:

Singular: بَقَّالٌ
Plural: بَقَّالُونَ


Pattern 23

a. Singular form: فَعَّالٌ
b. Plural form: فَعَّالَاتٌ

Example:

Singular: حَمَّامٌ
Plural: حَمَّامَاتٌ


Pattern 24

a. Singular form: فَاعُولٌ
b. Plural form: فَوَاعِيْلُ

Example:

Singular: قَمُوْسٌ
Plural: قَوَامِيسُ


Pattern 25

a. Singular form: مَفْعُولٌ
b. Plural form: مَفَاعِيْلُ

Example:

Singular: مَوْضُوْعٌ
Plural: مَوَاضِيعُ


Pattern 26

a. Singular form: مَفْعَالٌ
b. Plural form: مَفَاعِيْلُ

Example:

Singular: مَيْدَانٌ
Plural: مَيَادِينُ


Pattern 27

a. Singular form: اِفْتِعَالٌ
b. Plural form: اِفْتِعَالَاتٌ

Example:

Singular: اِجْتِمَاعٌ
Plural: اِجْتِمَاعَاتٌ