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Chapter 13
Number
Dual and plural
13.1 Arabic nouns and adjectives are inflected for three numbers:13.2 DualThe dual is used for pairs, namely for two individuals or things of thesame kind or class, e.g. two boys, two girls, two hands, two books, etc.The dual is formed by replacing the case endings of the singular formwith the following suffixes:ـا ِن.َ .. /...a ̄ni/ for nominative
.. َ.ـ ْيـ ِن /...ayni/ for accusative and genitive
13.3 The final ta ̄
marbu ̄t
̇ah ـ ٌة.َ .., ٌة .َ .. in a singular noun becomes a
regular ...ـتـ.../...t.../ before dual endings, e.g.
singular ُم ْف َر ٌد mufradun dual ُم َثـ ّنًـى mut
̄annan plural َج ْم ٌع g ̆am
unSingular (nom.) Dual (nom.) Dual (acc. and gen.)َر ُج ٌل َر ُج َلا ِن َر ُجَلـ ْي ِن
rag ̆ulun, a man rag ̆ula ̄ni, two men rag ̆ulayni, two menِب ْن ٌت ِب ْن َتا ِن ِب ْن َت ْي ِن
bintun, a girl binta ̄ni, two girls bintayni, two girlsSingular Dual (nom.) Dual (acc. and gen.)َمِلـ َكـ ٌة َمِلـ َكـ َتا ِن َمِلـ َكـ َتـ ْي ِن
malikatun, a queen malikata ̄ni malikatayni