Broken Plurals in Arabic
Patterns, grammatical treatment, and the singular-feminine rule
- Define broken plural (جَمْع التَّكْسِير) and distinguish it from sound masculine and sound feminine plurals
- Recognise common broken plural scales (أَوْزَان) using the Fa-`Ayn-Lam root system
- Apply the singular-feminine grammatical treatment to broken plurals of non-rational nouns
- Identify broken plurals in Quranic descriptive phrases and nominal sentences
Video Lesson
Click to play
Key Vocabulary
| Arabic | Transliteration | Meaning | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| جَمْع التَّكْسِير | jam` at-taksir | broken plural | ISM |
| قَلَمٌ / أَقْلَامٌ | qalam / aqlaam | pen / pens | ISM |
| كِتَابٌ / كُتُبٌ | kitaab / kutub | book / books | ISM |
| بَيْتٌ / بُيُوتٌ | bayt / buyut | house / houses | ISM |
| رَسُولٌ / رُسُلٌ | rasul / rusul | messenger / messengers | ISM |
| عَبْدٌ / عِبَادٌ | `abd / `ibaad | servant / servants | ISM |
| عَالِمٌ / عُلَمَاءُ | `aalim / `ulama' | scholar / scholars | ISM |
| أَخٌ / إِخْوَانٌ | akh / ikhwaan | brother / brothers | ISM |
| غَيْرُ عَاقِل | ghayr `aaqil | non-rational (inanimate or non-human) | ISM |
Introduction
By lesson six, students can identify the four properties of an اسم for roughly 90% of the words they will encounter. The one remaining gap is the broken plural. Sound masculine plurals (ending in ـُونَ / ـِينَ) and sound feminine plurals (ending in ـَاتٌ / ـَاتٍ) are easy to spot from their fixed endings. The broken plural, however, does not follow these patterns — it requires separate recognition.
The term "broken" comes from the fact that the internal shape of the singular word is broken or restructured to form the plural. This is different from the sound plurals, where only a suffix is added. The singular قَلَمٌ (pen) becomes أَقْلَامٌ (pens): the internal vowel pattern changes and a hamzah is added at the beginning. The form of the singular has been broken.
Broken plurals are extremely common in Arabic and in the Quran. This lesson introduces the concept, presents a selection of patterns, and — most importantly — explains the grammatical rule that governs how broken plurals are treated in sentences.
The Concept
### What is a broken plural?
In English, the standard plural adds an "s". Irregular English plurals — man/men, mouse/mice, goose/geese — are the equivalent of Arabic broken plurals: they do not follow the standard pattern. In Arabic, any plural that does not end in ـُونَ / ـِينَ or ـَاتٌ / ـَاتٍ is a broken plural.
A broken plural is any plural whose form does not match the sound masculine plural (ـُونَ / ـِينَ) or the sound feminine plural (ـَاتٌ / ـَاتٍ) endings. There is no rule to predict a broken plural from its singular. It must be looked up in a dictionary or learned from context.
### The root scale system (الميزان الصَّرفِي)
Arabic scholars developed a notation system using three letters to represent the three root letters of any word. The first root letter is represented by ف (Fa), the second by ع (`Ayn), and the third by ل (Lam). Any extra letter in the word (such as a long vowel or a prefix) appears in the scale as itself.
Examples of common broken plural scales:
| Scale (وَزْن) | Singular example | Plural example | |---|---|---| | أَفْعَالٌ | قَلَمٌ (pen) | أَقْلَامٌ (pens) | | فُعُلٌ | كِتَابٌ (book) | كُتُبٌ (books) | | فِعَالٌ | رَجُلٌ (man) | رِجَالٌ (men) | | فُعُولٌ | بَيْتٌ (house) | بُيُوتٌ (houses) | | فُعَلَاءُ | عَالِمٌ (scholar) | عُلَمَاءُ (scholars) |
Scholars have counted at least 47 different broken plural scales. Students do not need to memorise the scales — the goal is recognition, not production.
### Grammatical treatment: the singular-feminine rule
Broken plurals — especially those referring to non-rational nouns (غَيْر عَاقِل), i.e. nouns that do not refer to humans, angels, or jinn — are treated grammatically as if they are singular feminine. This applies to agreement with predicates and adjectives. The English translation is still plural.
This means: when a broken plural of a non-rational noun is the subject of a sentence, the predicate is singular feminine. When it is the مَوْصُوف in a descriptive phrase, the صِفَة is singular feminine.
Example — nominal sentence: اَلْبُيُوتُ كَبِيرَةٌ — "The houses are big." (كَبِيرَةٌ is singular feminine, not plural.)
Example — descriptive phrase: اَلْبُيُوتُ الْكَبِيرَةُ — "The big houses." (الْكَبِيرَةُ is singular feminine.)
The same rule applies to sound feminine plurals of non-rational nouns: اَلسَّيَّارَاتُ الْجَمِيلَةُ — "The beautiful cars." Broken plurals of rational nouns (referring to people) are treated normally as plurals.
### Declension of broken plurals
Broken plurals that take tanween decline exactly like any other اسم in the 85% pattern — three different endings for رَفَع / نَصَب / جَر. For example:
| Singular | Plural | |---|---| | قَلَمٌ / قَلَمًا / قَلَمٍ | أَقْلَامٌ / أَقْلَامًا / أَقْلَامٍ | | رَسُولٌ / رَسُولًا / رَسُولٍ | رُسُلٌ / رُسُلًا / رُسُلٍ |
Note: tanween is not a sign of singular, nor of indefinite exclusively — broken plurals also take tanween.
### Collective nouns
A related structure is the collective noun: a word that refers to a species or group as a mass. Examples: شَجَرٌ (trees in general). Adding تَاء مَرْبُوطَة gives one unit: شَجَرَةٌ (one tree). Similarly بَقَرٌ (cows) → بَقَرَةٌ (one cow). Collective nouns can be treated as singular or as plural depending on context.
Quranic Evidence
Summary
- A broken plural is any plural that does not end in ـُونَ / ـِينَ or ـَاتٌ / ـَاتٍ.
- The internal shape of the singular is restructured — not merely suffixed — to form the plural.
- There is no rule to predict the broken plural from the singular; it must be learned word by word or checked in context.
- Broken plurals that take tanween decline exactly like singular words through رَفَع, نَصَب, and جَر.
- Broken plurals of non-rational nouns are treated grammatically as singular feminine in agreement — but translated as plural in English.
- The same singular-feminine treatment applies to sound feminine plurals of non-rational nouns.