Plurals of Words Borrowed from Arabic

Words borrowed from Arabic follow special rules when they are made plural.

The Arabic feminine nouns in Dari have the Arabic feminine plural ending آت:

"students (female)" محصلات

"teachers (female)" معلمات

but this form is used rather rarely.

Some Arabic masculine nouns in Dari have the Arabic masculine plural ending ین:

"students (male)" محصلین

"teachers (male)" معلمین

If it is written or said محصلان, it means "students (both male and female)."

The Arabic plural آت is also used with some Dari (non-Arabic) masculine and feminine nouns, especially ones ending in ه preceded by a. In such cases, ه is changed into ج:

"fruits" میوجات - "fruit" میوه

"plants" کارخانجات - "plant" کارخانه

Some Arabic words have a special "dual" form of the plural, which specifically denotes two of something. This dual plural, which can often be translated as "a couple of" or "a pair of," is formed with the suffix ین that is pronounced ain:

"both sides" طرفین

"both flanks" جناحین

"spouse, married couple" زوجین

Some commonly-used Dari words borrowed from Arabic have so-called Arabic "broken plurals," where instead of using an ending, the word itself is changed, similar to mouse/mice in English:

Alternatively, some words borrowed from Arabic use the ending ون to form the plural:

"revolutionists", انقلابیون

"reactionaries" ارتجاعیون

The plural endings ها آن ین آت و ن carry the stress.

See Also:

• Gender of Nouns
• Class of Nouns
• Number of Nouns
• Plural Nouns
• Spelling Rules for Plural Nouns
• Definite and Indefinite Nouns
• Special Spelling Rules for the Indefinite Suffix
• Special Functions of the Indefinite Suffix
• Proper Nouns
• Verbal Nouns
• Word Stress
• Foreign Words Adopted in Dari
• Arabic Elements