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Plurals Of Nouns Adopted From Arabic

Nouns adopted from the Arabic language can form their plurals in the following ways:

a) By using the ending -ات [-aat]:

Feminine example: "reform" - [islaáh] اِصْلاح → "reforms" - [islaahaát] اِصْلاحات

Masculine example: "track" - [asár] اَثَر "tracks" - [asaraát] اَثَرات

b) By using the ending -ین [-in] for masculine words:

"student" - [mohasíl] مُحَصِل → "students" - [mohasilín ] مُحَصِلین

c) By using the ending -ون [-un] for masculine words:

"clergyman" - [ruhaaní] رُوحانى "clergymen" - [ruhaaniyún ] رُوحانیون

d) By using the "broken plural" (in other words, forming the plural by changing the stem):

"award" - [ajár] اَجَر → "awards" - [ajúr] اُجُور

"sparrow" - ['usfúr] عُصْفُور "sparrows" ['asaafír] عَصافیر

e) By using the ending -ین [-ayn] for the special "dual" form of the plural to denote two of something:

"father" - [abú] ابُو → "parents" - [abuwáyn ] ابُوَین .

Words adopted from the Arabic language can combine several types of endings. For example, they might combine a Pashtun plural, an Arabic plural, and an Arabic broken plural:

"track" - [asár] اثر → "tracks" - Pashtun plural (- [asarúna ] اثرونه )= Arabic plural ([asaraát ] اثرات )= Arabic broken plural ([aasaár] آثار ).

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