The dual in Arabic | الْمُثَنَّى | Free Arabic Course

Introduction

In English, there are only two grammatical numbers: singular and plural. However, in Arabic, there are three forms — singular, dual, and plural.

المُفْرَدُ – singular

الْمُثَنَّى – dual

الْجَمْعُ – plural

Formation

The dual in Arabic is formed by adding the suffix fatha, alif, and the letter nûn with a kasrah in the nominative case (حَالةُ الرَّفْعِ):

انِ

In the accusative and genitive cases, we add:

يْنِ

Masculine Dual

Examples:

Nominative Case

مُسْلِمٌ – one Muslim

مُسْلِمانِ – two Muslims

Accusative Case

مُسْلِمًا – one Muslim

مُسْلِمَيْنِ – two Muslims

Genitive Case

مُسْلِمٍ – one Muslim

مُسْلِمَيْنِ – two Muslims

Quranic Example

وَأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَامَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ

As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city (18:82)

Feminine Dual

For the feminine, words ending with ta marbouta (ة) become ta maftouha (ت) in the dual form, with the suffixes انِ and يْنِ.

Examples:

Nominative Case

مُسْلِمَةٌ – one Muslim woman

مُسْلِمَتَانِ – two Muslim women

Accusative and Genitive Cases

مُسْلِمَتَيْنِ – two Muslim women

Quranic Examples

جَعَلْنَا لِأَحَدِهِمَا جَنَّتَيْنِ مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ

To one of them, We granted two gardens of grapevines (18:32)

وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ

And for those who fear standing before their Lord, there will be two gardens (55:46)

This free Arabic lesson is now complete. The next lesson, insha’Allah, will be about the plural in Arabic.