Plural Agreement between the Subject and Predicate

1. What Will We Learn in This Level?

● In this section, we will learn agreement in the final and most important number category: the plural.
● We will study the rules for using plural predicates with masculine plural and feminine plural subjects.
● We will learn the rule of using the masculine form for a mixed-gender plural containing men and women.
● We will work through all the plural examples in the exercise in detail and apply them in practice.

2. Basic Rules of Plural Agreement

● The rule of number agreement in an Arabic nominal sentence also applies to the plural:
○ When the subject is plural, the predicate must also be plural.
● It has three basic forms:
1. Masculine plural subject: The predicate is also masculine plural, as in:
■ Zayd, Ḥāmid, and Maḥmūd are righteous. -> زَيْدٌ وَحَامِدٌ وَمَحْمُودٌ صَالِحُونَ (sound masculine plural)
2. Feminine plural subject: The predicate is also feminine plural, as in:
■ Maryam, Zaynab, and Fāṭimah are righteous. -> مَرْيَمُ وَزَيْنَبُ وَفَاطِمَةُ صَالِحَاتٌ (sound feminine plural)

3. The Rule for a Mixed-Gender Plural Subject

● Important grammar rule:
○ As with the dual, if a plural subject contains masculine and feminine nouns together, the masculine form is always used. The predicate takes the masculine plural form.
● Example:
○ Maryam, Zaynab, and Ḥāmid are righteous.
■ Although the subject contains two feminine nouns and only one masculine noun, the presence of Ḥāmid makes the predicate sound masculine plural: مَرْيَمُ وَزَيْنَبُ وَحَامِدٌ صَالِحُونَ.

4. Practical Practice with Plural Sentences (Part One)

● Learn the Arabic equivalents of the following plural sentences:

English sentence
Arabic sentence / explanation

Kāshif, Asad, and ʿUmar are engineers.
كاشِفٌ وَأَسَدٌ وَعُمَرُ مُهَنْدِسُونَ — عُمَرُ is a diptote, so it has a single ḍammah, while the predicate مُهَنْدِسُونَ is sound masculine plural.

Zayd, Ḥāmid, and Maḥmūd are righteous.
زَيْدٌ وَحَامِدٌ وَمَحْمُودٌ صَالِحُونَ.

Sājid, ʿĀbid, and Khālid are students.
ساجِدٌ وَعَابِدٌ وَخَالِدٌ طُلَّابٌ — Here, the predicate طُلَّابٌ is the broken plural of طَالِبٌ.

5. Practical Practice with Plural Sentences (Part Two)

● Learn the Arabic equivalents of the following feminine plural sentences:

English sentence
Arabic sentence / explanation

Sājidah, ʿĀbidah, and Khālidah are female students.
سَاجِدَةُ وَعَابِدَةُ وَخَالِدَةُ طَالِبَاتٌ — طَالِبَاتٌ is a sound feminine plural predicate.

Maryam, Zaynab, and Suʿdā are doctors.
مَرْيَمُ وَزَيْنَبُ وَسُعْدَى طَبِيبَاتٌ — The predicate طَبِيبَاتٌ is feminine plural.

Fāṭimah, ʿĀʾishah, and Ruqayyah are righteous.
فَاطِمَةُ وَعَائِشَةُ وَرُقَيَّةُ صَالِحَاتٌ.