Lesson 13: the dual In Arabic there are 3 different word numbers: singular, dual (referring to 2) and plural (referring to 3+). We ve learnt about singular and plural, this lesson is about the dual. The dual in some cases, may have a literal meaning, and a figurative meaning. For example: Literal Meaning Figurative Meaning األب وان the two fathers the parents الق مران the two moons الع مران the two Umars the sun and the moon Abu Bakr and Umar رضي هللا عنهما So alert attention, that when we see a dual, although most often it refers to its literal meaning, sometimes it may actually refer to its figurative meaning. The dual: Nouns There are only 2 ways to form a dual noun, and it will depend on which case the noun is in: مرفوع When it is adding ان to its singular form منصوب or مجرور When it is either adding ي ن to its singular form and place a ي fatha on letter before the Never try to make a dual from a plural noun it won t work! Always make a dual noun from its singular format! There is no tanween for indefinite (as with sound masc plural) just the addition of ال if definite When feminine, the tar maaboota can only appear at the end of a word, not in the middle! Therefore replace with the open ta before adding ي ن / ان as shown in the feminine م ر ة example in the table below with the word If the dual has the 1st person suffix pronoun ي attached to it, the suffix becomes,ي just ىin as we saw with nouns ending كتابان كتاباي ه دى ه داي My two books two books my guidance guidance Notice: the ن of is droppedان when 1 st person pronoun ي is added! this is because adding ي makes this now an idafa! Therefore, as we learnt in lesson 7, a sound masc plural looses the ن (like other words loose their tanween) the same applies for the dual!( see following section dual noun as a mudaaf ) 1
Genitive/Accusative مجرور / منصوب ي ن Nominative مرفوع ان Indefinite ن Remember: no tanween as the final replaces the need for tanween. رج الن Two men رج لين Definite الرج الن The two men الرج لين Indefinite ن Remember: no tanween as the final replaces the need for tanween. مر تان Two occasions مر تي ن Definite المر تان The two occasions المر تي ن The dual noun as a mudaaf In lesson 7 about Idaafa, we learnt that a mudaf can not orالdisplay tanweeen, and also that a.ن sound masculine plural when in the position of mudaaf, looses its final سج ن ي وس ف The prison of Yusuf tanween gets dropped سج ن prison Singular noun مع م س ل مي المدين ة With the Muslims of the city gets ن (ال Dropped (and مع الم س ل مين With the Muslims Sound Masc plural ب ين ي دي ه Between his two hands gets ن Dropped ب ين ي دي ن Between two hands Dual *Note: When the dual is منصوب or,مجرور and followed by hamzatul-wasl, the sukoon on the end of the ي becomes a kasrah, in order to prevent 2 sukoons together in succession. ب ين يدي هللا * Between the hands of Allah *literally means between the hands of but depending on context can also mean before (either in space and time) 2
Pronouns Independent Attached (to verb/noun) (same for both male and female) 3 rd person (male and female) ه ما 2 nd person ك ما أ ن ت ما female) (male and The pronoun ه ما is the same and does not change, whether used as independent pronouns (like أنت ه ي ه م etc) or as suffix pronouns of a noun or verb (like ك ها ه etc). ه م when preceded by a kasrah or a yaa, (like ه ما will become ه ما The suffix pronoun (ه and Demonstratives In lesson 6 we learnt that demonstratives do not change case. However, when in the dual form they actually do! Nominative مرفوع Genitive/Accusative مجرور / منصوب These two ه ذي ن ه ذان ه ت ين ه تان Those two ذي ن ك ذان ك ت ي ن ك تان ك 3
Dual verbs- Perfect tense There are only 3 conjugation patterns in the perfect tense for the dual: 3M Dual 3F Dual 2M/F Dual Derived from 3M singular Derived from 2F singular Derived from 2M plural ت ما تا ا ف عال They (m) two did فعلتا They (f) two did ت ما فعل In lesson 8 we learnt that when a verb precedes its subject, the verb will be in its singular form even if the subject is plural. It is the same with the dual the verb preceding it will be in the singular. Adjectives In lesson 1 we learnt that adjectives must agree with the noun it describes in all 4 things (in/definatness, gender, number and case) therefore, an adjective describing a dual must also be put in the dual form. In the same way as we make singular nouns dual, take the singular adjective and add to ان the end. الب ن ت الجميلة البن تان الجميلتان The two beautiful girls The beautiful girl الل سان األب ي ض اللسانان األب يضان دون The two white tongues the white tongue مج رور It is a preposition, therefore will make following nouns genitive 4
Its basic meaning is on the side of or below however it can take on different meanings depending on context- بدون. without - then quite often it means ب 1. When preceded by 2. It may be preceded by من as in من دون and give the meaning of to the exclusion of or apart from. و من د ونهما جن تان Apart from them (two) are two gardens 5