44 Grammar: human plurals
Human plurals
Earlier, when you learned country names, you learned about the “nisba adjective” such as “maSrii” (Egyptian) which is derived from maSr (Egypt). For nisba adjectives, and many other nouns and adjectives that refer to humans, the plural form is often regular, the ending “–iin”. Study the following forms.
Human plurals
kwayyis (m.) kwayyisa (f. kwayyisin (pl)
| maSr | maSriyya (f) | maSriyyiin (p) |
| kwayyis | kwayyisa (f) | kwayyisiin (pl) |
| amrikii | amriikiyya (f) | amrikiyiin (pl) |
| mudarris | mudarrisa (f) | mudarrisiin (pl) |
| mawguud | mawguuda (f) | mawguudiin (pl) |
الجمع
| مصر | مصرية | مصريين |
| كويس | كويسة | كويسين |
| أمريكي | أكريكية | أمريكيين |
| مدرّس | مدرّسة | مدرّسين |
| موجود | موجودة | موجودين |
