I'rabCategory — the special casescore term1,052+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Jam muannath salim · Sound feminine plural · Regular feminine plural
In one line
The sound feminine plural (جَمْع الْمُؤَنَّث السَّالِم) is raised with a ḍamma — but takes a kasra in nasab as well as in jarr.
Definition and i'rab
هُوَ مَا دَلَّ عَلَى أَكْثَرَ مِنِ اثْنَتَيْنِ بِزِيَادَةِ أَلِفٍ وَتَاءٍ فِي آخِرِهِ. وَإِعْرَابُهُ: يُرْفَعُ بِالضَّمَّةِ، وَيُنْصَبُ وَيُجَرُّ بِالْكَسْرَةِ.
“It is what indicates more than two feminine by adding an alif and ta' at its end. Its i'rab: raised with the damma, and put into nasab and jarr with the kasra.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
أَكْثَرَ مِنِ اثْنَتَيْنِmore than two feminine
بِزِيَادَةِ أَلِفٍ وَتَاءٍby adding an alif and a tā'
يُنْصَبُ وَيُجَرُّ بِالْكَسْرَةِput into nasab AND jarr by the kasra
Understand it
Drop the ة and add ـَات: مُسْلِمَةٌ becomes مُسْلِمَاتٌ.
The sound feminine plural — how it shows its i'rab
| State | Sign | Example | |
|---|
| rafa | ḍamma | مُسْلِمَاتٌ | muslimātun |
| nasab | kasra | مُسْلِمَاتٍ | muslimātin |
| jarr | kasra | مُسْلِمَاتٍ | muslimātin |
The nasab is the surprise: a kasra where every other ism takes a fatḥa.
The special cases
Seven categories that express i'rab their own way — by letters instead of vowels, or by not showing it at all.
The nasab is the surprise. Every other ism you have met takes a fatḥa in nasab; this one takes a kasra. رَأَيْتُ الْمُسْلِمَاتِ, I saw the Muslim women — a direct object, in nasab, wearing a kasra.
It is the mirror of the partly declining ism, which borrows a fatḥa for its jarr. Here a kasra is borrowed for the nasab.
How to spot it
Recognition test
An ending in ـَات. Ḍamma means rafa; kasra means nasab or jarr — never assume the kasra is jarr.
The kasra is not proof of jarr
A kasra on a ـَات word is not proof of jarr.
رَأَيْتُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ — the object of a verb, so it is manṣūb, and yet it ends in a kasra.
This is the clearest single proof that the ending is not the i'rab. Category first, always: once you know the word is a sound feminine plural, the kasra tells you it is nasab *or* jarr, and only the role decides which.
Related terms
Next in the guideاَلْأَسْمَاءُ الْخَمْسَةُWhat are the five nouns (al-asmā' al-khamsa)? →
Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.