I'rabCategory — the special casescore term2,297+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Jam mudhakkar salim · Sound masculine plural · Regular masculine plural
In one line
The sound masculine plural (جَمْع الْمُذَكَّر السَّالِم) is raised with a wāw and takes a yā' in both nasab and jarr.
Definition and i'rab
هُوَ مَا دَلَّ عَلَى أَكْثَرَ مِنِ اثْنَيْنِ بِزِيَادَةِ وَاوٍ وَنُونٍ أَوْ يَاءٍ وَنُونٍ فِي آخِرِهِ. وَإِعْرَابُهُ: يُرْفَعُ بِالْوَاوِ، وَيُنْصَبُ وَيُجَرُّ بِالْيَاءِ.
“It is what indicates more than two by adding a waw and nun, or a ya' and nun, at its end. Its i'rab: raised with the waw, and put into nasab and jarr with the ya'.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
أَكْثَرَ مِنِ اثْنَيْنِmore than two
يُرْفَعُ بِالْوَاوِraised by the wāw
يُنْصَبُ وَيُجَرُّ بِالْيَاءِput into nasab and jarr by the yā'
Understand it
Add ـُونَ or ـِينَ to a singular and it means more than two, with the original word left whole — which is what سَالِم, sound, means here.
The sound masculine plural — how it shows its i'rab
| State | Sign | Example | |
|---|
| rafa | ـُونَ | الْمُؤْمِنُونَ | al-mu'minūna |
| nasab | ـِينَ | الْمُؤْمِنِينَ | al-mu'minīna |
| jarr | ـِينَ | الْمُؤْمِنِينَ | al-mu'minīna |
A wāw for rafa, a yā' for the other two — letters, not vowels.
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 wāw and the yā' are the signs of i'rab, not letters of the word. So الْمُؤْمِنُونَ is marfū' *by a wāw*, exactly as an ordinary ism would be marfū' by a ḍamma.
As with the dual, the final ن falls away in an iḍāfa: مُسْلِمِي مِصْرَ, not مُسْلِمِينَ مِصْرَ.
The tens behave the same way — عِشْرُونَ / عِشْرِينَ, and so on up to تِسْعُونَ.
How to spot it
Recognition test
An ending in ـُونَ or ـِينَ on a word that names people. Wāw is rafa; yā' is nasab or jarr.
Don't confuse it with the dual
Do not confuse ـِينَ with the dual's ـَيْنِ.
Both carry a yā', and students read them alike. The vowels tell them apart.
مُسْلِمَيْنِ — fatḥa before the yā', kasra on the nūn. Two.
مُسْلِمِينَ — kasra before the yā', fatḥa on the nūn. Many.
Both are nasab-or-jarr; the difference is number, not state.
Related terms
Next in the guideجَمْعُ الْمُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِمِHow does the sound feminine plural show its i'rab? →
Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.