What is the sound masculine plural?
In one line
Classical definition
Understand it
How it is formed. Add ـُونَ to the singular and you have three or more, with the original word left whole — which is exactly what سَالِم, sound, means here. مُسْلِمٌ becomes مُسْلِمُونَ. Nothing inside the word moves. It is used for male rational beings.
How it shows its i'rab. Like the dual, by a letter and not a vowel — waw for rafa, ya' for nasab and jarr:
The sound masculine plural — how it shows its i'rab
| State | Sign | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| rafa | ـُونَ | الْمُؤْمِنُونَ | al-mu'minuna |
| nasab | ـِينَ | الْمُؤْمِنِينَ | al-mu'minina |
| jarr | ـِينَ | الْمُؤْمِنِينَ | al-mu'minina |
A waw for rafa, a ya' 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 waw and the ya' are signs of i'rab, not letters of the word. So الْمُؤْمِنُونَ is marfu' by a waw, exactly as an ordinary ism would be marfu' by a damma. As with the dual, the final ن falls away in an idafa: مُسْلِمِي مِصْرَ, not مُسْلِمِينَ مِصْرَ.
⚠ The tens behave the same way — عِشْرُونَ / عِشْرِينَ up to تِسْعُونَ — but they are مُلْحَق, annexed: there is no singular عِشْر being pluralised.
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
Don't confuse it with the dual
Do not confuse ـِينَ with the dual's ـَيْنِ.
Both carry a ya', and students read them alike. The vowels tell them apart.
مُسْلِمَيْنِ — fatha before the ya', kasra on the nun. Two. مُسْلِمِينَ — kasra before the ya', fatha on the nun. Many.
Both are nasab-or-jarr; the difference is number, not state.
Related terms
Common questions
Why is it called sound?
Because the singular survives intact. Nothing inside the word is broken up or recast; an ending is simply added to it. That is exactly what separates it from the broken plural, where the singular's shape is taken apart.
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