Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
مُلْحَق بِـ
mulhaq bi-
Annexed to (dual/sound plural)
Nahw · syntaxSyntactic roleadvanced term217+ in the Qur'an
In one line
“Annexed to” the dual or sound plural — words like كِلَا and عِشْرُونَ that borrow their letter-endings.
Classical definition
المُلْحَقُ بِالمُثَنَّى أَوِ الجَمْعِ مَا أُعْرِبَ إِعْرَابَهُ وَلَيْسَ مِنْهُ حَقِيقَةً، كَكِلَا وَأُولِي وَعِشْرِينَ.
“What is annexed to the dual or the sound plural is whatever declines like them without truly being one of them — like kila, ulu and 'ishrun.”
(بتصرف من الألفية)
Key words in the Arabic
أُعْرِبَ إِعْرَابَهُdeclines with its declension
لَيْسَ مِنْهُ حَقِيقَةًis not truly one of them
Understand it
عِشْرُونَ (“twenty”) is no plural of anything, yet it declines like مُسْلِمُونَ: waw in raf', ya' in nasb and jarr. The grammarians file such words as “annexed” — passengers on the dual and sound-plural endings. Meet أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ or ثَلَاثِينَ لَيْلَةً in the mushaf and read their letter-endings exactly as you would the real thing.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Number words in -ūn/-īn, كِلَا/كِلْتَا, أُولُو — letter-endings without a true dual/plural behind them.
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