Arabic Essential Grammar #6 - The Dual
Hello hello, back again with something that really stumped me when I first started learning Arabic. The Dual!
In most languages, there is a singular form and a plural form, but in Arabic, they also have a Dual form! Used to refer to pairs of something or two people, it adds an ending to verbs/nouns which, you guessed it, then have their own conjugations!
It sounds really overwhelming, but in practice it isn't too difficult. In colloquial Arabic, the dual is really only used in regards to periods of time ( two hours ) or the parts of the body ( two eyes).
Endings
The nominative dual ending is: انِ
The accusative and genitive ending is: ...يْنِ
This is added to the singular of the word after removal of the case ending. For example:
From right to left: two books (nom.dual), book (nom)
كِتَابَانِ ------- كِتَابٌ
From right to left: two books (acc/gen.dual), book (acc)
كِتَابَيْنِ -------- كِتَابً
Special notes
If the noun ends in a taa marbuuta (), it becomes a regular ta () before the ending is added.
From right to left: Lady ( nominative), two ladies (nom.dual), two ladies (gen/acc.dual
سَيِّدَةٌ -------سَيِّدَتَانِ -------سَيِّدَتَيْنِ
If the noun ends in a hamza (), it changes into a waw () before the ending is added.
From right to left: desert ( nominative), two deserts (nom.dual), two deserts (gen/acc.dual)
صَحْرَاءٌ ------ صَحْرَاوَانِ ------- صَحْرَاوَيْنِ
Adjectives must agree with the nouns, and so they are also in dual.
عَندها عَيْنَانِ كَبِيْرَتَانِ
she had two large eyes.
If you're confused by what I mean by nominative, accusative and genitive, then please check out Arabic Essential Grammar #1!
Thanks for reading! Next week, I'm thinking of explaining either comparative/superlative or focusing on prepositions and their accompanying cases. Let me know what you want me to cover!
