Lebanese has no single suffix meaning “make this adjective plural.” Some frequent adjectives use an internal, or broken, plural such as كبير / كبار “big.” Many participles, relational adjectives, and other stems use ـين -īn, as in مبسوط / مبسوطين “happy.” A smaller set has lexical alternatives, and recent loans may remain unchanged.
Form is only one decision. Human plurals strongly select a plural adjective in the Beirut baseline, while nonhuman plurals may take either a plural form or feminine-singular agreement. Learners therefore need to know both what the plural of an adjective is and whether the phrase calls for that plural form.
A four-cell paradigm
The high-frequency adjective جديد has a feminine singular in ـة and the broken plural جداد. Urban Beirut generally uses the same plural adjective with men, women, and mixed human groups.
| Noun phrase | Adjective form | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| موظف جديد mwaẓẓaf zhdīd | جديد zhdīd | masculine singular |
| موظفة جديدة mwaẓẓafe zhdīde | جديدة zhdīde | feminine singular |
| موظفين جداد mwaẓẓafīn zhdēd | جداد zhdēd | human plural |
| موظفات جداد mwaẓẓafāt zhdēd | جداد zhdēd | human plural |
وصل موظف جديد وموظفة جديدة.
wiṣel mwaẓẓaf zhdīd w-mwaẓẓafe zhdīde.
A new male employee and a new female employee arrived. (informal; singular gender contrast)
الموظفين الجداد ناطرين برا.
el-mwaẓẓafīn el-zhdēd nāṭrīn barra.
The new employees are waiting outside. (informal; human plural)
الموظفات الجداد بلشوا اليوم.
el-mwaẓẓafāt el-zhdēd ballasho l-yōm.
The new female employees started today. (informal Beirut; common plural adjective)
Some speakers and more formal styles also use gender-distinguishing forms such as لبنانيات with an explicitly female group. Do not import a full MSA masculine/feminine plural paradigm indiscriminately into casual Beirut speech; plural choice is lexical and register-sensitive.
Frequent broken adjective plurals
Broken plurals change the stem rather than simply adding an ending. The patterns recur, but no rule predicts every adjective perfectly.
| Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Common plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| كبير kbīr | كبيرة kbīre | كبار kbār | big, old |
| زغير zghīr | زغيرة zghīre | زغار zghār | small, young |
| جديد zhdīd | جديدة zhdīde | جداد zhdēd | new |
| طويل ṭawīl | طويلة ṭawīle | طوال ṭwāl | tall, long |
| قصير ʾaṣīr | قصيرة ʾaṣīre | قصار ʾṣār | short |
| أبيض abyaḍ | بيضا bēḍa | بيض bīḍ | white |
الولاد الزغار قاعدين قدام، والكبار ورا.
el-wlād ez-zghār ʾāʿdīn ʾoddēm, wil-kbār wara.
The little kids are sitting in front, and the older ones are in back. (informal; broken plurals and noun ellipsis)
بدي القمصان البيض، مش السود.
badde l-ʾomṣān el-bīḍ, mish es-sūd.
I want the white shirts, not the black ones. (informal; plural color adjectives with ellipsis)
Because these forms are lexical, a learner cannot safely manufacture كبيرين for every context or predict جداد from spelling alone. Learn the plural alongside each very common adjective.
Productive and common ـين plurals
The suffix ـين -īn is widespread with participle-shaped adjectives, states, relational adjectives, and many newer formations. In casual urban speech it commonly describes human groups without distinguishing the group's gender.
| Singular | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| مبسوط mabsūṭ | مبسوطين mabsūṭīn | happy |
| تعبان taʿbān | تعبانين taʿbānīn | tired |
| جوعان zhūʿān | جوعانين zhūʿānīn | hungry |
| جاهز zhēhez | جاهزين zhēhzīn | ready |
| لبناني libnēne | لبنانيين libnēniyyīn | Lebanese |
نحنا جاهزين، بس هني بعدن تعبانين.
niḥna zhēhzīn, bass hinne baʿdon taʿbānīn.
We're ready, but they're still tired. (informal; -īn plural predicates)
الطلاب اللبنانيين مبسوطين بالنتيجة.
eṭ-ṭollēb el-libnēniyyīn mabsūṭīn bin-natīzhe.
The Lebanese students are happy with the result. (informal; relational and state adjectives)
The ending is not a simple equivalent of English plural -s. It belongs to particular adjective paradigms, and broken plurals remain normal for many basic adjectives.
Human plural agreement is robust
With plural people, an adjective is normally plural whether it is attributive or predicative.
البنات الطوال وقفوا ورا.
el-banēt eṭ-ṭwāl waʾafo wara.
The tall girls stood in back. (informal; human broken-plural adjective)
هولي الشباب جوعانين كتير.
hawle sh-shabēb zhūʿānīn ktīr.
These young men are very hungry. (informal; human -īn predicate)
Feminine-singular agreement with a human plural is not the ordinary Beirut solution. That is a key difference from nonhuman nouns and one reason “plural = feminine singular” is a misleading learner slogan.
Nonhuman plurals: plural or feminine singular
With nonhuman plurals, real Lebanese permits two strategies. Feminine singular often packages the referents as a kind, condition, or grouped set; plural agreement often foregrounds particular items as separate and salient.
الكتب الجديدة غالية.
el-ktob el-zhdīde ghālye.
New books are expensive. (informal; generic grouped reading, feminine singular)
هالكتب الجداد غاليين، بس لازم نشتريهن.
hal-ktob el-zhdēd ghālyīn, bass lāzem nishtirīhon.
These new books are expensive, but we have to buy them. (informal; individuated plural agreement)
السيارات الجديدة صارت غالية.
es-sayyārāt el-zhdīde ṣāret ghālye.
New cars have become expensive. (informal; class-level feminine-singular agreement)
السيارات الجداد واقفين برا.
es-sayyārāt el-zhdēd wāʾfīn barra.
The new cars are parked outside. (informal; visible individuated set)
The choice is not fully predictable. Lexical preference, animacy, salience, and speaker style matter. Formal MSA requires feminine-singular agreement with nonhuman plurals, but conversational Lebanese does not. The dedicated nonhuman plural page covers this variation in depth.
Invariant loans and code-switched adjectives
Common recent loans used predicatively may stay unchanged across gender and number, especially in casual urban speech: كول “cool,” مودرن “modern,” and أونلاين “online.” Their invariance is lexical and register-linked, not a new rule for Arabic adjectives.
المحل مودرن، والديكورات مودرن كمان.
el-maḥall modern, wid-dēkōrāt modern kamēn.
The shop is modern, and the décor is modern too. (informal; invariant loan)
هالشباب كول، والبنت كول كمان.
hash-shabēb kūl, wil-bent kūl kamēn.
These guys are cool, and the girl is cool too. (informal code-switching; invariant loan)
Fully integrated loans can acquire Arabic morphology, and speakers vary in how much they integrate a word. Record the form actually used; do not automatically append ـين to every English adjective.
A descriptive dialogue with ellipsis
أي كراسي بدك، الجداد ولا القدام؟
ayy karēse baddak, el-zhdēd walla l-ʾdēm?
Maya: Which chairs do you want, the new ones or the old ones? (informal; plural adjective ellipsis)
الجداد. القدام مكسورين.
el-zhdēd. el-ʾdēm maksūrīn.
Rami: The new ones. The old ones are broken. (informal; individuated plural agreement)
طيب، والطاولة الجديدة؟
ṭayyeb, wiṭ-ṭāwle l-zhdīde?
Maya: Okay, and the new table? (informal; feminine singular)
الزغيرة؟ منيحة، مناخدها.
ez-zghīre? mnīḥa, mnēkhodha.
Rami: The small one? It's good; we'll take it. (informal; feminine ellipsis)
Common Mistakes
Inventing one universal plural ending
❌ الولاد كبيرين.
Nonstandard for the intended ordinary phrase — the common lexical plural of كبير is كبار.
✅ الولاد كبار.
el-wlād kbār.
The children are big/older. (common broken adjective plural)
Keeping a singular adjective with a human plural
❌ الموظفين الجديد وصلوا.
Incorrect — the human plural requires plural adjective agreement.
✅ الموظفين الجداد وصلوا.
el-mwaẓẓafīn el-zhdēd wiṣlo.
The new employees arrived. (human plural)
Applying feminine singular to every plural
❌ البنات الجديدة مبسوطين.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — البنات refers to humans, so جديدة cannot be the ordinary agreement form here.
✅ البنات الجداد مبسوطين.
el-banēt el-zhdēd mabsūṭīn.
The new girls are happy. (human plural agreement)
Dropping the article on a definite plural adjective
❌ شفت الموظفين جداد.
Incorrect for ‘I saw the new employees’ — without الـ, جداد is read as a predicate or detached comment.
✅ شفت الموظفين الجداد.
shift el-mwaẓẓafīn el-zhdēd.
I saw the new employees. (definite attributive phrase)
Pluralizing an invariant loan automatically
❌ هالشباب كولين.
Unnatural for speakers using كول as an invariant code-switched adjective.
✅ هالشباب كول.
hash-shabēb kūl.
These guys are cool. (informal; invariant loan)
Key Takeaways
Learn frequent broken plurals such as كبار، زغار، جداد lexically. Use ـين with the many paradigms that select it, especially participial states and relational adjectives, and recognize that some recent loans remain invariant. Human plurals strongly require plural agreement; nonhuman plurals allow feminine-singular or plural agreement according to construal, lexical preference, and style.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Adjectives after the NounA1 — Place ordinary Lebanese adjectives after their nouns and distinguish attributive phrases, predicates, marked evaluations, and adjective ellipsis.
- Masculine and Feminine Adjective FormsA1 — Form and use masculine and feminine Lebanese adjectives, including the common -e/-a suffix, vowel changes, and irregular color pairs.
- Agreement with Nonhuman PluralsB1 — Choose feminine-singular or plural agreement with Lebanese nonhuman plurals according to grouping, salience, animacy, and style.
- Agreement with Human PluralsA2 — Use plural adjectives and pronouns with human groups, including mixed groups, collectives, and gender-sensitive variants.
- Human and Nonhuman Plural BehaviorB1 — Understand why human plurals strongly select plural agreement while nonhuman plurals vary between plural and feminine-singular agreement in Lebanese.
- Missing Gender and Number AgreementA2 — Repair gender, number, and person agreement across Lebanese verbs, adjectives, participles, and demonstratives.