A maqṣūr noun ends in an unchangeable long ā, commonly written ى: فتى “young man,” مستشفى “hospital,” and ذكرى “memory.” Because no short case vowel can be added after that long final alif, nominative, accusative, and genitive case are usually estimated rather than visibly contrasted.
Final ى is alif maqṣūra, not yāʾ. It has no dots and represents ā in the singular. It must not be confused with the final dotted yāʾ of a manqūṣ noun. When a suffix is added to the forms covered here, however, an underlying or stem-forming y may reappear. This is why the plural cannot be predicted from the final shape alone.
Definite forms hide all three cases
With the definite noun الفتى, spelling and ordinary pronunciation remain al-fatā in all three cases. Syntax still assigns a different case in each sentence.
جاء الفتى
jāʾa l-fatā
The young man came. — nominative case is estimated
رأيت الفتى
raʾaytu l-fatā
I saw the young man. — accusative case is estimated
تحدثت مع الفتى
taḥaddathtu maʿa l-fatā
I spoke with the young man. — genitive case is estimated
English word order helps identify the role in these simple translations, but Arabic permits more varied order. In a real text, the governing verb, preposition, and phrase structure—not the final sound—identify the hidden case.
Indefinite tanwīn has one surface shape
An indefinite triptote maqṣūr noun takes a special tanwīn spelling: the two fatḥas are written on the consonant before ى, as in فَتًى. No extra support alif is added. In connected full inflection, this form is pronounced fatan; at pause, tanwīn is dropped and the long ā surfaces as fatā.
The spelling and connected pronunciation فَتًى fatan serve all three syntactic cases. The tanwīn shape therefore does not mean the noun must be accusative.
جاء فتى إلى المكتب
jāʾa fatan ʾilā l-maktab
A young man came to the office. — nominative
رأيت فتى في المكتب
raʾaytu fatan fī l-maktab
I saw a young man in the office. — accusative
مررت بفتى عند الباب
marartu bi-fatan ʿinda l-bāb
I passed by a young man at the door. — genitive
هذا فتى
hādhā fatā
This is a young man. — natural pause
Not every maqṣūr noun is an ordinary triptote. A genuine feminine alif ending, as in ذكرى, and certain proper names are diptotes and do not take ordinary tanwīn. “Maqṣūr” describes the final phonological shape; it does not by itself settle declension class or gender.
Gender is not visible in ى
Compare masculine فتى and مستشفى with feminine ذكرى and سلمى. The same letter ends all four words.
المستشفى حديث
al-mustashfā ḥadīth
The hospital is modern.
الذكرى جميلة
adh-dhikrā jamīla(h)
The memory is beautiful.
The masculine predicate حديث and feminine جميلة reveal lexical gender. The final ى alone cannot.
The dual exposes a stem consonant
Before the dual suffix, final ā can no longer remain as a word-final alif. With a three-letter noun, restore the historically underlying weak consonant. In فتى, that consonant is y, producing فتيان.
For nouns of four or more letters ending in ى, change ى to ي before adding the dual ending: مستشفى → مستشفيان and مصطفى → مصطفيان.
| Singular | Nominative dual | Accusative/genitive dual |
|---|---|---|
| فَتَى | فَتَيَانِ | فَتَيَيْنِ |
| مُسْتَشْفَى | مُسْتَشْفَيَانِ | مُسْتَشْفَيَيْنِ |
| مُصْطَفَى | مُصْطَفَيَانِ | مُصْطَفَيَيْنِ |
افتتح مستشفيان جديدان
ʾiftataḥa mustashfayāni jadīdān
Two new hospitals opened.
The dual noun is nonhuman but dual, so its adjective is dual masculine because singular مستشفى is masculine. The feminine-singular agreement rule applies to nonhuman plurals, not to duals.
Plural formation remains lexical
Maqṣūr nouns do not share one plural. Some take a broken plural, some an ـات plural, and eligible masculine human nouns or names may take sound masculine endings with loss of the final alif.
| Singular | Plural | Formation |
|---|---|---|
| فَتَى | فِتْيَان | broken plural |
| مُسْتَشْفَى | مُسْتَشْفَيَات | -āt with ى changed to ي |
| ذِكْرَى | ذِكْرَيَات | -āt with ى changed to ي |
| مُصْطَفَى | مُصْطَفَوْنَ / مُصْطَفَيْنَ | sound masculine case forms for multiple men named Mustafa |
An especially useful reading contrast is that unvocalized فتيان can represent either the dual or the broken plural:
فتى، فتيان، فتيان
fatā, fatayān, fityān
young man, two young men, young men
The consonant letters do not fully determine number; vowel pattern and context distinguish fatayān from fityān.
Human and nonhuman agreement
The human plural فتيان takes masculine plural agreement. The nonhuman plural مستشفيات takes feminine singular agreement despite its visible ـات.
الفتيان المجتهدون حاضرون
al-fityānu l-mujtahidūna ḥāḍirūn
The hardworking young men are present.
المستشفيات الجديدة مفتوحة
al-mustashfayātu l-jadīdatu maftūḥa(h)
The new hospitals are open.
Plural morphology and syntactic agreement answer different questions.
A contemporary informational sentence
افتتحت الوزارة مستشفيين جديدين في المدينتين
ʾiftataḥati l-wizāratu mustashfayayni jadīdayni fī l-madīnatayn
The ministry opened two new hospitals in the two cities.
The accusative dual مستشفيين restores y and takes -ayni; adjective جديدين matches it. After في, المدينتين is genitive dual with the same surface -ayni ending.
Common Mistakes
Guessing gender from final ى
❌ مستشفى جديدة
Incorrect — مستشفى is masculine.
✅ مستشفى جديد
mustashfan jadīd
a new hospital
Inventing a sound masculine plural
❌ مستشفون
Incorrect — the established plural is مستشفيات.
✅ مستشفيات
mustashfayāt
hospitals
Combining two with a plural noun
❌ اثنان مستشفيات
Incorrect basic expression — use the dual form.
✅ مستشفيان
mustashfayān
two hospitals
Giving a nonhuman plural full plural agreement
❌ المستشفيات جديدات
Incorrect — nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular agreement.
✅ المستشفيات جديدة
al-mustashfayātu jadīda(h)
The hospitals are new.
Key Takeaways
- A maqṣūr noun ends in long ā; its singular case endings are estimated rather than audibly distinct.
- Indefinite triptote forms write special tanwīn as in فَتًى, pronounced fatan in connection and fatā in pause.
- Dual and suffix formation expose an underlying or stem-forming y, but plural class remains lexical.
- Final ى does not determine gender, and nonhuman plurals still take feminine singular agreement.
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