The sound feminine plural ends in ـات -āt. With a singular in ة, remove that final shape and add ات: طالبة ṭāliba → طالبات ṭālibāt “female students.” The stem remains recognizable, which is why the plural is called “sound.”
The name “feminine” describes its central formation, not every noun that can use it. Many masculine nonhuman nouns and modern technical terms also form plurals in ـات. Agreement then follows human versus nonhuman meaning—not the visible suffix by itself.
The basic formation
For many feminine nouns ending in tāʾ marbūṭa, replace ة with ات. The t that is latent in the singular becomes an ordinary written ت before the long ā.
| Singular | Plural at pause | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| طَالِبَة ṭāliba | طَالِبَات ṭālibāt | female student(s) |
| مُعَلِّمَة muʿallima | مُعَلِّمَات muʿallimāt | female teacher(s) |
| سَيَّارَة sayyāra | سَيَّارَات sayyārāt | car(s) |
| جَامِعَة jāmiʿa | جَامِعَات jāmiʿāt | university/universities |
طالبة، طالبتان، طالبات.
ṭāliba, ṭālibatān, ṭālibāt.
A female student, two female students, female students.
سيارة، سيارتان، سيارات.
sayyāra, sayyāratān, sayyārāt.
A car, two cars, cars.
This operation is productive, but it is not automatic for every noun in ة. مدينة madīna normally has broken plural مدن mudun, and امرأة ʾimraʾa has نساء nisāʾ. The plural belongs in the dictionary entry.
The suffix extends beyond feminine singulars
Masculine and nonhuman singulars can also take ـات, especially in administrative, educational, and technical vocabulary.
| Singular | Lexical gender | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| اِمْتِحَان ʾimtiḥān | masculine | اِمْتِحَانَات ʾimtiḥānāt | exams |
| مَطَار maṭār | masculine | مَطَارَات maṭārāt | airports |
| مَلَفّ malaff | masculine | مَلَفَّات malaffāt | files |
| قَرَار qarār | masculine | قَرَارَات qarārāt | decisions |
الامتحانات الجديدة صعبة.
al-imtiḥānātu l-jadīdatu ṣaʿba.
The new exams are difficult.
The singular امتحان is masculine, but its nonhuman plural takes feminine singular الجديدة and صعبة. Neither the singular gender nor the plural suffix mechanically supplies feminine plural agreement.
Case: nominative ـاتُ, accusative and genitive ـاتِ
The sound feminine plural has a striking case pattern. Nominative uses -ātu/-ātun. Both accusative and genitive use -āti/-ātin. In other words, the accusative is marked with kasra, not the fatḥa expected from a regular singular noun.
| Case | Definite | Indefinite |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | الطَّالِبَاتُ aṭ-ṭālibātu | طَالِبَاتٌ ṭālibātun |
| accusative | الطَّالِبَاتِ aṭ-ṭālibāti | طَالِبَاتٍ ṭālibātin |
| genitive | الطَّالِبَاتِ aṭ-ṭālibāti | طَالِبَاتٍ ṭālibātin |
وصلت طالبات جديدات.
waṣalat ṭālibātun jadīdāt.
New female students arrived. (Nominative -ātun.)
قابلت طالبات جديدات.
qābaltu ṭālibātin jadīdāt.
I met new female students. (Accusative -ātin.)
تحدثت مع طالبات جديدات.
taḥaddathtu maʿa ṭālibātin jadīdāt.
I spoke with new female students. (Genitive -ātin.)
These examples articulate the noun's case for contrast and pause on the final adjective. At ordinary pause, the noun itself also ends simply in -āt.
The plural can take tanwīn when indefinite, as the examples show. A definite plural or an iḍāfa head has no tanwīn.
وصلت طالبات الجامعة.
waṣalat ṭālibātu l-jāmiʿa.
The university's female students arrived.
Unlike sound masculine ـون/ـين, sound feminine ـات contains no nūn to delete in the construct state. The case vowel changes as usual, while the entire ات sequence remains.
Human feminine plural agreement
An all-female human group takes feminine plural adjectives, predicates, and pronouns. With the subject first, the verb also shows feminine plural agreement.
الطالبات المجتهدات مستعدات.
aṭ-ṭālibātu l-mujtahidātu mustaʿiddāt.
The diligent female students are ready.
الطالبات وصلن مبكرا.
aṭ-ṭālibātu waṣalna mubakkirā.
The female students arrived early.
With verb-first order and an explicit following subject, the verb is singular feminine:
وصلت الطالبات مبكرا.
waṣalati ṭ-ṭālibātu mubakkirā.
The female students arrived early.
Plural noun morphology therefore does not guarantee a plural verb; word order still matters.
Nonhuman plurals take feminine singular agreement
Nonhuman/non-rational plurals normally take feminine singular agreement even when their noun ends in ـات.
السيارات الجديدة سريعة.
as-sayyārātu l-jadīdatu sarīʿa.
The new cars are fast.
افتتحت الجامعة مختبرات جديدة هذا العام.
ʾiftataḥati l-jāmiʿatu mukhtabarātin jadīdatan hādhā l-ʿām.
The university opened new laboratories this year.
Here مختبرات is accusative -ātin. Its adjective جديدةً is feminine singular accusative because laboratories are nonhuman. This is a contemporary informational pattern common in reports and institutional prose.
The contrast with human plural agreement is semantic, not suffixal. For the neighboring human masculine suffix, see Sound Masculine Plural ـون/ـين; for internally changed plurals, see Broken Plurals.
Common Mistakes
Keeping ة before ات
❌ طالبةات
Incorrect — replace ة; do not stack ات after it.
✅ طالبات.
ṭālibāt.
Female students.
Assuming every noun in ة takes ـات
❌ مدينات
Incorrect for the ordinary plural of مدينة — the lexical plural is مدن.
✅ مدن.
mudun.
Cities.
Giving the accusative a fatḥa-style ending
❌ قابلت طالباتا
Incorrect — sound feminine plural accusative is ـاتِ/ـاتٍ, not -ātan.
✅ قابلت طالبات.
qābaltu ṭālibātin.
I met female students. (Accusative ending demonstrated.)
Using “two + plural” instead of a dual
❌ اثنتان طالبات
Incorrect for neutral ‘two female students’ — the noun itself takes the dual.
✅ طالبتان.
ṭālibatān.
Two female students.
Giving a nonhuman plural feminine plural agreement
❌ السيارات جديدات
Incorrect — nonhuman plurals normally take feminine singular agreement.
✅ السيارات جديدة.
as-sayyārātu jadīda.
The cars are new.
Key Takeaways
- For participating singulars in ة, replace ة with ات; do not assume every feminine noun belongs to the class.
- Masculine and nonhuman nouns can also have lexical plurals in ـات.
- Use nominative -ātu/-ātun but accusative and genitive -āti/-ātin.
- Human female plurals take feminine plural agreement; nonhuman plurals take feminine singular agreement.
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- Sound Masculine Plural ـون/ـينA2 — Form and decline the sound masculine plural, identify the human nouns that permit it, and drop nūn in the construct state.
- Broken Plurals: A Working OverviewA2 — Recognize internally changed Arabic plurals, learn them with their singulars, and apply case and agreement by lexical class and meaning.
- Masculine and Feminine NounsA1 — Understand Arabic's two grammatical genders and how gender controls agreement across singular, human-plural, and nonhuman-plural phrases.