The kind and the piece
Many fruits, plants and farm animals have two nouns. The short one is a collective: it names the kind, or a mass of it, like English fruit. Add ة and you get a unit noun: one single piece.
| collective (the kind) | unit noun (one) |
|---|---|
| تفاح apples | تفاحة(tuffâḥa) an apple |
| بيض eggs | بيضة(bayda) an egg |
| تمر(tamr) dates | تمرة(tamra) a date |
| سمك fish | سمكة(samaka) a fish |
| دجاج chickens | دجاجة(dajâja) a hen |
| شجر(shajar) trees | شجرة a tree |
Agreement
The collective is masculine singular, even though it means many. The unit noun is feminine, like every noun in ة.
| Dates are very sweet. | التمر حلو جدا.at-tamru hulwun jiddan |
| The apples are red, but this apple is green. | التفاح أحمر، لكن هذه التفاحة خضراء.at-tuffâhu ahmaru, lâkin hâdhihi at-tuffâhatu khadrâ'u |
Counting
You count with the unit noun, never with the collective. For one and two: تفاحة واحدة، تفاحتان. From three to ten the unit noun takes the plural in ـات, and the number has no ة because the noun is feminine. From eleven up, the unit noun stays singular.
| I want three apples, please. | أريد ثلاث تفاحات من فضلك.uridu thalatha tuffahatin min fadlik. |
| I ate one date, and my brother ate two dates. | أكلت تمرة واحدة، وأكل أخي تمرتين.akaltu tamratan wâhidatan, wa akala akhî tamratayni |
| There are twenty palm trees on the farm. | في المزرعة عشرون نخلة.fi al-mazra'ati 'ishruna nakhlatan |
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