Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### 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* | {{item:1152403}} *an apple* |
| بيض *eggs* | {{item:1152410}} *an egg* |
| {{item:1152398}} *dates* | {{item:1152407}} *a date* |
| سمك *fish* | {{item:1152415}} *a fish* |
| دجاج *chickens* | {{item:1152412}} *a hen* |
| {{item:1152418}} *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.

{{item:1152402}}

{{item:1152404}}

### 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.

{{item:1152406}}

{{item:1152408}}

{{item:1152423}}

Collective and unit nouns (تفاح / تفاحة، تمر / تمرة)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
dates (fruit)	تمرtamr
The farmer sells dates and apples at the market.	يبيع الفلاح التمر والتفاح في السوق.yabî'u al-fallâhu at-tamra wat-tuffâha fî as-sûq
The fish here is fresh.	السمك هنا طازج.as-samaku hunâ tâzijun
sweet	حلوhulw
Dates are very sweet.	التمر حلو جدا.at-tamru hulwun jiddan
apple (one)	تفاحةtuffâḥa
The apples are red, but this apple is green.	التفاح أحمر، لكن هذه التفاحة خضراء.at-tuffâhu ahmaru, lâkin hâdhihi at-tuffâhatu khadrâ'u
I ate only one apple.	أكلت تفاحة واحدة فقط.akaltu tuffâhatan wâhidatan faqat
I want three apples, please.	أريد ثلاث تفاحات من فضلك.uridu thalatha tuffahatin min fadlik.
date (one fruit)	تمرةtamra
I ate one date, and my brother ate two dates.	أكلت تمرة واحدة، وأكل أخي تمرتين.akaltu tamratan wâhidatan, wa akala akhî tamratayni
The boy ate five dates.	أكل الولد خمس تمرات.akala al-waladu khamsa tamarâtin
egg	بيضةbayda
I bought three eggs from the market.	اشتريت ثلاث بيضات من السوق.ishtaraytu thalâtha baydâtin mina s-sûq.
hen	دجاجةdajâja
Every morning, we find an egg under the hen.	في كل صباح، نجد بيضة تحت الدجاجة.fi kulli sabâhin, najidu baydatan tahta ad-dajâjati
We have ten hens on the farm.	عندنا عشر دجاجات في المزرعة.'indanâ 'ashru dajâjâtin fil-mazra'ah
fish (one)	سمكةsamaka
My mother bought a big fish.	اشترت أمي سمكة كبيرة.ishtarat ummî samakatan kabîratan.
This fish is fresh and cheap.	هذه السمكة طازجة ورخيصة.hâdhihi as-samakatu tâzijatun wa rakhîsatun
trees (collective)	شجرshajar
The trees are green in the spring.	الشجر أخضر في الربيع.ash-shajaru akhdaru fi ar-rabi'i
We sat under the trees.	جلسنا تحت الشجر.jalasnâ taḥta ash-shajar.
palm tree	نخلةnakhla
The palm tree is very tall.	النخلة طويلة جدا.an-nakhlatu tawîlatun jiddan
There are twenty palm trees on the farm.	في المزرعة عشرون نخلة.fi al-mazra'ati 'ishruna nakhlatan
The dates of this palm tree are sweet.	تمر هذه النخلة حلو.tamru hâdhihi n-nakhlati hulwun
available, present (there)	موجودmawjûd
Are the eggs available today?	هل البيض موجود اليوم؟hal al-baydu mawjoudun al-yawma?
The dates are available, but the apples are not available.	التمر موجود، لكن التفاح ليس موجودا.at-tamru mawjûdun, lâkinna at-tuffâha laysa mawjûdan.

Contributors