Regular Masculine Plurals
In Arabic, nouns referring to male humans (like professions or descriptions) often form their plural regularly by adding a suffix. The exact suffix depends on the word's grammatical case.
The Nominative Case (ـون)
When a regular masculine plural is the subject of a sentence or the predicate in a nominal (verbless) sentence, it takes the nominative case. Form this by adding ـون to the singular noun.
| The creators are famous on this platform. | المبدعون مشهورون على هذه المنصة.al-mubdi'ûna mash-hûrûna 'alâ hâdhihi al-minassati |
The Accusative Case (ـين)
When the plural noun is the direct object of a verb, it takes the accusative case, changing the suffix to ـين.
Notice how the next example uses both cases: the subject takes ـون, while the direct object takes ـين.
| The followers follow the influencers. | يتابع المتابعون المؤثرين.yatâbi' al-mutâbi'ûn al-mu'aththirîn |
| The manager wants creators and designers. | يريد المدير مبدعين ومصممين.yurîdu almudîru mubdi'îna wa musammimîna |
The Genitive Case (ـين)
A noun takes the genitive case after a preposition (like من) or as the second part of a possessive construction (إضافة). The genitive suffix is exactly the same as the accusative: ـين.
Following a preposition:
| I received a message from the programmers. | استلمت رسالة من المبرمجين.istalamtu risâlatan mina al-mubarmijîn |
In a possessive construction:
| He is the best of the programmers. | هو أفضل المبرمجين.huwa afdalu al-mubarmijin. |