· In this part of the lesson we will learn the plural form of "That" In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing) - the demonstrative pronoun for the distant objects. In the previous lessons we have already learnt the following demonstrative pronouns:
o Lesson No. 2 section 1 states that ذَلِكَ ("That") is the demonstrative pronoun used to refer to objects that are further away for masculine nouns
o Lesson No. 7 section 2 states that تِلْكَ ("That") is the demonstrative pronoun used to refer to objects that are further away for feminine nouns.
- The plural form of these demonstrative pronouns (i.e. "those") is the same for the masculine and feminine nouns i.e.:
|
English |
Transliteration |
Arabic |
Singular / Plural (Arabic) |
Masculine / Feminine (Arabic) |
Grammatical Term |
|
That (masculine) |
/Dhālika/ |
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|
Those |
/ulā’ika/ |
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|
That (feminine) |
/Tilka/ |
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|
Those |
/ulā’ika/ |
- The plural form of the demonstrative pronoun for the distant objects is أُولَـٰئِكَ as above. It is an indeclinable word and always takes a /fatħah/ on the last letter. It must however be remembered that أُولـٰئِكَ is used only for human beings and not for non human beings.
- Let’s use some examples for a better understanding of the rule:
|
Picture |
English |
Arabic |
|
Singular: That is a father Plural: Those are fathers |
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Singular: That is a mother Plural: Those are mothers |
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Singular: Who is that man? Plural: Who are those men? |
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Singular: Where is that girl? Plural: Where are those girls? |
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Singular: That is a pilgrim Plural: Those are pilgrims |
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Singular: That is a nurse Plural: Those are nurses |