The Arabic Dual: A Grammar Feature English Doesn't Have

English distinguishes between one and many. Arabic goes a step further with a third category: exactly two. This is the dual, and it shows up both in formal writing and in familiar phrases.

The basic idea

To say "two books", Arabic doesn't use the word for "two" plus a plural. It adds an ending to the noun itself:

• كتاب (kitab, book) → كتابان (kitaban, two books)
• طالب (talib, student) → طالبان (talibani, two students)

The ending is ـان (-ani) in the nominative, and ـين (-ayni) in other cases, such as after a preposition or as an object.

Feminine nouns

With nouns ending in ة, the ة turns into ت before the dual ending:

• مدرسة (madrasa, school) → مدرستان (madrasatan, two schools)
• سيارة (sayyara, car) → سيارتان (sayyaratan, two cars)

In the oblique case

After a preposition, the ending becomes ـين. For example, في المدرستين (fi al-madrasatayn) means "in the two schools". In speech, many dialects use this ـين form all the time, and sometimes even drop the distinction altogether.

The dual in pronouns and verbs

Formal Arabic has dual pronouns (هما, huma, "they two"), dual verb endings and dual adjectives. In modern spoken dialects, these are usually replaced by plural forms, so you will often meet the dual mainly in the written language, news broadcasts and religious texts.

Naturally paired things

Words for things that come in twos often appear in the dual:

• عينان ('aynan) — two eyes
• يدان (yadan) — two hands
• والدان (walidan) — two parents, literally "the two who gave birth"
• الحرمين (al-haramayn) — the two sanctuaries, referring to Mecca and Medina

A memorable example

The name of the island nation of Bahrain, البحرين (al-Bahrayn), is a dual form meaning "the two seas".

Numbers and the dual

You do not need the word "two" if you use the dual, though you can add اثنان for emphasis. Numbers above two return to the plural rules.

How to practise

1. Take five nouns and make them dual.
2. Notice the change for nouns ending in ة.
3. Read a short news headline and find any dual forms.
4. Look up any unfamiliar dual forms by stripping the ending.

Dictionary use

Dictionaries usually list the singular. If a word ends in ـان or ـين and doesn't seem to be in the dictionary, try removing the ending.

Look up the singular form of any word with English Arabic Dictionary →