Moroccan Arabic - Plural Form of Darija Words

There is no strict or definitive rule to make a wordthe plural form of the word.bint – daughterbinteen
plural in Moroccan Arabic; also referred to as Darija.– daughtersemployee - mudafemployees –
Sometimes plurals are formed in Moroccan Darija bymudafeenyear - ’amyears – sineen
adding the suffix “een” to the end of words thatIn the example above, the root of the singular form of
are masculine. At other times the suffix “at”the word for "year" is different than the root of the
may be added to the end of feminine words to makeplural form of the word.
them plural. However, this is not always the case.The Moroccan Arabic is a mixture of Arabic,
Because Darija is a mixture of words from Arabic,Tamazight, French, and other languages. You will find
Tamazight, French and other languages, this alsothat the plural form of a word sometimes is formed
affects how the plural of certain words are formed.following the conventions of the language from which
For example, for French words that are used inthe word was borrowed. The plural of the French
Moroccan dialect, the plural is formed by addingwords used in Darija are usually formed following the
“les” in front of the word to make it plural. ThereFrench convention of adding “les” in front of the
are also words where their plural form do not followwords. For example, let's take a look at the French
these rule. Forming plurals in Darija can vary fromword for “pilot” which often used in Darija.pilot
word to word, therefore there are no exact or clear– peelotepilots – les peelote
rules to make words plural in the Moroccan DarijaAt other times forming the plural form of a word in the
language. You will need to memorize the plural form ofMoroccan language does not follow any strict
each word in order to learn them.guidelines. Here are some words whose plural forms
Sometimes you can add the suffix “at” to thedo not follow any of these guidelines:brother -
end of the word to make it plural in Moroccan Arabic.akhbrothers - khutticket – warqatickets –
Here are examples of adding “at” to the end ofwraqiman - rajelmen – rojalahouse - darhouses –
a word to make the word plural.automobile –dyor
tomobilautomobiles – tomobilatbus – tobisbuses -As seen in the example above and throughout this
tobisatsister - khetsisters - khwatatarticle, there are no definitive rules for forming plurals in
There are words in Darija whose plural form is formedMoroccan Arabic. Although there may be patterns at
by adding “een” to the end of the word. Heretimes there are generally no set rules. You will need to
are some examples of some of those words. But asmemorize the singular and plural forms of Moroccan
you will note, for some words the root of the singularArabic words on a word by word basis.
form of the word can be different from the root of