Plurality in Urdu is a somewhat complicated topic, both in terms of morphology and idiom. Urdu grammarians distinguish between two cases when discussing plurality in Urdu. The first is the direct case. The second is the oblique case. The direct case is used when plural nouns are not modified by a postposition. The oblique case is used when they are. Postpositions are words like میں [meñ] (in), کا [kā] (of), and سے [se] (from, than) and earn their grammatical name by the fact that they come after the nouns that they modify—e.g., دل میں [dil meñ] (in the heart).
Masculine and feminine nouns follow different rules of pluralization in the direct case and each gender of noun follows different rules depending on its ending. In discussing these endings, grammarians often distinguish between “marked” and “unmarked” nouns. This can be a bit misleading, since there are some cases in which words that are pluralized according the rule for unmarked feminine nouns are, in fact, regularly feminine and thus can be considered “marked” in a sense. For example, certain patterns of Arabic nouns (e.g., those in the same pattern as تصویر [tasvīr] (image)) and forms of Persian nouns (e.g., verbal nouns ending in ش [ish] such as خواہش [ḳhvāhish] (desire)) are always feminine and thus “marked.” However, they are pluralized according to the rules for what are here called “unmarked feminine nouns” by suffixing یں in the direct case—hence, تصویریں [tasvīreñ] (images) and خواہشیں [ḳhvāhisheñ] (desires). However, in this module, when we speak of marked and unmarked nouns, we will follow convention.
Marked masculine nouns are those that end in an ā sound, whether spelled with ا [ā] or ہ [ā]. Unmarked masculine nouns are those that end in any other letter. Marked feminine nouns are those that end in ی [ī]. Unmarked feminine nouns are those that end in any other letter.
In the direct case, marked masculine nouns are pluralized by changing ا or ہ [ā] to ے [e].
لڑکا [laṛkā] (boy) <— لڑکے [laṛke] (boys)
ستارہ [sitārā] (star) <— ستارے [sitāre] (stars)
Conversely, unmarked masculine nouns do not change:
ایک لفظ [ek lafz] (one word) <— دو لفظ [do lafz] (two words)
Marked feminine nouns are pluralized by suffixing اں to ی [ī]. The suffixation changes the pronunciation of ی from ī to y preceded by a short i.
لڑکی [laṛkī] (girl) <— لڑکیاں [laṛkiyāñ] (girls)
Unmarked feminine nouns are pluralized by suffixing یں [eñ] to the word.
صورت [sūrat] (form) <— صورتیں [sūrateñ] (forms)
All plural nouns in the oblique case (that is, those modified by a postposition) end in وں [oñ]. The only exception is in the case of words that are already plural according to another pluralization system (see, for example, the notes on Arabic plurals, below).
In the following, I have used the postposition میں [meñ] (in; among) for the sake of example.
Marked masculine nouns drop the ے [e] ending and replace it with وں [oñ]
لڑکے [laṛke] (boys) <— لڑکوں میں [laṛkoñ meñ] (among boys)
ستارے [sitāre] (stars) <— ستاروں میں [sitāroñ meñ] (among stars)
Unmarked masculine nouns simply take وں [oñ] as a suffix.
دو لفظ [do lafz] (two words) <— دو لفظوں میں [do lafzoñ meñ] (in two words)
Marked feminine nouns drop their اں [āñ] ending and replace it with وں [oñ]
لڑکیاں [laṛkiyāñ] (girls) <— لڑکیوں میں [laṛkiyoñ meñ] (among girls)
Unmarked feminine nouns drop یں [eñ] and replace it with وں [oñ].
صورتیں [sūrateñ] (in forms, cases) <— ورتوں میں [sūratoñ meñ] (in forms, cases)
Words marking time do not in standard Urdu take the oblique plural suffix وں [oñ] when their number is specified.
دو سال [do sāl] (two years) <— دو سال سے [do sāl se] (for two years)
In Standard Urdu, the oblique plural suffix is reserved for cases in which the number of units measuring time is unspecified.
دو سال سے [do sāl se] (for two years) <— سالوں سے [sāloñ se] (for [unspecified, countless] years)
Likewise, the postposition is dropped in idioms where a particular number is unspecified. For example,
ان دنوں [in dinoñ] (these days, nowadays)
Urdu observes Arabic plural forms in many loanwords. Linguists typically distinction two kinds of Arabic plurals. The first are those that are formed by suffixation. The second are often called “broken plurals,” since they are formed by breaking singular forms of words apart with the prefixation, infixation, and suffixation of vowels. Here follow two of the most common forms of each type of plural.
