Broken Plural + Feminine Singular Pronoun
In classical Arabic and the Quran, when a noun is a broken plural (جَمع تَكسِير), it may be referred to using a singular feminine pronoun or verb — even if the noun refers to animate masculine beings.
The Rule
Condition: The noun must be a broken plural (not a sound plural like مُسلِمُون or مُسلِمَات).
Effect: When using a pronoun, adjective, or verb to refer back to a broken plural:
| Context | Form used |
|---|---|
| Literary / Quranic Arabic | Singular feminine (e.g., هِيَ, هَا, singular verb) |
| Day-to-day Arabic | Regular plural pronoun/verb (standard form) |
Using singular feminine for a broken plural in literary contexts is considered more eloquent than the plural form.
Examples
Sūrat al-Rūm 30:21 — أَزوَاج
أَزوَاج (spouses) = broken plural of زَوج.
لِتَسكُنُوا إِلَيهَا — the pronoun هَا (singular feminine) refers to أَزوَاج, even though spouses are animate human beings.
Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt 49:11 — رِجَال
رِجَال (men) = broken plural of رَجُل.
When the Quran later refers to رِجَال, using singular feminine agreement is grammatically valid (and literary/elegant), even though رِجَال are male animate beings.
Why This Works
Arabic grammar treats broken plurals similarly to collective nouns — as a single entity (a group understood as a unit). Singular feminine agreement is the grammatical marker for this "collective singular" reading in literary Arabic.
Sound plurals do not follow this rule
You cannot use singular feminine for sound masculine plurals (مُسلِمُون, طَالِبُون) — those require masculine plural agreement:
❌ المُسلِمُونَ فَعَلَت (incorrect) ✓ المُسلِمُونَ فَعَلُوا (correct)
A Striking Counter-Example — When the Qurʾān Breaks Its Own Pattern
Sūrah Yūsuf 12:4 presents an intriguing reversal of the expectation set out above:
رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ "…I saw them prostrating to me."
The pronoun refers to the eleven كَوَاكِب, the sun, and the moon — all inanimate. Based on the rule above, we would expect the singular feminine: رَأَيتُهَا سَاجِدَةً لِي. Instead, Allah uses هُمْ (the masculine plural pronoun reserved for sentient/rational beings — see [[jama-muzakar-salim]]) and سَاجِدِينَ (a جمع المذكر السالم, likewise reserved for the sentient).
Raising Their Status — Not Personification
The teacher explained this as Allah "raising the status" of these celestial bodies — describing them as performing سُجُود, an act ordinarily only performed by conscious, rational beings. This is not poetic personification (تَشخِيص), which has its own separate grammatical rules in Arabic and is by nature imaginative. What the Qurʾān describes here is real. A close parallel: the speech of the ant in Sūrat al-Naml (قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّمْلُ ...) — again real, conscious, human-like behaviour attributed to a non-human creature, reported as fact rather than imagined by a poet. "Personification is imaginary; this is real."
This shows that the singular-feminine convention for inanimate plurals is the default, not an absolute rule — the Qurʾān can deliberately depart from it to convey a specific, elevated meaning.
Session References
- Selections from the Glorious Quran Session 21: Rule explained for Āyah 21 (إِلَيهَا referring to أَزوَاج); distinction between broken plural and sound plural; literary vs everyday usage.
- Surah Yusuf Session 6: Counter-example from Āyah 4 — هُمْ and سَاجِدِينَ used for inanimate celestial bodies to "raise their status," contrasted with poetic personification; parallel from the ants of Sūrat al-Naml.