An Adjective Describing Several Things

Level 1

A plural noun normally takes plural adjective agreement.

How It Works

An adjective normally follows its noun and agrees in number. Many adjectives distinguish masculine and feminine in the singular but have one plural form: sabiħ, sabiħa, sbieħ. Another paradigm is kiesaħ, kiesħa, kesħin. Adjectives such as speċjali remain unchanged.

Compare kamra sabiħa, ‘a beautiful room’, with kmamar sbieħ, ‘beautiful rooms’. The noun and adjective follow different plural patterns. Ordinary spelling retains sbieħ, even where pronunciation involves consonant assimilation.

Selected adjectives allow an -a form with plural nouns alongside an -in form. This is a lexical alternative, not permission to use every feminine singular adjective as a plural. Collectives are another distinct case: a collective noun can control singular masculine agreement despite referring to several items in English.

Examples (3)

  1. kmamar sbieħ

    beautiful rooms

    Noun-phrase fragment with internally changed plural agreement.

  2. karti kesħin

    cold sheets of paper

    Noun-phrase fragment using the established plural kesħin.

  3. kotba speċjali

    special books

    Noun-phrase fragment with an invariant adjective.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

An Adjective Describing Several ThingsLevel 1

Learn This First

Develop plural adjective agreement through sbieħ, kesħin and unchanged speċjali. Compare noun and adjective paradigms independently, and retain the lesson's distinctions between ordinary plurals, restricted -a alternatives and collective agreement.

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Patterns that build on this one.