# twin, twins



## Aliph

MSA twin, twins تَوْأَم

I have several question concerning twins (children who are born from the same mother at the same time). I looked up other threads and didn’t find the answer

what is the root of تَوْأَم (twin)
What is the difference between the plurals توائم and توأمان
There is no feminine form, correct? She is my twin sister, we are twins (both females ) هي أختي التوأم، نحن توائم
I will take care of the twins سوف اهتم بالتوائم/ بالتوأمان
How would you translate: she is pregnant and she is expecting twins إنها حامل وتنتظر توأمان


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## Sun-Shine

Aliph said:


> 1. What is the root of تَوْأَم (twin)


*تأم* or وأم


> 2. What is the difference between the plurals توائم and توأمان


توأمان (dual) is used for two babies and توائم for more than two.


> 3. There is no feminine form, correct? She is my twin sister, we are twins (both females ) هي أختي التوأم، نحن توائم


The feminine form is توأمة and توأم is also used for females.


> 3. I will take care of the twins سوف أهتم بالتوائم/ بالتوأمين


Both can be used. بالتوأمين for two and توائم for more.


> 4. How would you translate: she is pregnant and she is expecting twins إنها حامل وتنتظر توأمين


I'd say توأمين or the number +توائم for more than two babies.


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## Aliph

Hi Sunshine, thank you! May I ask you something that I don’t understand?

I thought that *twins* means *2 human beings born the same day from the same mother.* How can there be more then two twins? Do you speak of 3 babies who were conceived by the same parents at the same time or a group of couples of twins from different families?

Could you maybe write an exemple to clarify the difference between those two plurals توأمان and  توائم ?


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## elroy

In Arabic, توأم just means one of more than one baby born at the same time to the same mother.

توأمان = twins
ثلاثة توائم = triplets
أربعة توائم = quadruplets
etc.


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## Sun-Shine

I agree with Elroy.


elroy said:


> توأمان = twins
> ثلاثة توائم = triplets
> أربعة توائم = quadruplets
> etc.





> In Arabic, توأم *just means one* of more than one baby born at the same time to the same mother.


I'm not sure if it only means one. Aren't هما توأم and هما توأمان correct?


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## elroy

I think it has to be هما توأمان.  A توأم is one twin.


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## Aliph

Hi Sun-Shine and Elroy, thank you for your posts.
At last, I understood a difference between Arabic and English about twins.
In Arabic توأم means one of two or more children children issued from the same pregnancy.
As Elroy points out triplets are ثلاثة توائم but there seem to be other ways to say it.
ولادات متعددة - ويكيبيديا
Wikipedia refers to triplets by using the expression three twin brothers ثلاثة أشقاء توأم and in the following sentence

يمكن أن تكون مجموعة التوائم الثلاثية عبارة عن *توأم* متطابق ناتج عن بويضة واحدة وشقيق ثالث لهما ناتج عن بويضة ثانية.

*I do not understand why they use the singular توأم and not the dual توأمان *
Do you know why? Or am I making a comprehension mistake?


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## Sun-Shine

That's what I said:


Sun-Shine said:


> I'm not sure if it only means one. Aren't هما توأم and هما توأمان correct?


People use توأم referring to twins (two babies). 
This is debatable. In Arabic, some considers هما توأم correct but others don't.


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## Aliph

Thank you Sun-Shine for repeating. It confirms why I am sometimes so confused hearing at different people speaking and using singular instead of dual or plural.


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## elroy

Sun-Shine said:


> In Arabic, some considers هما توأم correct but others don't.


 Unless I’ve missed something, your source only includes one argument in favor of هما توأم: that this usage is found in colloquial Arabic and should thus be considered فصيح.  By that argument, anything that is used in colloquial is also acceptable in MSA.  You don’t really believe that, do you?


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## Mahaodeh

I have to admit that I too thought that توأم is like زوج and refers to both, until I checked several dictionaries and found that elroy is right, it refers to one of two or more.


elroy said:


> By that argument, anything that is used in colloquial is also acceptable in MSA.  You don’t really believe that, do you?


I don't even think that the writer of the footnote believes that, if you read carefully you will find that he says: أما النحويون الذين يوثق بعلمهم .... فقد قالوا: يقال للواحد توأم وهما توأمان - he's basically saying that trustworthy linguists don't take the colloquial usage as correct in fus7a.


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## Sun-Shine

elroy said:


> By that argument, anything that is used in colloquial is also acceptable in MSA.  You don’t really believe that, do you?


I agree with you that توأم refers to one of two or more. But we can find توأم (used for twins) in many articles. That's because in the past some people used it to refer to twins (2) and it became debatable.

By colloquial he means (words people used in the past not now.)


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## Aliph

To summarize the discussion:
Elroy’s statement is easy and logic  the singular for one twin, the dual for two twins and the plural for several.



Mahaodeh said:


> I have to admit that I too thought that توأم is like زوج and refers to both, until I checked several dictionaries and found that elroy is right, it refers to one of two or more.



I am glad to hear from Mahaodeh that he also thought that توأم (singular) ment twins. (As for زوج that will be the object for another post. )

*Does that mean that in dialect (Levantine and in particular Palestinian Arabic) توأم is admitted for two siblings born from the same mother at the same time?*


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## Sun-Shine

I think that in _all dialects_ توأم refers to twins (two siblings born from the same mother at the same time).


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## Schem

Tūm توم definitely refers to the pair itself in my dialect. A single twin is often referred to by شقّ التوم literally meaning half a twin pair.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic توم (tōm) is used for a pair of twins.  I think I would use the MSA توأم for a single twin.


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## Sun-Shine

elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic توم (tōm) is used for a pair of twins.


توأم= توم right?
What about توأمان? is it تومين?


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## elroy

I think توم comes from توأم, if that’s what you’re asking.  As I said, though, توم is used for a *pair* of twins: for example, عندها توم بنات.  For a single twin I think I would borrow the MSA توأم: for example, عندي صاحب توأم.

What would you say in Egyptian for these?


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## Sun-Shine

elroy said:


> What would you say in Egyptian for these?


عندها بنتين توأم
أنا وصاحبتي شبه بعض زي التوأم

What I mean by:


Sun-Shine said:


> I think that in _all dialects_ توأم refers to twins (two siblings born from the same mother at the same time).


That all dialect use _the singular form_ to refer to a pair of twins.


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## Aliph

الف شكر for those bonus informations.


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