Dual (grammatical number)
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NikNovi
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corrected the order in the table for wolf in nominative (sing-dual-plur) and separated the table with numerals
'''Dual''' is a [[grammatical number]] that some languages use in addition to singular and [[plural]]. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities (objects or persons) identified by the noun or pronoun. Verbs can also have dual agreement forms in these languages.
== Comparative characteristics ==
Many languages make a distinction between singular and [[plural]]: English, for example, distinguishes between ''man'' and ''men'', or ''house'' and ''houses''. In some [[language]]s, in addition to such singular and plural forms, there is also a '''dual''' form, which is used when exactly two people or things are meant. In many languages with dual forms, use of the dual is mandatory, and the plural is used only for groups greater than two. However, use of the dual is optional in some languages such as many modern Arabic dialects including [[Egyptian Arabic language|Egyptian Arabic]]. In other languages such as [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], the dual exists only for a few measure words and for words that naturally come in pairs and are not used in the plural except in rhetoric: eyes, ears, and so forth. In [[Slovenian language|Slovene]] use of the dual is mandatory, but nouns which would not have a plural form have lost the original dual and adapted the etymological plural form as their dual.
Although relatively few languages have the dual number and most have no number or only singular and plural, using different words for groups of two and groups greater than two is not uncommon. [[English language|English]] has words distinguishing dual vs. plural number, including: ''both/all'', ''between/among'', ''latter/last'', ''either/any'', and ''neither/none''. [[Japanese language|Japanese]], which has no grammatical number, also has words ''dochira'' (which of the two) and ''dore'' (which of the three or more), etc.
== Use in modern languages ==
Among living languages, [[Literary Arabic|Modern Standard]] [[Arabic language|Arabic]] has a mandatory dual number, marked on nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns. (First-person dual forms, however, do not exist; compare this to the lack of third-person dual forms in the old Germanic languages.) Many of the spoken Arabic dialects have a dual marking for nouns (only), but its use is not mandatory. Likewise, [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] had a dual number, though its use was confined to standard phrases like "two hands", "two eyes", and "two arms".
The [[Inuktitut language]] uses dual forms; however, the related [[Greenlandic language]] does not (though it used to have them).
[[Austronesian languages]], particularly [[Polynesian languages]] such as [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], [[Niuean language|Niuean]] and [[Tongan language|Tongan]], possess a dual number for pronouns but not for nouns (indeed, they tend not to mark nouns for number at all). Other Austronesian languages, particularly those spoken in the [[Languages of the Philippines|Philippines]], have a dual first-person pronoun; these languages include [[Ilokano language|Ilokano]] (''data''), [[Tausug language|Tausug]] (''kita''), and [[Kapampangan language|Kapampangan]] (''ikata''). These forms mean ''we'', but specifically ''you and I''. This form once existed in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] but has largely disappeared, save for certain rural dialects, since the middle of the 20th century.
The dual was a standard feature of the [[Proto-Uralic]] language, and lives on in [[Sami languages]] and [[Samoyedic languages]], while other branches like Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian have lost it. Sami also features dual pronouns, expressing the concept of "we two here" as contrasted to "we". Nenets, a Samoyedic language, features a complete set of dual [[possessive suffix]]es for two systems, the number of possessors and the number of possessed objects (for example, "two houses of us two" expressed in one word).
The dual form is also used in several modern Indo-European languages, such as [[Scottish Gaelic]], [[Slovenian language|Slovene]], [[Frisian language|Frisian]] and [[Sorbian language|Sorbian]] (see below for details). The dual was a common feature of all early Slavic languages at the beginning of the second millennium.
==Hebrew==
===Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew===
In [[Biblical_Hebrew_language|Biblical]], [[Mishnaic_Hebrew_language|Mishnaic]], and [[Medieval_Hebrew|Medieval]] Hebrew, like [[Arabic]] and other [[Semitic Languages]], all nouns can have singular, plural or dual forms, and there is still a debate whether there are vestiges of dual verbal forms and pronouns.<ref>Dual Personal Pronouns and Dual Verbs in Hebrew Gary Rendsburg The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Ser., Vol. 73, No. 1 (Jul., 1982), pp. 38-58
doi:10.2307/1454459</ref> However, in practice, most nouns use only singular and plural forms. Usually ים {{unicode|-īm}} is added to [[Grammatical_gender#Objects_and_abstractions|masculine]] words to make them plural for example ''ספר/ספרים'' {{unicode|sēpher/səphārīm}} "book/books", whilst with [[Grammatical_gender#Objects_and_abstractions|feminine]] nouns the ה {{unicode|-ā}} is replaced with ות {{unicode|-ōṯ}}. For example ''פרה/פרות'' {{unicode|pārā/pārōṯ}} "cow/cows". An example of the dual form is ''יום/ימיים/ימים'' {{unicode|yōm/yāmīm/yāmạyim}} "day/two days/[two or more] days". Some words occur so often in pairs that what is technically the dual form is in practice used for the general plural, such as ''עין/עינים'' {{unicode|ʻạyin/ʻēnạyim}} "eye/eyes", used even in a sentence like, "The spider has eight eyes." Sometimes, words can change meaning depending on whether the dual or plural form is used, for example; ''יד'' {{unicode|yāḏ}} could mean either "hand" or "handle", but ''ידים'' {{unicode|yāḏạyim}} in the dual form always means hands, whilst ''ידות'' {{unicode|yāḏōṯ}} in the plural form means handles. Adjectives, verbs, and pronouns have only singular and plural, with the plural forms of these being used with dual nouns.
===Modern Hebrew===
In [[Modern Hebrew]] as used in [[Israel]], there is also a dual number, but its use is very restricted. The dual form is usually used in expressions of time and number. These nouns have plurals as well, which are used for numbers higher than two, for example:
{| class="wikitable"
! Singular || Double || Triple
|-
| פעם אחת {{unicode|páʻam aḥat}} (''once'')
| פעמיים {{unicode|paʻamáyim}} (''twice'')
| שלוש פעמים {{unicode|shalosh pəʻamim}} (''thrice'')
|-
| שבוע אחד {{unicode|shavúaʻ eḥad}} (''one week'')
| שבועיים {{unicode|shəvuʻáyim}} (''two weeks'')
| שלושה שבועות {{unicode|shəlosha shəvuʻot}}
|-
| מאה {{unicode|meʼa}} (''one hundred'')
| מאתיים {{unicode|matáyim}} (''two hundred'')
| שלוש מאות {{unicode|shalosh meʼot}} (''three hundred'')
|}
The dual is also used for some body parts, for instance:
:רגל {{unicode|régel}} (''leg'') → רגליים {{unicode|ragláyim}} (''legs'')
:אוזן {{unicode|ózen}} (''ear'') → אוזניים {{unicode|oznáyim}} (''ears'')
:עין {{unicode|ʻáyin}} (''eye'') → עיניים {{unicode|ʻeynáyim}} (''eyes'')
:יד {{unicode|yad}} (''hand'') → ידיים {{unicode|yadáyim}} (''hands'')
In this case, even if there are more than two, the dual is still used, for instance {{unicode|lə-kélev yesh arbaʻ '''ragláyim'''}} ("a dog has four '''legs'''").
== The dual in Indo-European languages ==
Linguists have concluded based on an analysis of living and dead languages that a dual can be reconstructed for the [[Proto-Indo-European language]], which has been preserved in the earliest records of [[Indo-European languages]]. The best evidence for the dual can be found in [[Sanskrit]] and the [[Ancient Greek language]] used in [[Homer]]ic texts, where its use was obligatory for all inflected categories including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. The dual can also be found in [[Common Slavic]] and [[Proto-Germanic]] languages, as well as [[Old_Irish_language|Old Irish]] and [[Avestan]]. Based on [[Sanskrit]] and the Slavic and Baltic languages, it can be established that the dual in Proto-Indo-European had only three distinct forms: a nominative-accusative-vocative, a dative-ablative-instrumental, and a genitive-locative form.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
Although the dual can be reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, it is currently rarely found in any of the daughter languages. The dual is still actively used in [[Scottish Gaelic]] dialects, [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Breton language|Breton]], [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]], and [[Slovenian Language|Slovene]]. Remnants of the dual can be found in many of the remaining daughter languages, where certain forms of the noun are used with the number two (see below for examples).
===The dual in Greek===
The dual can be found in Ancient Greek Homeric texts such as the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]],'' although its use is only sporadic, owing as much to artistic prerogatives as dictional and metrical requirements within the [[Hexameter|hexametric meter]]. There were only two distinct forms of the dual in Ancient Greek.
In classical Greek, the dual was all but lost, except in the [[Attic dialect|Attic]] dialect of [[Athens]], where it persisted until the fifth century B.C. Even in this case, its use depended on the author and certain stock expressions.
[[Koine Greek]] and [[Modern Greek]] do not have any remnants of the dual.
===The dual in the Celtic languages===
Reconstructed [[Common Celtic]] nominal and adjectival declensions contain distinct dual forms; pronouns and verbs do not. In [[Old Irish]], nouns and the definite article still have dual forms, but only when accompanied by the numeral ''da'' "two". Traces of the dual remain in [[Middle Welsh]], in nouns denoting pairs of body parts that incorporate the numeral two: e.g. ''deulin'' (from ''glin'' "knee"), ''dwyglust'' (from ''clust'' "ear").<ref>{{cite book | last = Lewis | first = Henry | coauthors = Holger Pedersen | title = A Concise Comparative Celtic Grammar | location = Göttingen | publisher = Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht | year = 1989 | edition = 3rd edition | pages = §§246, 468 | id = ISBN 3-525-26102-0}} {{cite book | last = Thurneysen | first = Rudolf | title = A Grammar of Old Irish | others = Trans. by [[D. A. Binchy]] and [[Osborn Bergin]] | publisher = Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies | year = 1993 | origyear = 1946 | id = ISBN 1-85500-161-6}} {{cite book | last = Evans | first = D. Simon | title = A Grammar of Middle Welsh | publisher = Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies | year = 1989 | origyear = 1964 | pages = §§30, 33 | id = ISBN 1-85500-000-8}}</ref>
In the modern languages, there are still significant remnants of dual number in [[Scottish Gaelic]] in nominal phrases containing the numeral ''dà'' (including the higher numerals 12, 22, etc.) As the following table shows, ''dà'' combines with a singular noun, which is [[lenition|lenited]]. Masculine nouns take no special inflection, but feminine nouns have a [[palatalization|slenderized]] dual form, which is in fact identical to the dative singular.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Ó Maolalaigh
| first = Roibeard
| coauthors = Iain MacAonghuis
| title = Scottish Gaelic in Three Months
| publisher = Hugo's Language Books
| date= 1997
| id = ISBN 978-0-85285-234-7}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! Singular || Dual || Plural
|-
| ''cù'' ("a dog", ''masculine'')
| ''dà chù'' ("two dogs")
| ''trì coin'' ("three dogs")
|-
| ''clach'' ("a stone", ''feminine'')
| ''dà chloich'' ("two stones")
| ''trì clachan'' ("three stones")
|}
Languages of the [[Brythonic]] branch do not have dual number. As mentioned above for Middle Welsh, some nouns can be said to have dual forms, prefixed with a form of the numeral "two" (Breton ''daou-/div-'', Welsh ''dau-/deu-/dwy-'', Cornish ''dew-/diw-''). This process is not fully productive, however, and the prefixed forms are semantically restricted. For example, Breton ''daouarn'' (< ''dorn'' "hand") can only refer to one person's pair of hands, not any two hands from two different people. Welsh ''deufis'' must refer to a period of two consecutive months, whereas ''dau fis'' can be any two months.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Heinecke | first = Johannes | title = Is there a Category of Dual in Breton or Welsh? | journal = Journal of Celtic Linguistics | volume = 7 | year = 2002 | pages = 85–101}}</ref>
===The dual in the Germanic languages===
The dual was present in all the early Germanic languages, as well as in [[Proto-Germanic]].
[[Gothic language|Gothic]] had markings for the first and second person for both the verbs and pronouns, for example ''wit'' "we two" as compared to ''weis'' "we, more than two". [[Old English language|Old English]], [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] and other old Germanic languages had dual marking only on first and second person pronouns.
The dual has disappeared as a productive form in all the living languages, with loss of the dual occurring in [[North Frisian]] dialects only quite recently<ref>Howe, Stephen. ''The Personal Pronouns in the Germanic Languages. A study of personal pronoun morphology and change in the Germanic languages from the first records to the present day''. [Studia Linguistica Germanica, 43]. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1996. (xxii + 390 pp.) pp. 193-195.</ref>. In [[Austro-Bavarian]], the old dual pronouns have replaced the standard plural pronouns, for example, accusative ''enk'', ''you plural''. A similar development in the pronoun system can be seen in [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] and [[Faroese language|Faroese]]. Another remnant of the dual can be found in the use of the pronoun ''begge'' ("both") in the Scandinavian languages of [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Danish language|Danish]], and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and ''báðir/báðar/bæði'' in Faroese. In these languages, in order to state "all + number", the constructions are ''begge to''/''báðir tveir/báðar tvær/bæði tvey'' ("all two") but ''alle tre''/''allir tríggir/allar tríggjar/øll trý'' ("all three"), while the form ''*alle to'' is unattested. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
===The dual in the Baltic Languages===
Among the [[Baltic languages]], the dual form existed but is now nearly obsolete in standard [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]. It can be occasionally found in poetic contexts and some dialects.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The dual form ''Du litu'' was still used on two [[litas]] coins issued in 1925, but the plural form (''2 litai'') is used on modern two litas coins.
{| class="wikitable"
! Singular || Dual || Plural
|-
| ''vyras'' ("a man")
| ''vyru'' ("two men")
| ''vyrai'' ("men")
|-
| ''mergina'' ("a girl")
| ''mergini'' ("two girls")
| ''merginos'' ("girls")
|-
| ''einu'' ("I go")
| ''einava'' ("We two go")
| ''einame'' ("We (more than two) go")
|}
=== The dual in the Slavic languages ===
[[Common Slavic]] had a complete singular-dual-plural number system, although the dual paradigms showed considerable [[syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]]. Verbs had the same form in the second and third person dual; however, nouns, adjectives, and pronouns inherited the three Proto-Indo-European dual forms.<ref>[http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/grammar/grammar31.html Common Slavic Grammar] from the Indo-European Database</ref>
<!-- Insert an example here -->
Of the living languages, only [[Slovene language|Slovene]] and [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]] have preserved the dual number as a productive form. In all of the remaining languages, its influence is still found in the declension of nouns of which there are commonly only two: eyes, ears, shoulders, in certain fixed expressions, and the agreement of nouns when used with numbers.<ref>Mayer, Gerald L. (1973) "Common Tendencies in the Syntactic Development of 'Two', 'Three,' and 'Four' in Slavic." ''The Slavic and East European Journal'' 17.3:308–314.</ref>
In all the languages, the declension of the "two" maintains most of its dual characteristics, which can be verified from the table below.
<!-- please stop adding to this table? see Talk page -->
{|class="wikitable sortable"
! language|| nom.-acc.-voc.|| gen.-loc. || dat. || instr.
|-
|'''Common Slavic''' || дъва (dǔva) (masc.) / дъвѣ (dǔvě) (fem./nt.) || дъвою (dǔvoju) || дъвѣма (dǔvěma) || дъвѣма (dǔvěma)
|-
|'''Belarusian'''||два (masc./nt.) дзве (fem.) || двух (masc./nt.)<br>дзвюх (fem.) || двум (masc./nt.)<br>дзвюм (fem.) || двума (masc./nt.)<br>дзвюма (fem.)
|-
|'''Croatian'''|| dva (masc./nt.) dvije (fem.) || dvoje/dvojice (masc./nt.) dviju (fem.)²|| dvama (masc./nt.) dvima/dvijema (fem.) || dvama (masc./nt.) dvima/dvijema (fem.)
|-
|'''Czech'''|| dva (masc.) / dvě (fem./nt.) || dvou || dvěma || dvěma
|-
|'''Polish''' || dwa (masc./nt.) / dwie (fem.)<sup>1</sup> || dwu / dwóch || dwu / dwom || dwoma
|-
|'''Russian''' || два (masc./nt.) / две (fem.) || двух || двум || двумя
|-
|'''Slovak'''|| dva (masc. inanim.), dvaja (masc. anim.) / dve (fem., nt.) || dvoch || dvom || dvoma/dvomi
|-
|'''Serbian'''|| два/dva (masc./nt.)<br>две/dve (fem.) || двају/dvaju (masc./nt.)<br>двеју/dveju (fem.)²|| двома/dvоma (masc./nt.)<br>двема/dvema (fem.) || двома/dvоma (masc./nt.)<br>двема/dvema (fem.)
|-
|'''Slovene''' || dva (masc.) dve (fem./nt.) || dveh || dvema || dvema
|-
|'''Sorbian''' || dwaj (masc.) dwě (fem./nt.) || dweju² || dwěmaj || dwěmaj
|-
|'''Ukrainian'''|| два (masc./nt.) дві (fem.) || двох || двом ||двома
|-
|}
Notes:
# In some Slavic languages, there is a further distinction between animate and inanimate masculine nouns. In Polish, for animate masculine nouns the possible nominative forms are ''dwaj, dwóch, or dwu''. The words ''oba'' and ''obidva'' meaning "both" are declined similarly to the numeral "two."
In Common Slavic, the rules where relatively simple for determining the appropriate case for the noun, when it was used with a numeral. The following rules apply:
# With the numeral "one", both the noun, adjective, and numeral were in the same singular case, with the numeral being declined as an adjective.
# With the numeral "two", both the noun, adjective, and numeral were in the same dual case. There were separate forms for the masculine and neuter-feminine nouns.
# With the numerals "three" and "four," the noun, adjective, and numeral were in the same plural case.
# With any numeral above "four", in the nominative case, the numeral was followed by the noun and adjective in the genitive plural case. For all other cases, both the noun, adjective, and numeral were in the same plural case.
With the loss of the dual in most of the Slavic languages, the above pattern now is only seen in the forms of the numbers for the tens, hundreds, and rarely thousands. This can be seen by examining the following table:
{|class="wikitable"
! Language || 10 || 20 ||30 || 50 || 100 || 200 || 300 || 500
|-
|'''Common Slavic''' || десѧть (desętǐ) || дъв<span style="color: red">а</span> десѧти (dǔv<span style="color: red">ě</span> desęti)<sup style="color: red">[error]</sup> || три десѧте (tri desęte) || пѧть десѧть (pętǐ desętǔ) || съто (sǔto) || дъвѣ сътѣ (dǔvě sǔtě) || три съта (tri sǔta) || пѧть сътъ (pętǐ sǔtǔ)
|-
|'''Bulgarian''' || десет || двадесет || тридесет || петдесет || сто || двеста || триста || петстотин
|-
|'''Belarusian''' || дзесяць || дваццаць || трыццаць || пяцьдзесят || сто || дзвесце || трыста || пяцьсот
|-
|'''Czech'''|| deset || dvacet || třicet|| padesát || sto || dvěstě || třista || pětset
|-
|'''Slovene'''|| deset || dvajset || trideset || petdeset || sto || dvesto || tristo || petsto
|-
|'''Polish'''|| dziesięć || dwadzieścia || trzydzieści || pięćdziesiąt || sto || dwieście || trzysta || pięćset
|-
|'''Russian'''|| десять || двадцать || тридцать || пятьдесят || сто || двести || триста || пятьсот
|-
|'''Serbian and Croatian'''|| десет/<br>deset || двадесет/<br>dvadeset || тридесет/<br>trideset || педесет/<br>pedeset || сто/<br>sto || двеста/двесто/двјеста/двјесто/<br>dvesta/dvesto/dvjesta/dvjesto<sup>1</sup> || триста/тристо/<br>trista/tristo<sup>1</sup> || петсто/<br>petsto
|-
|'''Upper Sorbian'''<ref>These forms are taken from De Bray, R. G. A. ''Guide to the Slavonic Languages''. London, 1951.</ref>|| dźesać || dwaceći || třiceći || pjećdźesat || sto || dwě sćě || tři sta || pjeć stow
|-
|'''Slovak'''|| desať || dvadsať || tridsať || päťdesiat || sto || dvesto || tristo || päťsto
|-
|'''[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]'''|| десять || двадцять || тридцять || п'ятдесят || сто || двісті || триста || п'ятсот
|-
|}
<sup>1</sup><small>-sta is preferred in Serbian, -sto in Croatian for numbers 200 and 300; for numbers of 400 on, only -sto is used</small>
<sup style="color: red">[error]</sup><small>The transliterated forms are not equivalent—which implies a [[Typo|typographical error]]. Please, correct if you know whether form (''i.e.'' which of the two forms) is wrong! Either the Cyrillic transliteration should be changed to ''дъв<span style="color: red">ѣ</span> десѧти'' or the Latin one—to ''dǔv<span style="color: red">a</span> desęti.'' Other Slavic examples suggest an error in the Latin rather than Cyrillic transliteration.</small>
In those languages that lost the dual, the following rules apply (except in Bulgarian and Macedonian, which have lost all declensions):<ref>R. G. A. De Bray, ''op. cit.''</ref>
# With the numeral "one", both the noun, adjectives, and numeral are in the same singular case, with the numeral being declined as an adjective.
# With the numerals "two", "three" and "four", there are two different possibilities. In Polish, Czech, Slovak, Sorbian, and Ukrainian, the numeral, adjective, and noun are in the same nominative plural case. In Ukrainian, the stress on the noun is that of the genitive singular (or the old dual). In Russian, Belarusian, and Serbian and Croatian, the genitive singular is used for the noun, which in most cases resembles the dual in form is used. The adjective can be either in the genitive singular or plural forms. In all other cases, the appropriate plural form is used.
# With the numerals "five" and above, in the nominative case, the numeral is followed by the noun and adjectives in the genitive plural case. For all other cases, both the noun, adjectives, and numeral are in the same plural case.
#
The resulting changes can be seen in the table below where the word "wolf" is used to form nominative noun phrases with various numerals.
{|class="wikitable"
! || "wolf" || "wolves" || "two wolves" || "three wolves" || "five wolves"
|-
| noun form || ''nom. sing.'' || ''nom. plur.''
| colspan="2" align="center" | varies
| ''gen. plur.''
|-
|'''Common Slavic''' || vǐlkǔ || vǐlci || dъva vǐlka (''nom. dual'') || tri vǐlci (''nom. pl.'') || pętǐ vǐlkǔ
|-
|'''[[Czech language|Czech]]'''|| vlk || vlci
| colspan="2" align="center" | dva/tři vlci (''nom. pl.'')|| pět vlků
|-
|'''[[Polish language|Polish]]'''|| wilk || wilki
| colspan="2" align="center" | dwa/trzy wilki (''nom. pl.'') || pięć wilków
|-
|'''[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]'''|| вовк || вовки́
| colspan="2" align="center" | два/три во́вки (''nom. pl.'') || п'ять вовків
|-
|'''[[Russian language|Russian]]'''|| волк || волки
| colspan="2" align="center" | два/три волкa (''gen. sg.'')|| пять волков
|-
|'''[[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Croatian language|Croatian]]''' || вук/vuk || вукови/vukovi
| colspan="2" align="center" | два/три вука/dva/tri vuka (''gen. sg.'')|| пет вукова/pet vukova
|}
The dual has also left traces in the declension of nouns describing body parts that humans customarily had two of, for example: eyes, ears, legs, breasts, and hands. Often the plural declension is used to give a figurative meaning. The table below summarizes the key such points.
{|class="wikitable"
! Language || Examples
|-
|'''Czech'''|| certain body parts and their modifying adjectives require in the instrumental and genitive plural cases dual forms : ''se svýma očima'' (instrumental dual: "with one's own (two) eyes") or ''u nohou'' (genitive dual: "at the (two) feet"). Colloquial Czech will often substitute the dual instrumental for the literary plural instrumental case.
|-
|'''[[Polish language|Polish]]'''
| ''Oko'' ("eye") and ''ucho'' ("ear") have plural stems deriving from old dual forms, and alternative instrumental and genitive plural forms with archaic dual endings: gen. pl. ''oczu/ócz/oczów'', ''uszu''/''uszów''; instr. pl. ''oczami/oczyma'', ''uszami/uszyma''). The declension of ''ręka'' ("hand, arm") also contains old dual forms (nom./acc./voc. pl ''ręce'', instr. pl. ''rękami/'''rękoma''''', loc. sg./pl. ''rękach/'''ręku'''''). The historically dual forms are usually used to refer a person's two hands (''dziecko na ręku'' "child-in-arms"), while the regularized plural forms are used elsewhere. Other archaic dual forms, including dual verbs, can be encountered in older literature and in dialects: ''Jak nie '''chceta''', to nie '''musita''''' "If you don't want to, you don't have to".<ref>{{cite book|last = Swan|first = Oscar E.|title = A Grammar of Contemporary Polish|publisher = Slavica|date = 2002|location = Bloomington, IN|id = ISBN 0-89357-296-9|pages=pp. 57, 199, 216}}</ref>
|-
|'''Slovak''' || In Slovak, the genitive plural and instrumental plural for the words "eyes" and "ears" has also retained its dual forms: ''očú/očí'' and ''ušú/uší''.
|-
|'''Ukrainian'''|| The words eyes and shoulders had dual forms in the instrumental plural case: очима ("eyes") and плечима ("shoulders"). Furthermore, the nominative plural word "вуса", which is the dual of "вус" ("whisker"), refers to the moustache, while the true nominative plural word "вуси" refers to whiskers.
|'''Bulgarian'''|| The loss of the dual led to the creation of the ''numerical plural form (broyna mnozhestvena forma)'' in the masculine, which follows ''all'' numbers, as well as several words like ''kolko'' (how many) and ''nyakolko'' (several) –
* ''stol'' (chair) → ''mnogo stolove'' (many chairs) → ''dva stol'''a''''' (two chairs)
|}
==== Slovene ====
The [[Slovene language]] is the only major Slavic language that retains full grammatical use of the dual, including distinct dual forms for both nouns and verbs. The dual declension merges with the plural in certain nominal cases (e.g., genitive). Note that dual number is compatible with use of the pronoun ''oba(dva)'' or ''obe(dve)'' ("both").
Nominative case of noun "wolf", with and without numerals:
{|class="wikitable"
|+ without numerals
! || nom. sg. (wolf) || nom. dual (2 wolves) || nom. pl. (wolves)
|-
|'''Slovene'''|| volk || volkova || volkovi
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable"
|+ with numerals
! || wolf || 2 wolves || 3 (or 4) wolves || 5 (+) wolves (gen. pl.)
|-
|'''Slovene'''|| en volk || dva volkova || trije volkovi || pet volkov
|-
|}
The dual is recognised by many Slovene speakers as one of the most distinctive features of the language and a mark of recognition, and is often mentioned in tourist brochures.
For verbs, the endings in the present tense are given as ''-va'', ''-ta'', ''-ta''. The table below shows a comparison of the conjugation of the verb '''oddati''', which means '''to give away''' and belongs to Class I in the singular, dual, and plural.
{|class="wikitable" align = "center"
! || '''Singular''' || '''Dual''' || '''Plural'''
|-
|First Person || odd'''am''' || odd'''ava''' || odd'''amo'''
|-
|Second Person || odd'''aš''' || odd'''ata''' || odd'''ate'''
|-
|Third Person || odd'''a''' || odd'''ata''' || odd'''ajo'''
|-
|}
In the imperative the endings are given as '''-iva''' for the first person dual and '''-ita''' for the second person dual. The table below shows the imperative forms for the verb '''hoditi''' (to walk) in the first and second persons of the imperative.
{|class="wikitable" align = "center"
! || '''Singular''' || '''Dual''' || '''Plural'''
|-
|First Person || - || hodiva || hodimo
|-
|Second Person || hodi || hodita || hodite
|-
|}
<!-- Insert information about Sorbian -->
== Languages with dual number ==
* [[Indo-European languages]]
** [[Avestan language|Avestan]]
** [[Scottish Gaelic]] (only nouns, only following the numeral for 'two')
** [[Frisian]] (only pronouns in some [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]] dialects)
** [[Ancient Greek]]
** [[Old Irish]]
** [[Old Russian language|Old Russian]]
** [[Sanskrit]]
** [[Slovenian language|Slovene]]
** [[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]
** [[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]]
* [[Uralic languages]]
** [[Khanty language|Khanty]]
** [[Mansi language|Mansi]]
** [[Nenets language|Nenets]]
** [[Sami languages]]
* [[Afro-asiatic languages]]
** [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] (Assyrian and Babylonian)
** [[Arabic language|Arabic]] : [[Classical Arabic|Classical]] and [[Literary Arabic|Modern Standard Arabic]]
** [[Biblical Hebrew]]
** [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] (including [[Coptic language|Coptic]])
** [[Maltese language|Maltese]]
* [[Inuktitut]]
* [[Quenya]] (not a natural language)
* [[American Sign Language]]
* [[Māori language|Māori]] (only the personal pronouns)
* [[Samoan language|Samoan]] (only the personal pronouns)
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==See also==
*[[Grammatical number]]
[[Category:Grammatical number]]
[[cs:Dvojné číslo]]
[[da:Dualis]]
[[de:Dual (Grammatik)]]
[[es:Número dual]]
[[fr:Duel (grammaire)]]
[[hr:Dvojina]]
[[he:זוגי]]
[[hu:Kettős szám]]
[[nl:Dualis]]
[[no:Dualis]]
[[nn:Dualis]]
[[nds:Tweetall]]
[[pl:Liczba podwójna]]
[[pt:Dual (número gramatical)]]
[[ru:Двойственное число]]
[[sl:Dvojina]]
[[fi:Kaksikko]]
[[sv:Dualis]]
[[uk:Двоїна]]
[[vec:Dual]]
[[zh:雙數]]