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TolsianR: Difference between revisions
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=====''Gender''===== | =====''Gender''===== | ||
On many nouns ending in a vowel, gender is identifiable as -''e'' and -''o'' are masculine markers, while -''a'' is a feminine marker. But nouns ending with a consonant don't provide such cues. Animatedness is marked in the accusative case as the prefix will be ''ke''- (or ''k''- before a vowel) in the case of an inanimate noun, and ''dake''- (or ''dak''- before a vowel) in the case of an animate noun ; and in the genitive case, with a suffix ''-o'' for inanimate nouns (transformed into | On many nouns ending in a vowel, gender is identifiable as -''e'' and -''o'' are masculine markers, while -''a'' is a feminine marker. But nouns ending with a consonant don't provide such cues. Animatedness is marked in the accusative case as the prefix will be ''ke''- (or ''k''- before a vowel) in the case of an inanimate noun, and ''dake''- (or ''dak''- before a vowel) in the case of an animate noun ; and in the genitive case, with a suffix ''-o'' for inanimate nouns (transformed into /w/ after a vowel) and ''-do'' for animate nouns (see section on cases for more details). Also, "natural" gender is usually reflected in the grammatical gender (nous which refer to male beings usually are masculine, and vice-versa) ; and "natural" animatedness is usually reflected in grammatical animatedness as well : people, animals and, it is worth noticing, plants, are usually animate, while objects, concepts etc are usually inanimate. | ||
Articles and adjectives agree in gender with nouns depending on their being masculine or feminine, while verbs have a different conjugation depending on the animate vs inanimate opposition, and the accusative and genitive markers differ as well. In the plural there is a neutral form if masculine and feminine nouns are under the scope of the same modifier ; in adjectives, the vowel associated with neutral is -''i''. If a verb has a complex subject comprised of animate and inanimate nouns, most usually the animate conjugation will be used. | Articles and adjectives agree in gender with nouns depending on their being masculine or feminine, while verbs have a different conjugation depending on the animate vs inanimate opposition, and the accusative and genitive markers differ as well. In the plural there is a neutral form if masculine and feminine nouns are under the scope of the same modifier ; in adjectives, the vowel associated with neutral is -''i''. If a verb has a complex subject comprised of animate and inanimate nouns, most usually the animate conjugation will be used. | ||