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===Nouns=== | ===Nouns=== | ||
====Gender==== | |||
There are two main genders: masculine and feminine. Plural and collective nouns are considered masculine. Double plurals, however, are feminine. | |||
Nouns with a non-final high tone are often masculine, and nouns ending in ''-ó'' are most often feminine. However, these are not reliable rules but rather tendencies. Sometimes, the gender of words is distinguished solely by tone. This distinction is lost in the nominative and genitive cases. Of course, they still use different articles and verb forms. | |||
e.g. Absolutive: ''ínan(ki)'' "boy", ''inán(ti)'' "girl" | |||
:Nominative: ''inan(ki/ti)'' "boy/girl" | |||
:Genitive: ''inán(ki/ti)'' "boy/girl" | |||
====Number==== | ====Number==== | ||
Plural is formed with ''-oóyn'' (definite: ''-oóyki'') or ''-yáal'' (definite: ''-yáalki''). The ending ''-yáal'' is used for nouns (mostly masculine) ending in ''-e'' or ''-i'', e.g. ''tuké'' "crow" → ''tukeyáal''. All other nouns take the ending ''-oóyn''. Note that both endings override any other high tones in the word. For feminine nouns ending in ''-o'', the ''-o'' becomes ''a'' and an epithetic ''th'' is added before the ending. For example, ''maghaaló'' "city" + ''-oóyn'' → ''maghaalathoóyn'' "cities". Masculine nouns assimilate an ''-o'' to the ending. | Plural is formed with ''-oóyn'' (definite: ''-oóyki'') or ''-yáal'' (definite: ''-yáalki''). The ending ''-yáal'' is used for nouns (mostly masculine) ending in ''-e'' or ''-i'', e.g. ''tuké'' "crow" → ''tukeyáal''. All other nouns take the ending ''-oóyn''. Note that both endings override any other high tones in the word. For feminine nouns ending in ''-o'', the ''-o'' becomes ''a'' and an epithetic ''th'' is added before the ending. For example, ''maghaaló'' "city" + ''-oóyn'' → ''maghaalathoóyn'' "cities". Masculine nouns assimilate an ''-o'' to the ending. | ||