NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
DECLENSION (NUMBER AND CASE)

CONTENTS

• Number and case in nouns and adjectives
  • General rule
    • Use of the cases
      • Nominative
      •  Accusative
• Rules for the declension of nouns and adjectives - Outline
• Detailed rules and irregularities
  • Class A - feminine nouns and adjectives ending in -a
  • Class B - most other nouns and adjectives
    • General rule for the nom.pl.
    • General rule for the acc.pl.
    • Supporting vowel for the acc.pl.
    • Irregularities involving:
      • Nominals ending in -c, -ç -g, -q
      • Voicing of consonants
      • Stems ending in -ll-
      • Vowel and/or accent changes
      • Consonant doubling
      • Nominals ending in vowels
      • Other irregularities
  • Class C - Both nom. and acc. plural end in -s

NUMBER AND CASE IN NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

GENERAL RULE

Tundrian nouns and adjectives are declined for number and case. There are two numbers: singular and plural. There are two cases: nominative and accusative. It should be noted, however, that in nouns and adjectives (as opposed to the definite article and the demonstrative adjective) the distinction between nominative and accusative is only made in the plural .

USE OF THE CASES

The basic rule for the use of the cases is given below.

• The nominative is used in the following situations:
  • For the subject of the sentence:
    • Li caini han caut lâ vûlp. The dogs have caught the fox.
    • El ministro és arripat. The minister has arrived.
    • La javuta se banhará demán. The girl will bathe tomorrow.
    • La partiyta és finiyta. The game is over.
  • For the complement of stative verbs, in particular of esseir (to be), devêniyr (to become), volveir-se (to become) and restar (to stay):
    • Ella és la reyna. She is the queen.
    • Mêi amiyci son devêniyti campioni. My friends have become champions.
    • Cel livro se volverá el melhour livro del seyl. This book will become the best book of the century.
    • Xempre restará la mîa poriyna. She will always remain my little girl.
  • When in apposition to another noun in the nominative case:
    • Celi prêsidenti, touti Dêmocrati, han favorizat los syndicats. These presidents, all Democrats, have favoured the unions.
    • Ella deveine Catherina, la plus grand tzariyna rûssa. She became Catherine, the greatest Russian Empress.
  • In temporal absolutive constructions:
    • El ân xequent, mî amiyc me visitó denôu. Next year, my friend visited me again.
  • In titles, addresses, labels and other stand-alone expressions:
    • La guerra ê la paç. War and Peace.
    • La Casa Blanca, Washington. The White House, Washington.
  • When in any of the syntactical situations above and preceded by the numerical qualifiers circa (about), min que (less than, fewer) or plus que (more than):
    • Circa dzeç enfanti son vêniyti a lâ festa. About ten children came to the party.
    • Min que mil persoune han votat por nostro candidat. Fewer than a thousand people have voted for our candidate.
    • Elli son plus que treis mil a participar. They are more than three thousand to participate.
    • Son li magnífici, li circa dzeç compositouri qui dóminan lâ música clâssica. They are the magnificent ones, the roughly ten composers who dominate classical music.
• The accusative is used in the following situations:
  • For the direct object of the verb:
    • Li caini morsuron lâ vûlp. The dogs bit the fox.
    • La javuta si ha frait lo brâç. The girl has broken her arm.
  • For the complement of a preposition (except circa, min que and plus que):
    • En lâ isla vi havîa es centans de soldats japoneisos. On the island there were hundreds of Japanese soldiers.
    • Ha dat lo dinêr a los amiycs de sû fraire. He has given the money to his brother's friends.
    • Cel livro fu escrut per lo autour cêleur de scientza-fictzoun, Robert Heinlein. This book was written by the famous science-fiction author Robert Heinlein.
  • When in apposition to another noun in the accusative case:
    • Dé los livros al Rey Joân, lo Bón. He gave the books to King John, the Good.
  • When in any of the syntactical situations above and preceded by the numerical qualifiers circa (about), min que (less than, fewer) or plus que (more than):
    • Hoy enviat circa seutanta invitatzouns. I have sent about seventy invitations.
    • Passó min que dous sêmainas con sûa familha. He spent less than two weeks with his family.
    • Cêlebraron lâ victouria con plus que trinta amiycs. They celebrated the victory with more than thirty friends.

RULES FOR THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES - OUTLINE

For purposes of declension, Tundrian nouns and adjectives can be divided into four classes. Tha basic patterns for the four classes A,B, C and D are shown by the following examples:

Glosses: casa 'house', mur 'wall', taxi 'taxi', albûm 'album'.

• Class A includes all feminine nouns and adjectives ending in -a: casa (house), blanca (white [fem.]).
• Class B includes:
  • most nouns (of either gender) and adjectives ending in a consonant: mur (wall), vouç (voice), mal (bad).
  • nouns and adjectives ending in -e and -ë: homne (man), these (thesis), imagë (picture).
  • most masculine nouns and adjectives ending in -a: programma (program), socialista [when used with a masc. noun or adjective] (socialist.)
  • many masculine nouns and adjectives ending in -o: povlo (people), livro (book), pauvro [m.] (poor.)
  • nouns and adjectives ending in -eu, -éu, -âu, -êu, -ôu: cleu (nail), calhéu (pebble), clâu (key), dzêu (god), bôu (ox).
• Class C includes:
  • nouns ending in simple vowels and digraphs not listed in Class A and B: papá, comité, taxi, tî (uncle), buró, menú, tabû (taboo), baby, cangaróu, papegay (parrot), rey (king), flûy (river). Some of these are loanwords with obvious meanings, which I did not provide.
  • Abbreviated nouns ending in -o: radio, video, techno.
  • a few other words, such as Papa (Pope).
• Class D includes undeclinables, such as:
  • words of Latin origin ending in -ûm, -ûs: albûm, sinûs (sine).
  • letters of various alphabets: êl (=L), alpha, aleph.
  • musical notes: dó, fá.
  • compound nouns of the form finite verb + noun: avre-bottilhas (bottle-opener), tiyra-corças (corkscrew).
  • Latin and Greek loanwords ending in -is: oasis, stasis.
  • numerals used as nouns: dous (two), quatro (four).

DETAILED RULES AND IRREGULARITIES

CLASS A

• Feminine nouns and adjectives ending in -ca have two possible outcomes in the nom.pl., shown by the following examples:
  • avriyca / avriyque (shelter), banca / banque (bank), cieca / cieque (blind [f.]), rocca / rocque (rock)
  • amiyca / amiyce (girlfriend), auca / auce (goose), bûcca / bûcce (mouth), blanca / blance (white [f.])
• Similarly, feminine nouns and adjectives in -ga have two possible outcomes in the nom.pl.:
  • carga / cargue (load, charge), targa / targue (target)
  • chirourga / chirourgë (woman surgeon), longa / longë (long [f.])
• Forms with -ça and -gia always keep the soft consonant in the nom.pl., resulting in the spelling -ce and -gë: fâça / fâce (face), lûnça / lûnce (lynx), provinça / province (province), espongia / espongë (sponge), plagia / plagë (beach)
• Forms with -gua and -qua always keep the [w] glide in the nom.pl., resulting in the spelling -güe and -qüe:
  • lingua / lingüe (language, tongue), trigua / trigüe (truce)
  • antiqua / antiqüe (antique [f.]), aqua / aqüe (water)
• Words with the rare ending -gïa change to -gie in the nom.pl. (the trema is only needed before the back vowel -a): ênergïa / ênergie (energy)
• The few fem. forms ending in -ea and -oa need a trema over the -e of the nom.pl.: boa / boë (boa constrictor), europea / europeë  (European [fem.])
• The acc.pl. of Class A nominals is always regular: casas, blancas, amiycas, targas, fûrcas, linguas, aquas, ênergïas, boas

CLASS B

GENERAL RULE FOR THE NOM.PL.

• When nouns and adjectives in this class end in a consonant, an -i  is added in the nom.pl. When they end in -a, -e, -ë  or -o, the final vowel is replaced by -i  in the nom.pl. Examples:
  • mur / muri (wall), taur / tauri (bull)
  • programma / programmi (program); homne / homni (man); imagë / imagi (picture); pauvro / pauvri (poor [m.])

GENERAL RULE FOR THE ACC.PL.

• Normally, the acc.pl. ending is -s added on to the sing. form: mur/ murs, homne / homnes. In the comments below, the acc.pl. is only mentioned when its formation involves more than just the addition of -s (with or without a supporting vowel).

SUPPORTING VOWEL FOR THE ACC.PL.

• The acc.pl. of Class B nouns and adjectives needs a supporting vowel in certain cases, which are outlined below. This supporting vowel is as follows:
  • Feminine forms always take -e-: tûrres (towers), capaces (capable).
  • Masculine nouns usually take -o-: casos (cases), cajos (cheeses).
    • Common exceptions: berveiç / berveices (wether, castrated ram), cômpliç / cômplices (accomplice), índiç / índices (index, clue), interês / interesses (interest), juiç / juices (judge), meiz / meizes (month), mendaç / mendaces (lie, falsehood), offiç / offices (office, post), pêix / pêixes (fish), polç / polces (thumb), sang / sangues (blood), verr / verres (wild boar)
  • In adjectives requiring a supporting vowel, the masculine accusative plural is always -os when the adjective is variable (i.e. it adds an -a in the feminine): blancos (white), largos (broad).
  • In invariable adjectives (i.e. adjectives that do not change in the feminine) requiring a supporting vowel in the acc.pl., the acc.pl. is always -es in both genders: capaces (capable), tristes (sad).
• As to which nominals need a supporting vowel (-e- or -o-) in the acc.pl., this depends on their ending in the singular:
  • -s, -ss, -z: cas / casos (case), tûss / tûsses (cough), meiz / meizes (month)
  • -x (whatever the pronunciation): caix / cajos (cheese), sex / sexos (sex)
  • -tz, -dz, -ç, -ge, -tx: pûtz / pûtzos (well), candz / candzos (change), vouç / vouces (voice), college / collegios (college), viatx / viatxos (travel)
  • -rr: tûrr / tûrres (tower)
  • any consonant cluster not ending in -d, -t, th: adverb / adverbos (adverb), blanc / blancos (white [m.]), golf / golfos (golf; gulf), alberg / albergos (inn), film / filmos (film), carn / carnes (meat, flesh), camp / campos (field), cerv / cervos (deer), triûmph / triûmphos (triumph)
    • However, those ending in consonant clusters whose second component is -d, -t or -th do not need a connecting vowel, as the -s of the accusative merges with the dental stop into an affricate (i.e. a single consonant phoneme): bord / bords (seashore), fort / forts (strong), hyacinth / hyacinths (hyacinth)]
  • -st, -xt: cost / costos (cost), sext / sextos (sixth)
  • -ct, -pt: act / actos (act), rapt / raptos (abduction)

PLURAL IRREGULARITIES INVOLVING C, G, Q

• When the final consonant is -c, there are two possible forms in the nom.pl.: -ci and -qui. Examples:
  • amiyc / amiyci (friend), blanc / blanci (white [m.]), porc/porci (pig), sôc / socci (hoof)
  • auturc / auturqui (turkey), masc / masqui (mask), veuc / veuqui (empty [m.]), xôc / xocqui (bump, shock)
• When the final consonant is -g, there are two possible forms in the nom.pl.: -gi and -gui. Examples:
  • fûng / fûngi (mushroom), long / longi (long [m.]), mag / magi (magician)
  • alberg / albergui (inn), catálog / catálogui (catalogue), jûg / jûgui (yoke)
• The few adjectives ending in -q have their nom.pl. in -qui: antiq / antiqui, obliq / obliqui
• The few adjectives ending in -gû  have their nom.pl. in -güi: ambigû / ambigüi (ambiguous [m.]), contigû / contigüi (contiguous [m.])
• Nouns and adjectives ending in -ç always have their nom.pl. in -ci: atroç / atroci (atrocious), brâç / bracci (arm), vouç / vouci (voice). The acc.pl. of these forms needs -ç- if the supporting vowel is -o-, but not if it is -e-: bracços but vouces.
• Nominals ending in -ge, -gë have their nom.pl. in -gi: college / collegi (college), imagë / imagi (picture). The acc.pl. of these forms needs -gi- if the supporting vowel is -o-, and -g- if it is -e-: collegios and images.

PLURAL IRREGULARITIES INVOLVING VOICING

• The following four nominals in -ix have their nom.pl. in -ji: baix / baji (kiss), caix / caji (cheese), grix / griji (gray [m.]), lix / liji (even, smooth [m.]). The acc.pl. of these nominals keeps the -j-: bajos, cajos, grijos, lijos.
  • Others with this ending are regular, however: aix / aixi (axle), flaix / flaixi (flask), laix / laixi (loose), paix / paixi (bellboy), taix / taixi (yew tree)

PLURAL IRREGULARITIES INVOLVING STEMS ENDING IN -LL-

• Nouns ending in -ail, -êil, -oil and -ûil lose the diphthongal glide and gain a doubled <l> in the nom.pl. Examples:
  • -ail / -alli: bail / balli (dance), cail [f] / calli (street), cail [m] / calli (corn [on foot]), cavail / cavalli (horse), gail / galli (cock)
  • -êil / -elli: agnêil / agnelli (lamb), anêil / anelli (ring), aucêil / aucelli (bird), bêil / belli (beautiful), coltêil / coltelli (knife)
    • Exceptionally, we have the alternation -êil / -illi  in: capêil / capilli (hair [on head]), and tranquîl / tranquilli (calm)
  • -oil / olli: coil / colli (hill; neck), moil / molli (soft)
  • -ûil / ûlli: pûil / pûlli (chicken)
  • The acc.pl. of all these nominals is formed with the vowel of the sing. (with a circumflex added if necessary) + ls: bâls, agnêls, côls, pûls. The two -êil / -illi nominals have -îls: capîls, tranquîls.

PLURAL IRREGULARITIES INVOLVING VOWEL AND/OR ACCENT CHANGES

•  Nouns and adjectives ending in -am, -án, as well as monosyllables ending in -an, generally change the -a- to -ai- in the nom.pl.:
  • -am / -aimi: ham / haimi (hook), hiptam / hiptaimi (hippopotamus), ram / raimi (branch), tram / traimi (tram, streetcar)
  •  -an / aini: can / caini (dog), cran / craini (skull), gran / graini (grain), man / maini (hand), pan / paini (bread), san / saini (healthy)
  • -án / -ani: antzán / antzaini (ancient), capitán / capitaini (captain), çután / çutaini (citizen), faján / fajaini (pheasant), humán / humaini (human), lontán / lontaini (distant)
    • However, nouns and adjectives ending in -án that denote the name of a people, religious group or language change the -án to -ani in the nom.pl., without the diphthong. Some examples: amêricán / amêricani, christián christiani, êgiután / êgiutani (Egyptian), italián / italiani, tundrián / tundriani. Also belongs here: ôceán / ôceani (ocean)
  • The acc.pl. of all these forms is regular, except that the acute accent is not necessary: antzans, capitans, çutans etc.
• Nouns and adjectives ending in -ábil, -íbil and -óbil lose the -i- of the last syllable in the nom.pl., and as a result do not need the acute accent:
  • -ábil: agratábil / agratabli (pleasant), potábil / potabli (drinkable), responsábil / responsabli (responsable)
    • Exception: hábil / hábili (clever, able)
  • -íbil: comestíbil / comestibli (edible), disponíbil / disponibli (available), terríbil / terribli (terrible), visíbil / visibli (visible)
  • -óbil: nóbil / nobli (noble)
    • But: móbil / móbili (mobile) is regular
• Nouns ending in unstressed -er lose the -e- of the last syllable in the nom.pl., and as a result do not need the acute accent: cadáver / cadavri (corpse), paláver / palavri (worthless talk).
• Stress always remains on the same syllable during the declension of Tundrian nominals. Because of the peculiar rules that apply to the accentuation rules of words ending in vowel + n/s (and of some monosyllables ending in -ór ), accents may therefore appear in just the singular or just the nom.pl. of certain nominals. Examples of various patterns:
  • ending in unstressed vowel + n:
    • carpen / cârpeni (hornbeam tree), platan / plátani (plane tree)
    • destin / dêstini (destiny), termin / têrmini (terminus, terminal)
    • origen / orígeni (origin)
    • abdomen / abdómeni (abdomen), orden / ôrdeni (order), organ / ôrgani (organ), orphan / ôrphani (orphan)
    • The same changes occur in the acc.pl.: cârpens, plátans, dêstins, orígens, abdómens, ôrdens, etc.
  • ending in unstressed vowel + s:
    • atlas / âtlassi (atlas), lapis / lápissi (pencil)
    • arquiris / arquírissi (rainbow), iris / írissi (iris)
    • The same change occurs in the acc.pl.: âtlassos, lápissos, arquírisses
  • ending in stressed vowel + n (those ending in stressed -an or -án have already been dealt with):
    • bén / beni (goods), gén / geni (gene), hyphén / hypheni (hyphen)
    • alfín / alfini (bishop [in chess]), domín / domini (range), magazín / magazini (magazine), pingüín / pingüini (penguin)
    • avión / avioni (airplane), bón / boni (good), campión / campioni (champion), hormón / hormoni (hormone), pión / pioni (pawn), són / soni (sound), tzón / tzoni (insane)
    • alcún / alcuni (someone), común / comuni (common), dejún / dejuni (breakfast), necún / necuni (none, no-one)
    • As the accent is no longer necessary in the acc.pl. either, it is deleted there as well: bens, alfins, avions, alcuns, etc.
  • ending in stressed vowel + s:
    • abús / abusi (abuse), excús / excusi (regret), intrús / intrusi (intruder)
      • Note the doubled -ss- in metús / metussi (same)
      • Note the doubled -ss- and the kept accent in: ânanás / ânanássi (pineapple), matrás / matrássi (mattress)
    • For all these nominals, the acc.pl. form follows the same pattern as the nom.pl.: abusos, metussos, ânanássos
  • ending in -ór:
    • cór / cori (heart), lór / lori (parrot), sór / sori (sister, nun)
    • Same for the acc.pl.: cors, lors, sors.
  • A few nouns and adjectives ending in consonant + s in the singular carry a circumflex over their stressed vowel (a, e or o) in order to indicate the correct pronunciation. In the nom.pl. this is no longer necessary, and the circumflex disappears. Examples:
    • â: escârs / escarsi (scarce), fâls / falsi (false), fârs / farsi (stuffed), gâns / gansi (gander), mâns / mansi (tame)
    • ê: divêrs / diversi (diverse, various), pêrs / persi (dark [of colours]), sêns / sensi (sense), univêrs / universi (universe), vêrs / versi (verse)
    • ô: côrs / corsi (Corsican), môrs / morsi (bit [of bridle])
    • The acc.pl. of these nominals follows the pattern of the nom.pl.: escarsos, diversos, corsos, etc.

PLURAL IRREGULARITIES INVOLVING CONSONANT DOUBLING

• The use of the circumflex to indicate the correct pronunciation of some words, and the associated avoidance of doubled consonants in final position (except for -rr, -ss), are behind the following patterns:
  • â: ân / anni (year), attâc / attacqui (attack), brâç / bracci (arm), cât / catti (cat), crystâl / crystalli (crystal), sâc / sacci (bag)
  • ê: arquêt / arquetti (bow [for arrows]), bêl [bef.vowels] / belli (beautiful), colonêl / colonelli (colonel), interês / interessi (interest), jêt / jetti (jet), tirêt / tiretti (drawer)
  • î: esmerîl / esmerilli (falcon), xîc / xicci (dry), xîn / xinni (meaning, sense)
  • ô: côl / colli (mountain pass), crôc / crocci (bishop's crook),  escrôc / escrocqui (swindler), pôt / potti (pot), sôc / socci (hoof), xôc / xocqui (bump, shock)
  • Mostly, the acc.pl. of these nominals is regular. However, if a supporting vowel is necessary, the circumflex accent is deleted and the consonant is doubled. E.g.: âns, arquêts, esmerîls, côls; but: bracços, interesses, etc.
• There is no doubling of the consonant in the nom.pl. after a vowel with a circumflex when the consonant is r, and in a few other words. The circumflex is retained in the nom.pl. of these words. Examples:
  • with r: alviêr / alviêri (beehive), calcêr / calcêri (shoe), miratôr / miratôri (mirror), sôr / sôri (father-in-law)
  • others: parallêl / parallêli (parallel), raîç / raîci (roots), smôg / smôgui (smog); also, in words of Greek origin, such as the following: amphytriôn / amphytriôni (guest), côn / côni (cone), iôn / iôni (ion), têlephôn / têlephôni (telephone)
• With a few exceptions, there is no doubling of the consonant in the nom.pl. when the preceding vowel is û. In additon, the vowel never loses its circumflex. Examples:
  • No doubling: bûc / bûci (he-goat), crûç / crûci (cross), grûp / grûpi (group), jûg / jûgui (yoke), lûp / lûpi (wolf), nûç / nûci (walnut), tûb / tûbi (tube, pipe), vitûl / vitûli (hoodlum)
  • Doubling: bûs / bûssi (bus), tûn / tûnni (tuna fish)

PLURAL IRREGULARITIES INVOLVING SINGULAR FORMS ENDING IN VOWELS

• Nouns and adjectives ending in -âu, -eu, -éu, -êu, -îu and -ôu have somewhat irregular nom. plurals:
  • -âu / -avi: câu / cavi (cave, basement; hollow), clâu / clavi (key, spanner), esclâu / esclavi (slave), grâu / gravi (grave, serious), nâu / navi (ship)
  • -eu (-éu) / -avi: breu / bravi (brave), calhéu / calhavi (pebble), cleu / clavi (nail [tool])
  • 3 nominals in -êu / -evi: blêu / blevi (blue), lêu / levi (light [adj.]), nêu / nevi (mole, birthmark)
    • But most nominals in -êu have -êi in the nom.pl.: aerêu / aerêi (aerial), dzêu / dzêi (god), escarvêu / escarvêi (cockroach), europêu / europêi (European), judêu / judêi (Jewish, Jew), mêu / mêi (mine [pn.]), musêu / musêi (museum), nûclêu / nûclêi (nucleus), trophêu / trophêi (trophy), etc.
  • -îu / -iyvi: vîu / viyvi (alive)
  • -ôu /- ovi: bôu / bovi (ox), nôu / novi (new), sarcôu / sarcovi (coffin)
  • All these have regular acc. plurals (except for the loss of the acute accent in calheus): câus, breus, blêus, aerêus, vîus, bôus, etc.
• Adjectives ending in -û after consonants other than g have their nom.pl. in -ui:
  • continû / continui (continuous [m.]), sûperflû / sûperflui (superfluous [m.]). The acc.pl. is regular: continûs, sûperflûs.

OTHER IRREGULARITIES

• In a few words of Italian origin, used in the plural only, the accusative plural is -is rather than the expected -s: spaghetti [nom.pl.], spaghettis [acc.pl.]; canelloni / canellonis.

CLASS C

• In this class, the nom. and acc. plural are identical, ending in -s: ley / leys (law), Papa / papas (Pope). There are few irregularities.
  • One set of irregularities is in nouns ending in -óu, which lose the accent in the plural (because it is no longer needed to show the irregular stress), as in: bambóu / bambous (bamboo), bijóu / bijous (jewel), cangaróu / cangarous (kangaroo)
  • If a word ends in a digraph vowel that is unstressed, the stressed vowel must acquire a written accent when the -s of the plural is appended: bonsai / bônsais (bonsai), hindou / híndous (Hindu).

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