Lesson 5

Plural Formation (I)

Most Blin nouns end in a, the fourth order in the Geez syllabery. In forming plurals, drop a to form the plural. Although most nouns end in a, there are also few nouns that end in some other sound. For the sake of reference late on in our lessons, some simple rules are provided here.

Rule 5.1.
Drop a to form plural (the most common)

Singular           Plural         Meaning
ara            		ar           	grain
bega           		beg             sheep
gemena     		gemen        	lion
gena       		gen          	mother
grwa       		gr'w         	man
jana            	jan          	elephant
kana       		kan          	tree
kr'nga     		kr'ng           stone
mrawa           	mraw            snake

Rule 5.2,
Drop a and change the last consonant to form the plural.

Singular           Plural         Meaning
aba             	af              water, well, 	b--->f
bira         		bil        	ox ,	 	r-->l
gira            	git             mountain, 	r-->t
beKla           	bekl      	mule, 		K --> k
dira            	dit       	baobab,       	d -->t

Rule 5.3
In some nouns which end in a, drop a and add t't to form plurals as.

Singular           Plural         Meaning
sna             	snt't        	butter
bra             	brt't        	land, earth
dula       		dult't       	club, stick

Rule 5.4
But t't is added also to nouns that end in consonants, especially in n to form plurals as:

Singular           Plural         Meaning
nan             	nant't          hand
fin             	fint't       	unprocessed butter
jen             	jent't       	jar, pot
yew             	yewt't       	back, shoulder

But observe that the plural of dan (brother) is not dant't; it is shan.

Rule 5.5
In some nouns, a is dropped and replaced by i in the plural, with or without changes in the last consonant.

Singular           Plural         Meaning
an'gwa       		angwi        	palm leave
bamba        		bambi (fi)  	a kind of tree
qansha       		qanshi      	hey
gunfa           	gunfi       	cold, cough
shinsha      		shinshi     	fly

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