Nouns Inflected for Number

Observation

ᐊᐧᐋᔥ		awaash	a child	SINGULAR
ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		awaashach	children	PLURAL

The word above comes in two forms: ᐊᐧᐋᔥ awaash and ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ awaashach. The second form is made up of the first form plus an ending: awaash + ach.

The form ᐊᐧᐋᔥ awaash is called the stem of the noun. When the form ᐊᐧᐋᔥ awaash is used without any ending, it is called SINGULAR. It means that there is just one. When the second form ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ awaashach is used, with the ending -ach , it is called PLURAL, and it means that there is more than one. This appears clearly when you use ‘one’, ‘two’ or ‘three’ with the noun:

ᐯᔭᒄ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ		peyakw awaash	one child	singular
ᓃᔓ ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		niishu awaashach	two children	plural
ᓂᔥᑐ ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		nishtu awaashach	three children	plural

This distinction between one and more than one is called NUMBER.

Some nouns take another ending for their plural.

ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ		maschisin	a shoe	ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐ		ashtutin	a hat
ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		maschisinh	shoes	ᐊᔥᑐᑎᓐᐦ		ashtutinh	hats

These nouns are called INANIMATE (see Gender).