Кадѣц

Number

Iridian nouns are marked for number: singular or plural. The plural is formed by adding the suffix -урь or -рь to the noun, depending on whether the noun ends in a consonant or a vowel, respectively.

The following considerations also apply to the formation of the plural:

1. A noun containing a fleeting -е (see below) drops the -е before the plural suffix, e.g. лобек ‘fruit’ → лубкурь ‘fruits’.
2. Nouns ending in -е or -ѣ use the plural suffix -лурь instead of -рь, respectively as would be expected. Thus we have втаре ‘morning’ → втарелурь ‘mornings’ and схорѣ ‘group’ → схорѣлурь ‘groups’.
3. Nouns ending in -о or -оў drop the final vowel and take the plural suffix -урь. Thus we have хлабо ‘lamp’ → хлабурь ‘lamps’ and малоў ‘snack’ → малурь ‘snacks’.

The plural form is not used where the noun is otherwise quantified, e.g. with a numeral or a quantifier. Thus we бъл ‘child’ and бълурь ‘children’ but вуц бъл ‘two children’ and бала бъл ‘a few children’ instead of вуц бълурь and бала бълурь, respectively.

Iridian also does not use the plural form where the possessor is plural but the noun possessed is singular, either per se or in a partitive sense. Thus one sees думаль which can mean ‘their house’ (in a collective sense, i.e., the house they share) or ‘their houses’ (i.e., the houses each of them owns) as opposed to думуряль which would mean ‘their houses’ which refer to multiple houses owned by multiple people either collectively or partitively.

The plural form cannot be used with a limited number of nouns, mostly referring to paired body parts and related objects, which in the base form is understood to refer to the pair itself and thus cannot be pluralized. If the speaker wishes to explicitly refer to one piece of the pair, the noun нома (an otherwise obsolete form of the word for one-half, now surviving only in this construction) and the genitive form of the body part or paired noun is used instead.

The base form is also used in generic statements where English would normally use the plural. Most abstract nouns are uncountable and do not have a plural form. However, some abstract nouns may be used in the plural to indicate different instances of the abstract concept, e.g., нажима ‘kindness’ → нажимарь ‘acts of kindness’. On the other hand, proper nouns when pluralized take on a collective meaning (often translatable as ‘and (the) others’ or ‘and company’), e.g., Марек ‘Marek’ → Маркурь ‘Marek and the others’.

The plural marker can also be used in wh-questions when the speaker expects that the answer to the question refer to multiple nouns; in such cases, the plural marker is added to the wh-word.

The Case System

Declension of Nouns

Nouns in Iridian can end in a consonant, the semi-vowel й, or any of -а, -е, -ѣ, -о or -оў. There are eight declension classes, determined by the ending of the noun. Class I refers to nouns ending in a hard consonant, Class II to nouns ending in a soft consonant, and Classes III through VIII to nouns ending in -а, -е, -ѣ, -й, -о or -оў, respectively. The endings of the declension classes are as follows:

Below are some examples of nouns in each declension class:

There are no separate declension rules for plural forms. Instead, the plural suffix is added to the unmarked form of the noun where needed before the case marker is added.

Sound changes

The declension system in Iridian is fairly regular; nevertheless, due to some historical sound changes and the phonotactic rules of the language, some nouns may undergo changes in the stem before the addition of the case marker. The rules are described in detail in the phonology section.

Genitive Case

The genitive case is most commonly used to indicate possession, with the possessor marked in the genitive case. It may also be used attributively, as in providing a qualitative description of a noun, or to indicate the material of which something is made. The noun marked in the genitive must always precede the noun it modifies.

Марки дум ‘Mark’s house’
мамки хашка ‘mother’s handbag’
куни прост ‘silver cup’
пѣрболи хадук ‘marble statue’

The genitive may also be used to indicate movement away from something.

Instrumental Case

The instrumental case is used to indicate that the noun is an instrument or means by which the action of the verb is performed.

The instrumental is also used with phrases indicating time or place.

Vocative Case

The vocative case is used when directly addressing someone or something.

Postpositions and the case system

Postpositions must agree with the case of the noun they govern. We provide a survey of Iridian postpositions and their usage below.

1. воїу ‘like, similar to’ (ins.)

2. дноў ‘in front of, before’ (gen.)

3. до ‘to, towards, into’ (pat.)

4. забъ ‘according to’ (gen.)

   Марки забъ Еваггелїа ‘Gospel according to Mark’

5. на ‘in, on, at’ (pat.)

6. тва ‘near, next to’ (gen.)

Derived noun forms

1. nominal/verbal base + -осць (realized as -ость) — denotes a place associated with the base noun or verb

   привосць ‘garden’ ← прива ‘plant’
   пѣргвосць ‘apple orchard’ ← пѣргва ‘apple’
   дветосць ‘hiding place’ ← дветка ‘to hide’
   

2. nominal base + -евнуй — denotes a person from the place designated by the base noun

   Европевнуй ‘European’ ← Европа ‘Europe’
   Ирцевнуй ‘Iridian’ ← Ирц ‘Iridia’
   Америцевнуй ‘American’ ← Америце ‘America’
   Празевнуй ‘Praguer’ ← Праг ‘Prague’

3. verbal base + -арь/-курь/-турь — denotes a person who performs or is associated with the action of the base verb, in most cases in a professional sense; the suffix taken by the verb depends on the verb’s conjugation class

   нимарь ‘singer’ ← нимля ‘to sing’
   свилярь ‘writer’ ← свиля ‘to write’
   грайкурь ‘player/sportsmen’ ← грайка ‘to play’
   замиткурь ‘dancer’ ← замитка ‘to dance’
   наўктурь ‘businessman’ ← наўкта ‘to do business’
   

4. nominal or verbal base + -ѣц — denotes an object (usually an instrument) associated with the base noun or verb

   кадѣц ‘noun’ ← кад ‘name’
   кровлѣц ‘pronoun’ ← кровел ‘substitute’
   свилѣц ‘pen, writing instrument’ ← свила ‘to write’

   In compound constructions involving verbal roots, the object is marked in the genitive case.

   радим вайнѣц ‘can opener’ ← радо ‘can, tin’ + вайна ‘to open’

5. numeral + -(ъ)мо — creates an ordinal number

   хронамо ‘third’ ← хронa ‘three’
   цамъмо ‘ninth’ ← цам ‘nine’

Compound nouns