Language/Central-atlas-tamazight/Grammar/Plurals

Central Atlas Tamazight Grammar - Plurals

Hi Central Atlas Tamazight learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about plurals in Central Atlas Tamazight. Plural is a grammatical number that refers to more than one object, person, or thing. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to form and recognize plural nouns and use them in sentences. Don't forget to use Find native speakers and ask them any questions if you have some difficulties. Let's get started!

Plural formation

In Central Atlas Tamazight, there are different ways to form plural nouns. The most common way is to add the suffix -en to the singular noun. However, some nouns require more complex rules. Let's see some examples:

Singular noun	Plural noun
ⴰⵎⵎⵎⵎⵎ (ammma)	ⴰⵎⵎⵎⵎⵎⵎⵎⵎ (ammmamen)
ⵜⴰⴼⵜ (taft)	ⵜⴰⴼⵜⴻⵏ (taften)
ⴰⴷⴰⴷ (adad)	ⴰⴷⴰⴷⴻⵏ (adaden)
ⴰⵔⴻⴰⴽ (areak)	ⴰⵔⴻⴰⴽⵉⵎ (areakim)

As we can see, some singular nouns simply need the suffix -en to form the plural. But in other cases, the singular noun undergoes a change in shape or loses a vowel. It's important to memorize these changes since there are no rules to predict them. Besides, some nouns have irregular plural forms that cannot be predicted by any rule.

Collective nouns

In Central Atlas Tamazight, some singular nouns refer to a group or collection of people, animals, or things. These nouns are called collective nouns. Interestingly, collective nouns are always singular in form but sometimes have a plural sense. For example:

• ⴰⵢⴰⵍⴽⵜ (ayalkt) - family: Always singular, but takes plural pronouns, e.g., ⴰⴼⴼⴰⴽⴽⴰⵍ ⴰⵢⴰⵍⴽⵜ (affakal ayalkt) - "We are a family."
• ⴰⴷⴰⵔ (adar) - community: Always singular, but takes plural pronouns, e.g., ⵜⵉⵎⵉⵍⵉⵜ ⴰⴷⴰⵔ (timilit adar) - "They are a community."

Dual Nouns

Dual is a grammatical number that refers to two objects, people, or things. Unlike other Berber languages, Central Atlas Tamazight doesn't have a dual number. However, there are some nouns that are used only in pairs to refer to a single item, person, or thing. For instance:

• ⴰⴽⴽⴰⵙ (akkas) - shoes: Used only in pairs, e.g., ⴰⴽⴽⴰⵙ ⴰⴱⴰⴰⵔ (akkas abaar) - "A pair of shoes"

Examples of plural nouns

Here are some common plural nouns with their pronunciations and English translations.

Central Atlas Tamazight	Pronunciation	English
ⴰⵍⵉⵍⵉⵙ (alilis)	/a.li.lis/	Cats
ⵜⵎⵎⵜ (tmmt)	/tummut/	Sheep
ⵜⵓⵔⵜ (turt)	/tyrt/	Houses
ⵜⴰⴳⴻⴷⴷⴻⵏ (taggedden)	/taɡɡedden/	Tables

Let's see these nouns in a dialogue:

• Person 1: ⵜⵜⵜⵜⵜ (titit) means "eyes" in Central Atlas Tamazight.
• Person 2: Oh, I see. Do you know any other plural noun?
• Person 1: Yes, of course. ⵜⵜⵜ (tit) means "hand" and ⵜⵜⵜⵜⵜ (titit) means "fingers".

Summary

In this lesson, we learned about plurals in Central Atlas Tamazight. We saw how to form them and how some nouns have irregular plural forms. Additionally, we encountered collective nouns and dual nouns, which are special types of nouns. Remember to practice forming and using plurals regularly to make them more natural to you. To improve your Central Atlas Tamazight Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website.

Sources

• Central Atlas Tamazight Wikipedia Page
• Grammatical Number Wikipedia Page
• Berber Languages Wikipedia Page