Language/Standard-moroccan-tamazight/Grammar/Plurals

Standard Moroccan Tamazight Grammar - Plurals

Hi Standard Moroccan Tamazight learners! 😊
In this lesson, we are going to discuss plural forms in Standard Moroccan Tamazight. Plurals are essential for clear communication since they indicate that we are talking about more than one object. We will cover different forms of plurals and important rules to bear in mind when using them. We will also include cultural information and interesting facts about Tamazight throughout this lesson.

Forms of Plurals in Standard Moroccan Tamazight

In Standard Moroccan Tamazight, there are several ways to form plurals. The form a noun takes depends on its gender, its type, and the nature of its root. Here are the most common forms of plurals:

Standard Moroccan Tamazight	Pronunciation	English
masculine singular noun ending with -i	[...]-in	plural form with -in
masculine singular noun ending with -u	[...]-un	plural form with -un
feminine singular noun ending with -t	[...]-at	plural form with -at
feminine singular noun ending with -nt	[...]-an	plural form with -an
masculine or feminine noun ending with a vowel	[...]-yin	plural form with -yin

Examples

Let's see some examples to illustrate plural forms in Standard Moroccan Tamazight.

• Example 1:
  

Person 1: توالين (twalin)
Person 2: What does it mean?
Person 1: It means "twins." The singular form is توالي (twal)

• Example 2:
  

Person 1: تايطايين (taytayin)
Person 2: What does it mean?
Person 1: It means "eyes." The singular form is تايطايت (taytayt)

• Example 3:
  

Person 1: تامرايت (tamrayt)
Person 2: What does it mean?
Person 1: It means "villages." The singular form is تامرايت (tamrayt)

As we can see from these examples, forming plurals in Standard Moroccan Tamazight involves adding a suffix to the noun. The suffix depends on the gender and type of the noun.

Important Rules for Using Plurals

Here are some important rules to bear in mind when using plurals in Standard Moroccan Tamazight:

• Rule 1: In Tamazight, the number of the noun is either singular or plural. There is no grammatical category of dual in Tamazight.
• Rule 2: The plural form can indicate a general concept or a large quantity of something. For example, إمازيغن (Imazighen) is the plural of أمازيغ (Amazigh), which refers to the Berber people as a whole.
• Rule 3: In Tamazight, plural may contain differences in the prefixes or suffixes of the words depending on many factors and rules.
• Rule 4: There are specific Arabic borrowings in Tamazight that indicate their plural by adding the sound "ين" /-in/ to the noun.

Cultural Information and Interesting Facts

Berber is the oldest language still spoken in North Africa. Despite being the native language of Morocco, Standard Moroccan Tamazight was not recognized as one of Morocco's two official languages until 2011. Berbers are an indigenous group that has been living in North Africa for thousands of years. They have their own language and culture that distinguishes them from the Arab majority. Berbers make up an estimated 40% of Morocco's population, but there is much diversity within the Berber community.

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have covered the different forms of plurals in Standard Moroccan Tamazight. Plural forms are essential to convey a clear meaning in any language, and Tamazight is no exception. Remember the important rules we listed when using plurals, and make sure to practice forming them with different nouns. To improve your [Language/Standard-moroccan-tamazight|Standard Moroccan Tamazight] [Language/Standard-moroccan-tamazight/Grammar|Grammar], you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

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Sources

• Tamazight
• Berbers
• Plural