On several occasions people have asked me how to make nouns plural. My response has always been that this is one of the big problems in Klamath. Not because there is no way to make plurals but there are so many ways to make plurals. There are so many ways to make plurals, you have to keep track which words make their plurals in on way and not use other ways with the nouns that do it in one particular way.
There are at least 7 ways to make a plural.
1. The same word is used to indicate singular or plural.
ni maqlaqs gi. I am a person.
sa maqlaqs gi. They are people.
2. Different words for singular and plural.
snewets=woman
wewans=women
3. Repetition of 1st syllable of word.
posis=cat
poposis=cats
4. A number is used with a noun to make it plural.
wac=horse
lapni wac=two horses
5. A word indicating more than one is used word a noun.
dom, nanqa, kecca, tankak, domiaga, domi, doma
many , some. a few, a few, not many, many-subject, many-object
6. repetition of 1st vowel with a change in the original vowel.
hiswaqs=man
hihaswaqs=men
7. Repetition of verb-several types found.
This week we will be examining how to make words plural.
