3 - The noun

3 The Noun

In Uropi there are two types of nouns: the nouns ending in a consonant and the nouns ending in -A

In Uropi a noun can be general (indifferentiated), masculine, feminine or neuter.

General nouns refer to living beings whatever their sex:

General nouns can end in a consonant or in -a

A) Masculine, feminine, neuter : there is no grammatical gender in Uropi

1) Masculine nouns: refer to living beings of the male sex (people or animals),

they correspond to the personal pronoun HE (he)

All masculine nouns end in a consonant

Ex : Man, pater, frat, son, tiot, gal = man, father, brother, son, uncle, cock

U gal

2) Feminine nouns: refer to living beings of the female sex (women & female animals);

they correspond to the personal pronoun: CE (she)

All feminine nouns end in -A

Ex: Ʒina, mata, sesta, kuna, kata, gala = woman, mother, sister, bitch, she-cat, hen

You can obtain a feminine noun by adding -A to the general noun.

Différent names: Most Indo-European languages implicitly recognize woman's difference and independence from man by

giving them different names

De Roman vulpa

3) All the other nouns are neuter

They correspond to the personal pronoun JE (= it )

* Most neuter nouns end in a consonant

including the names of places in -IA

B) Plural of Nouns

1) The nouns ending in a consonant take an -E in the plural

(CF German: Hunde, Schuhe, Beine, Italian: donne, strade, case, Serb/Croatian: žene, sobe, torbe, Czech: stroje, učitelé, anglicané)

Un Engli taksì

C) The Genitive

It corresponds to the possessive case

- Use The genitive is used to express possession, belonging, the dependency of a noun on

another one

Unlike the English possessive case the Uropi genitive is placed after the noun it complements.

- Form The nouns ending in a consonant take -I in the singular

-IS in the plural

(CF: Latin: Christus/christi, pater/patris, Russian: dyni, dvieri, materi, Czech: ženy, kosti)

The nouns ending in -A take -U in the singular

-US in the plural

(CF Greek: anthropos/anthropou, traino/trainou, Czech: hradu, snehu, stolu)

SUMMARY TABLE

- Using the genitive or OD, PA… The preposition OD (= from) is used to express origin, coming from

title (of nobility)

The preposition PA = by, is used to introduce the agent, author, creator

- Generic genitive and specific genitive

The generic genitive corresponds to the adjective (see examples above), and is placed before the noun

The specific genitive corresponds to the possessiev phrase, and is placed behind the possessed noun; it is used when

both nouns (possessor and possessed are specific, particular); both are often used with determiners.

*Provinsi (provincial the meaning is general) is in the generic genitive, whereas u tiotu (a particular aunt) is in the specific

genitive.

D) Compounds

- The genitive-adjective is used to form compounds

Note Elements which can be considered as verbal roots can be used to form

compounds and take the ending -i

In fact Uropi root-words are nearly always verb and noun roots that are used now as

nouns, now as verbs, adjectives, with the appropriate endings.

- Use - Genitive or Compound

A compound is used when the combination of the two elements expresses a reality existing on its own, as is the case for

campihàs, polihàl (country-house, town-hall), voditòr (water tower), jedisàl, frutigardin (dining-room, orchard)

On the other hand, the analytical structure of the genitive (placed after the noun) expresses a relation of dependency between two

nouns which both have their own reality

Ex: De cuse Janu The shoes are Jean's, but there are two different "things": the shoes, and Jean

U kwalirèn a horse race De ren de kwali the horse's race

- Adjectif, génitif ou nom composé

Constructions with adjectives, genitives or compounds give Uropi a great flexibility for possible combinations.