Plural Nouns

Mitla Ruina boy 

niño      

boys

niños

 

    

Tzotzil, Nahuatl, and Huichol add different endings to make nouns plural.

 

 

TZOTZIL    

NAHUATL      

HUICHOL    

SINGULAR  

na

kali  

huye   

PLURAL 

naetik

kalimes

huyete

 

house, houses 

house, houses 

road, roads     

 

                                 

Other languages of Mexico add prefixes to the beginning of a noun to make it plural. Isthmus Zapotec adds ka- to make some nouns plural.

    

 

ZAPOTEC   

SINGULAR   

ñee 

diaga   

PLURAL

kañee   

kadiaga  

 

foot, feet

ear, ears

Some Sierra Nahuatl nouns end with -t when singular and end with -meh when plural.
 

NAHUATL: 

SINGULAR  

piotet

masat

PLURAL 

piotemeh

masameh

 

egg, eggs

deer, deer

Some Amuzgo nouns begin with c- when singular and with l- when plural.
 

AMUZGO: 

SINGULAR  

cio

cui

PLURAL

lio

lui

 

bottle, bottles

turtle, turtles

In Northern Tepehuan, some plural nouns repeat the first part of a singular noun.

              

 

TEPEHUAN

SINGULAR 

tova

mara

aduñi

PLURAL

totova

mamara

aaduñi

 

turkey, turkeys

son, sons

friend, friends

    Some Chontal of Oaxaca nouns add  l (a voiceless l) in the middle to make them plural.

 

CHONTAL:

SINGULAR

cece

llalillpu

lipo

PLURAL

celce

llalilpu

lilpo

 

squirrel, squirrels

small gourd jar(s)

opossum, opossums

In many of the Otomanguean languages of Mexico, a noun does not indicate whether it is singular or plural. A number must be added if it is important to make this distinction.

MIXTEC:

CHATINO:

CHINANTEC: 

hàkú

ndla

hniú12

corral, corrals

peach, peaches

house, houses