The noun

CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS
According to their FORM, nouns can be:
Simple nouns
Compound nouns
Phrasal nouns
According to their MEANING, nouns can be:
Proper nouns
Common nouns
Names of materials
Collective nouns

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES OF THE

NOUN
A) number
B) case
C) gender

A) THE NUMBER
When one thing is spoken of, the noun is
SINGULAR; when two or more things are
spoken of, the noun is PLURAL.
FORMATION
1. The regular plural formed by adding the
inflection -s
Ex:
girl/girls
boy/boys
When we have silent e, preceded by a
fricative add extra syllable in taking the s:
Ex:
bridge/bridges
box/boxes

SPELLING
Addition of es:
Nouns ending in a fricative, unless written
with a silent e (-s, -z, -x, -ch, -sh, -ss, -zz) add
es:
Ex:
tax/taxes
watch/watches
exception nouns ending in th
Ex:
mouth/mouths
path/paths
Treatment of y:
if the noun ends in y and y is preceded by a
consonant, the plural takes the form of ies:
Ex:
cry/cries
try/tries
exception in proper names, we simply add
the inflection s to the singular:
Ex: Mary/Marys

Nouns ending in -o
if the noun ends in o is preceded by a
consonant, the plural is generally formed by
adding es:
Ex:
negro/negroes
tomato/tomatoes
exception some nouns ending in o
preceded by a consonant, form the plural in s
and not in es
Ex:
canto/cantos
tango/tangos
tobacco/tobaccos
piano/pianos
solo/solos
soprano/sopranos
 concerto/concertos
all nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel
from the plural in s and not in -es
Ex:
bamboo/bamboos
embryo/embryos
folio/folios
abbreviations ending in o add also s
Ex:
kilogram/kilos
photograph/photos
professional/pros
there are a few nouns ending in o which form
the plural both in s and in es:
Ex:
archipelago/archipelagos,-es
buffalo/buffalos, -es
flamingo/flamingos, -es
mosquito/mosquitos, -es
motto/mottos, -es
tornado/tornados, -es
volcano/volcanos, -es

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2. The irregular plural formed through mutation

 There are nine nouns which form the plural
by a change of the inside vowel:
mouse/mice
goose/geese
titmouse/titmice (pitigoi)
woman/women
tooth/teeth
dormouse/dormice (alunar)
foot/feet
louse/lice (paduche)
man/men

3. The irregular plural formed by adding the

inflection en
There are four nouns which form the plural in
en or ne:
brother/brethren
child/children
cow/kine
ox/oxen

4. The irregular plural formed by changing f into

v:
Nouns ending in f form the plural by adding
the inflection s:
chief/chiefs
roof/roofs
 belief/beliefs
Sometimes, if the noun ends in f or fe, the
plural is formed by changing f or fe into
ves:
knife/knives
life/lives
self/selves
thief/thieves
half/halves
wife/wives
wolf/wolves
leaf/leaves

5. The irregular plural formed by the zero plural

(the same form in the singular and plural)
Living beings:
deer
sheep
salmon
fish
Ex: We caught two fish

Collective numerals:
dozen
brace (of birds)
head ( of cattle)
 Nationality names:
Chinese
Japanese
Swiss

Others:
aircraft
offspring
dice

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6. The irregular plural as foreign plural

Many nouns taken from other languages have
now become completely naturalized and form
their plural by adding s or es to the
singular:
bonus/bonuses
chorus/choruses
area/areas
Some have kept their foreign plurals:

Um/a
datum/data
medium/media
bacterium/bacteria
datum/data
 But:
museum/museums
Asylum/asylums
Stadium/stadiums

Us/i
cactus/cacti (also cactuses)
focus/foci (also focuses)
nucleus/nuclei (also nucleuses)
stimulus/stimuli
But:
bonus/bonuses
genius/geniuses (genii-spirits)
virus/viruses

A/ae
alga/algae
larva/larvae
formula/formulae (formulas)
antenna/antennae (antennas)
vertebra/vertebrae (vertebras)
But:
arena/arenas
dilemma/dilemmas
diploma/diplomas
era/eras
retina/retinas \
X/ces
index/indices-algebraical signs, (indexes-
tables of content)
appendix/appendices- in books, (appendixes-
anatomical)

Is/es
analysis/analyses
axis/axes
basis/bases
crisis/crises
diagnosis/diagnoses
hypothesis/hypotheses

On/a
phenomenon/phenomena
criterion/criteria
But:
demon/demons
proton/protons

7. The plural of compounds

A compound noun forms the plural by adding
s to the principal word

Ex:
 step-son (frate vitreg)/step-sons
father-in-law (socru)/fathers-in-law
mother-in-law (soacra)/mothers-in-law
man-of-war (razboinic)/men-of-war
boy friend/boy friends
woman doctor/ women doctors

8. Singular invariables
This nouns do not ordinarily admit plurals:
Ex:
bread (paine)
butter (unt)
coffee
milk (lapte)
gold (aur)
silver (argint)
chocolate
sugar (zahar)
news (stiri)
furniture (mobila)
advice (sfaturi)
information
luggage (bagaje)
music
When we refer to one item we usually use: a
piece of, a bit of, an item of

Ex:
 a piece of advice
a piece of information
a piece of furniture
an item of news

B) THE CASE
The case will be discussed as follows:
1. The genitive case
2. The dative case

1. The genitive case

IS the case of a noun used to indicate
possession
a) The s genitive
Is used by adding s to the singular an to the
plural
Ex:
boys hat/boys hats (palaria
baiatului/palariile baietiilor)
mens clothes (imbracamintea barbatiilor)
childrens books (cartile copiilor)
a winters day

A)The OF genitive
IS mainly used with inanimate nouns:

Ex:
 the cover of the book (the books cover)
the car of my brother ( my brothers car)
the beauty of the girl (the girls beauty)

2. The dative case

It answers to the questions: to whom?, for
whom?:
Ex: I gave a book to John

C) THE GENDER

a) The gender distinction through separate or

distinct words:
Ex:
uncle/aunt
brother sister
boy/girl
son/daughter
lord/lady
king/queen
monk/nun

b) The gender distinction through derivation

Ex:
god/ goddess
prince/ princess
actor/actress
waiter/waitress
 duke/duchess
aviator/aviatrix