7. Nouns: gender, a / the, and plurals
🟢 Beginner · Lesson 7 of 23
Masculine and feminine
Every Kurmanji noun is masculine (m) or feminine (f). For people it follows sex (bav father m, jin woman f); for everything else you must learn it with the word, as in German or French. The gender does not change the noun itself, but it chooses the endings of lessons 8 and 9, so always learn nouns with their gender:
| Kurdish | Arabic script | IPA | syllables | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bav | باڤ | /baːv/ | baːv | father |
| bira | برا | /bɪɾaː/ | bɪ.ɾaː | brother |
| mirov | مرۆڤ | /mɪɾoːv/ | mɪ.ɾoːv | person, human, man |
| jin | ژن | /ʒɪn/ | ʒɪn | woman; wife |
| keç | کەچ | /kɛtʃ/ | kɛtʃ | girl; daughter |
| mal | مال | /maːl/ | maːl | house, home |
| bajar | باژار | /baːʒaːɾ/ | baː.ʒaːɾ | city |
| pirtûk | پرتووک | /pɪɾtuːk/ | pɪɾ.tuːk | book |
| ziman | زمان | /zɪmaːn/ | zɪ.maːn | language; tongue |
| welat | وەلات | /wɛlaːt/ | wɛ.laːt | country |
| m | f |
|---|---|
| bav father, bira brother, kur son, mirov person | jin woman, keç girl, dê mother, xwişk sister |
| bajar city, gund village, welat country, ziman language, nan bread, xanî house (building) | mal home, pirtûk book, kitêb book, av water, roj day, şev night, sêv apple |
“The”: nothing
A bare noun is definite or generic: jin “the woman” or “woman”. There is no word for the.
“A”: -ek
Add -ek (after a vowel -yek): jinek “a woman”, çiyayek “a mountain”, xaniyek “a house”. For some (plural) use hin: hin pirtûk “some books”.
Plural: often nothing!
In the direct case the plural is unmarked: keç = “the girl” or “the girls”. The verb and any endings show the number:
| # | Kurdish | Arabic script | IPA | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keç hat. | کەچ هات. | /kɛtʃ haːt/ | The girl came. |
| 2 | Keç hatin. | کەچ هاتن. | /kɛtʃ haːtɯn/ | The girls came. |
| 3 | Jinek hat. | ژنەک هات. | /ʒɪnɛk haːt/ | A woman came. |
| 4 | Hin mirov hatin. | هن مرۆڤ هاتن. | /hɪn mɪɾoːv haːtɯn/ | Some people came. |
In the oblique case (lesson 9) and with ezafe (lesson 8) the plural is marked: -an, -ên.
The direct forms
zimankit’s decline() generates the direct forms (the full table with all cases is in lesson 9):
| noun | meaning | gender | direct sg | indef. direct | direct pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jin | woman; wife | f | jin ژن | jinek ژنەک | jin ژن |
| keç | girl; daughter | f | keç کەچ | keçek کەچەک | keç کەچ |
| mal | house, home | f | mal مال | malek مالەک | mal مال |
| pirtûk | book | f | pirtûk پرتووک | pirtûkek پرتووکەک | pirtûk پرتووک |
| bav | father | m | bav باڤ | bavek باڤەک | bav باڤ |
| mirov | person, human, man | m | mirov مرۆڤ | mirovek مرۆڤەک | mirov مرۆڤ |
| bajar | city | m | bajar باژار | bajarek باژارەک | bajar باژار |
| xanî | house (building) | m | xanî خانی | xaniyek خانیەک | xanî خانی |
| çiya | mountain | m | çiya چیا | çiyayek چیایەک | çiya چیا |
Practice
- a book, a mountain, a house (xanî).
- What is the gender of mal, bajar, jin?
Answers
- pirtûkek, çiyayek, xaniyek.
- mal f, bajar m, jin f.
Summary
- Every noun is m or f: learn the gender with the noun.
- the = bare noun; a = -ek / -yek; some = hin.
- The direct plural is unmarked; the verb shows the number.