-yaal

Plurals with Yaal

Level 2

Fure → furayaal → furayaasha: key, keys, the keys.

How It Works

The regular ending in this family is -ayaal. Masculine nouns ending in singular -e replace that vowel rather than retaining it before the plural ending. Thus fure becomes furayaal, with definite plural furayaasha.

Nouns outside this class can have related lexical plurals: abti → abtiyaal and oday → odayaal. These forms do not establish a general rule for all nouns ending in i or y. Ordinary unfocused plural subjects take plural agreement. Compare non-subject furayaasha with subject furayaashu. In the sentence below, the table is focused while the keys remain the subject, so the location predicate retains plural agreement. Possessive endings follow the plural’s determiner pattern. Learn the complete paradigm before applying this formation to an unfamiliar noun.

Examples (3)

  1. furayaal cusub

    new keys

    Noun-phrase fragment illustrating the regular class.

  2. Furayaashu miiska ayay yaallaan.

    The keys are on the table.

    Definite plural subject with plural location agreement; miiska is focused.

  3. odayaal daallan

    tired elders

    Noun-phrase fragment illustrating a lexical irregular plural.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-yaalLevel 2Plurals with Yaal

Learn This First

Compare plural classes before learning the nouns that take -yaal.

Words in This Pattern

abti