Lesson 5



NOUNS AND PLURAL OF NOUNS

In Macedonian there is a grammatical gender. The three grammatical genders into which all Macedonian nouns fall are the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. There are two numbers: the singular and the plural. The gender of the noun usually can easily be determined according to its ending.

The majority of the masculine nouns have a consonant as their ending (молив - moliv - pencil; стол - stol - chair). A smaller group of nouns ending on -a or -ja are masculine too (владика - vladika - bishop; судија - sudija - judge).

The majority of the feminine nouns have the endings -a or -ja (жена - zhena - woman; змија - zmija - snake). All nouns ending on -ест (-est) or -ост (-ost) are feminine too (доблест - doblest - valor). A smaller group of nouns ending on consonant are feminine too (пролет - prolet - Spring; пот - pot - sweat; крв - krv - blood).

Almost all nouns ending on -e or -o are neuter (дете - dete - kid; село - selo - village). The words of foreign origin ending on or are neuter too (такси - taksi - taxi).

Forming of Plural. The plural of masculine nouns is formed by adding (-i) to the singular form (молив -> моливи - molivi - pencils). Most of the singular masculine noun consists of one syllable form plural by adding -еви (-evi) or -ови (-ovi) to the singular form (стол -> столови - stolovi - chairs). If there are two things the plural (dual) of masculine nouns is formed by adding to the singular (два молива - dva moliva - two pencils; два стола - dva stola - two chairs).

The plural of feminine nouns is formed by adding (-i) to the singular form, upon dropping of the singular ending -a or -ја (жена -> жени - zheni - women; доблест -> доблести - doblesti - valors).

The plural of neuter nouns ending in -o in singular, is formed by adding to the singular form upon dropping of the singular form ending vowel o (село -> села - sela - villages; езеро -> езера - ezera - lakes). The plural of neuter nouns ending in -e in singular, is formed by adding -иња to the singular form upon dropping of the singular form ending vowel e (куче -> кучиња - kuchinja - dogs).



DEFINITE ARTICLE (DEFINITENESS)

A suffixed definite article that comes after the noun is one of the main characteristics of the Macedonian language that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except the Bulgarian language. Unlike in English, the definite article in Macedonian is always added as an ending to the noun or to the adjective. There are three forms for each gender in singular and plural, so called T (t) form, В (v) form, and Н (n) form.

Gender Singular Plural
Masculine -от (-ot)
-ов (-ov)
-он (-on)

-те (-te)
-ве (-ve)
-не (-ne)

Feminine -та (-ta)
-ва (-va)
-на (-na)
Neuter -то (-to)
-во (-vo)
-но (-no)
-та (-ta)
-ва (-va)
-на (-na)

You can notice that the definite article morphemes for masculine and feminine in plural are the same. Also, the definite article morphemes for neuter in plural are same as the definite article morphemes for feminine in singular.

The most used is the T form article which indicates on an unspecified position of the object (книга - a book; книгата - the book).

The В (v) form indicates on a close position of the object (книгава - the book near me), and the Н (n) form indicates on a distant position of the object (книгана - the book over there).

When an adjective or possessive pronoun is used before the noun then the Definite Articles go to the adjective or to the possessive pronoun.



ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that describe the noun. In Macedonian, Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, definiteness, and number, and they usually stay before the noun in a sentence. The comparative and the superlative form are formed analytically adding по- (po-) for comparative, and нај- (naj-) for superlative, to the basic adjective form.

If there are more than one adjectives before the noun, all of them agree in gender and number with the noun, but only the first adjective getthe definite articles morphemes, and the other adjectives keep their basic form.

Adjectives in Macedonian usually have these endings:

  • masculine adjectives - ending on consonant, on -ски (-ski), -ов/-ев (-ov/-ev) etc.; голем, верски, дабов...
  • feminine adjectives are formed by adding -a to the masuciline form (consonant+a, or -ska, -eva, -ova etc.); голема, верска, дабова...
  • neuter adjectives are formed by adding -o to the masuciline form (consonant+o, or -sko, -evo, -ovo etc.); големо, верско, дабово...
  • plural form is same for all three genders and is formed by adding (-i) to the masculine form (consonant+i, -ski, ovi, evi etc.) - големи, верски, дабови... - You can notice that the plural form of the adjectives ending on -ski is same as the masuline singular form.


SAMPLES

голем, голема, големо - big (the adjective 'big' in masculine, feminine, and neuter gender singular, respectively)
големи - big the (the adjective 'big' in plural, it is same for all three genders)
поголеми - bigger (comparative of 'big' in plural, indefinite form)
поголемите - the bigger (comparative of 'big' in plural, definite form)
најголеми - the biggest (superlative of 'big' in plural, indefinite form)

Куче. - Dog. (a neuter noun, indefinite form)
Please note that all adjectives and possessive pronouns below are in neuter form because they agree with the noun 'куче' that is a neuter noun.
Кучето е бело. - The dog is white. (кучето - a neuter noun, definite form; бело - an adjective, indefinite form)
Кучето е наше. - The dog is ours. (наше - a possessive pronoun, indefinite form)
Нашето куче. - Our dog. (нашето - a possesive pronoun, definite form)
Нашето куче е бело. - Our dog is white.
Нашето куче е големо и бело. - Our dog is big and white. (големо - an adjective, indefinite form)
Големото бело куче е наше. - The big white dog is ours. (големото - an adjective, definite form)
Белото големо куче е наше. - The white big dog is ours. (белото - an adjective, definite form)

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