Plurals of nouns

In Chechen the plural stem is often not predictable from the singular stem, but plural declension itself is always regular. Some nouns have no plural: mass nouns (e.g. deshi 'gold', sa 'light', saemgal 'sulfur', siskalgha 'corn flour'), abstract nouns (hwaanalalla 'honesty', anduo 'power' havaa' 'air', tiesham 'faith'), and unique nouns (Saxyla-sieda 'morning star, Venus', maalx 'sun'). Plural declension is shown below. The dative, ergative, allative, and instrumental, and sometimes also the nominative, have a plural element -sh- before the case ending. (Numerals show which declension class the noun belongs to in the singular.)

fly window bison teacher

moza (1) kor (2) bula (8) hwiexarxuo (9)

Npl. mozii kuorash bulanash hwiexarxoi

G moziin kuoriin bulaniin hwiexarxoin

D mozashna kuorashna bulanashna hwiexarxoshna

E mozasha kuorasha bulanasha hwiexarxuosha

A mozashka kuorashka bulanashka hwiexarxoshka

I mozashca kuorashca bulanashca hwiexarxoshca

L moziax kuoriax bulaniax hwiexarxoix

C mozial kuorial bulanial hwiexarxoil

bear deer house axe

cha (1) sai (3) c'a (8), gen. ciinan dig (11)

Npl cherchii seesh c'ienosh dagarsh

G cherchiin seen c'ienoin dagariin

D cherchashna seeshna c'ienoshna dagarshna

E cherchasha seesha c'ienuosha dagarsha

A cherchashka seeshka c'ienoshka dagarshka

I cherchashca seeshca c'ienoshca dagarshca

L cherchiax seex c'ienoix dagariax

C cherchial seel c'ienoil dagarial

Plural extensions. As the examples above show, the plural sometimes has the same extension and/or ablaut as the singular and sometimes does not. The main nominative plural forms are:

-sh Productive; thousands of nouns take this plural suffix. (Whether or not the noun takes it in the nominative, it is always in the dative, ergative, allative, and instrumental.)

-ii Probably not productive; about140 nouns have this plural, most of them animate.

There are also some plural extensions:

-uo- Nominative plural -osh or -oi. For the most part these are nouns ending in -uo in the singular (including those with the derivational suffix -xuo) such as 'teacher' above, but a number of nouns with no extension or a different extension in the singular have -uo- in the plural. An example is 'house' above; another is kuorta 'head', Gsg. koertan, pl. kortosh.

-rch- At most about three dozen nouns have this extension, which appears in all of the plural cases. An example is 'bear' above. Nearly all of the nouns refer to animals.

-luo- This is an infrequent suffix that forms human nouns, e.g. belxaluo 'worker'. Three nouns referring to animals take it as a plural extension:

wolf buck young bull

Nsg borz bozh borsh

Esg barzuo bozhan barshuo

Npl berzaloi bezhaloi bershaloi

Epl berzaluosha bezhaluosha bershaluosha

-m- A few nouns add this extension. It appears in all the plural cases.

garden shirt collar whip stick

Nsg biash koch kaach shad ghazh

Esg bieshuo kuuchuo koochuo shieduo ghozhuo

Npl boshmash kuuchmash kaachmash shadmash ghazhmash

Likewise: diagh 'body', dieghuo, doghmash; qaazh 'whip handle', qoozhuo, qozhmash; waad 'bow', wooduo, woadmash (this form only in the compound seeqa-waad 'crossbow').

Other stem changes. 28 nouns double the stem-final consonant in the plural. Nearly all of them also have ablaut with the vowel -a- in the plural but not in the singular.

donkey locust board canyon middle

Nsg vir c'oz u win juq'

Esg viruo c'ezuo ynuo winuo juq'uo

Npl varrash c'azzarchii annash wannash jaqq'ash

Nominalized participles take the pronominal plural extension -chaar-/-chier-:

elder

Nsg voqqaxverg

Esg voqqaxvolchuo

Npl boqqaxbersh

G boqqaxbolchiera

D boqqaxbolchaarna

E boqqaxbolchaara

A boqqaxbolchiarga

I boqqaxbolchiarca

L boqqaxbolchaarax

C boqqaxbolchaaral