Working with Nouns,Genders and plurals in Gujarati

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Like in English there are three genders in Gujarati.
In Gujarati gender is called as લિંગ(liMg) or જાતિ(jAti)
Masculine gender is પુલ્લિંગ ( pulliMg ) or નરજાતિ (narajAti)
Feminine gender is સ્ત્રીલિંગ ( strIliMg ) or  નારીજાતિ (nArIjAti)
Neuter gender is નપુંસકલિંગ ( napuMsakaliMg ) or નાન્યતરજાતિ (nAnyatarajAti)

Major difference in English and Gujarati is in determining gender and plural forms.
In English generally non-living objects and even animals and other non-human living things are considered as neuter gender. But in Gujarati even non-living objects can have masculine or feminine or Neuter gender.

Interestingly there is no specific rules based on which gender is decided !! So you have to do your guess. As you keep reading and listening Gujarati more and more you will now about what is considered what.

Plurals of words :- 
In English generally adding 's' or 'es' makes a plural. Also there are irregular plurals. 

In Gujarati depending on the gender and ending vowel of the word it plural is formed differently. 
Generally plural is created by appending ઓ (o) to word
e.g. daughter-daughters =દીકરી-દીકરીઓ ( dIkarI-dIkarIo )
Dog(female)-dogs = કુતરી-કુતરીઓ (kutarI-kutarIo)

If ending vowel is અ(a) then it is changed to ઓ (o)
man-men = માણસ-માણસો (mANas-mANaso)
book-books = પુસ્તક-પુસ્તકો (pustak-pustako)

Exceptions :- 
1) Masculine word ending with with vowel ઓ (o). In plural vowel changes to   (A )
e.g.
son-sons  = દીકરો-દીકરા (dikaro-dikarA)
Dog(male)-Dogs = કુતરો-કુતરા (kutaro-kutarA)

2) Neuter word ending with with vowel ઉં  (uM ). In plural vowel changes to આં  (AM )
e.g
door-doors = બારણું  બારણાં ( bAraNuM  bAraNAM )


3) For few words singular and plural are same. 
e.g.
opinion-opinions  = મત-મત (mat)

4) Words borrowed from English follow rules in English
Pen-Pens
Bench-Benches
Pronunciation of these word may not be same as native English speaker. 

Read more and more to understand what are different ways of plural formation and which is applicable to which words

Listen examples in this lesson at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV0fH5zS4Lg



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Note :-  Right hand side of the blog shows "Blog Archive". Expand it fully to see whole list of posts to Learn Gujarati. Learn Gujarati grammar and many aspects Gujarati language online.
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Comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Visha,
      No. In Gujarati every non living thing also has gender - any of three e.g. Door = bAraNuM is Neuter, Window= bArI is feminine , Fan= paMkho is Masculine.

      There is no specific rule that decides gender. So it just decided traditionally. So learner has to understand the gender from the context or through dictionary.
      A quick trick, generally masculine words end with "o", feminine with "I" and neuter "uM"

      Does this help ?

      By the way are you learning Gujarati using my blog ?

      Regards,
      Kaushik

      Delete
    2. Can you recommend a dictionary website that will tell us if nouns are female, male, or neutral?

      Delete
    3. Not good websites available. Try GujaratiLexicon.com and shabdkosh.com

      By the way are you learning Gujarati using my blog ?

      Delete
  2. very nice. please start your hindi to gujarati blogs soon

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's too helpful. Most importantly you taught it in so easy form. Have just started learning Gujarati. Went through so many blogs and sites that help in that. But the content on those resources are so scattered that a new learner can never learn. You have really put a lot of effort for giving a meaningful start to Gujarati language learning for a new learner like me. Thanks alot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nisha,
      You are welcome and thanks a lot for your appreciation.

      I would like to know more about it, if you could send me mail on LearnMarathiFast@gmail.com that will be great. ID is same for my all language activities.

      - Kaushik

      Delete

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