Nouns

Nouns in Mirad can be distinguished in the following ways:

1. common vs. proper
2. concrete vs. abstract
3. countable vs. mass
4. gender-neutral vs. masculine/feminine
5. singular vs. plural
6. animate vs. inanimate
7. full form vs. acronym/abbreviation/stub

Common vs. Proper Nouns

Common	Proper
tam....house	Emer....Venus
yagsim....bench	Ferom....France
dyes....book	Notre Dame...Notre Dame
tej....life	Tot....God

Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns

Concrete	Abstract
tab....body	ifon....love
mil....water	oyman....coolness
deuz....song	deuzen....singing

Abstract nouns include gerunds, i.e. nouns which are nominalized derivations of verbs like deuzen....singing < deuzer....to sing or osexen....destruction < osexer....to destroy. Infinitives like deuzer....to sing are also considered abstract nouns.

Countable vs. Mass Nouns

Countable	Mass
pat....bird	pattel....bird food
patayebi....feathers	patayebyan....plumage
megi....rocks	mil....water

In native Mirad, all common nouns in their singular dictionary lookup form end in a consonant. Proper nouns sometimes end in a vowel, such as Roma....Rome. Plural common countable nouns end in the vowel i (pat....bird ⇒ pati....birds).

Gender-neutral vs. Gendered

Gender-neutral	Feminine	Masculine
tob....human being	toyb....woman	twob....man
edeb....monarch	edeyb....queen	edweb....king
ted....parent	teyd....mother	twed....father

Singular vs. Plural Nouns

Singular	Plural
dom....city	domi....cities
gon....part	goni....parts
jub....day	jubi....days

Inanimate vs. Animate Nouns

Inanimate	Animate
mam....sky	pot....animal
tom....building	aot....person
job....time	tobet....child

Full form vs. Abbreviated Form

Full Form	Acronym/Abbreviation/Stub
Anxwa Doobi....United Nations	AD....UN
Mir Nunuien Xob....World Trade Organization	MNX....WTO
iza makilp....direct current	i.m....d.c.
tiaybil....breast milk	bil....milk (stub)
tum....cell	-um....cell, closet, compartment (stub)

The above noun type distinctions are relevant in various parts of Mirad's grammar.

A singular countable common noun always ends in a consonant and is made plural by suffixing the pluralizing marker -i. So, the plural of pur....car is puri....cars. In noun phrases, for example, where a noun is modified by an article and adjective, only the noun is pluralized, that is, there is no agreement across word boundaries as in many European languages (la belle fleur →les belles fleurs). The plural suffix -i is the only way nouns in Mirad are inflected. All other changes to nouns are derivational in nature, eg. genderization, augmentation, diminution, capitalization, etc.

Pluralization of Nouns

Singular	Plural
tam....house	tami....houses
toyb....woman	toybi....women
tej....life	teji....lives
ha via dom....the beautiful city	ha via domi....the beautiful cities

In Mirad, there is only a single noun-modifying article, the invariable definite article ha (the). There is no indefinite article like English a / an. A noun is considered indefinite or general unless modified by the definite article ha (which in reality is a definite deictic determiner, discussed with other deictic determiners in the later section on Mirad Grammar/Determiners#Deictic Determiners). The definite article ha is positioned, as in English, before the noun and before any other adjectives or modifiers of that noun. It is invariable, in that it does not vary for gender, number, or case as in German or Spanish. The definite article acts like its counterpart in English, as shown in the following chart:

Use of the Definite Article

Mirad	English	Specificity
tam	a house	indefinite, no article
ha tam	the house	definite
ha tami	the houses	definite, plural
tej	life	general, no article
fitejawa tej	a life well-lived	indefinite, no article
ha tej (...ho at bayse)	the life (... that I have)	specific
Ferad	French	language name, already specific, no article
Ivan	Ivan	person's name, no article
Ifliu yivan!	Cherish freedom	abstraction, no article
Ha yivani ho yat ifie.	The freedoms that we enjoy.	abstraction specified
Yata yivani...	Our freedoms...	abstraction specified with possessive pronoun, no article

Speakers of French and other European languages should take note that general concepts like love, life, freedom do not employ the definite article unless they refer to a specific instance, such as in the phrases the love that dare not speak its name or the life well-lived or the freedoms we possess. The names of languages and countries are also considered already specific, and so as in English, they do not take a definite article as they might in some European languages. Names of persons do not take the definite article as they do in modern Greek, unless in a phrase like "the Ivan I once knew."

Proper nouns, such as names of people, places, languages, etc., are capitalized as in English. The formation of country names and languages is discussed in Countries of the World and Languages of the World. It can be said here, though, that country names end in -m; the inhabitants of those places end in -t or pl. -ti; and the languages they speak end in -d. Language names are capitalized, eg. At tixe Ferad. (I study French.). In fact, this is the case for all parts of speech derived from a proper name, eg. Usama tel Feramxweye. American food is being Frenchified.. French speakers beware; this is not like in French. And German speakers beware, too! Not all nouns are capitalized; only ones that are proper, such as names of people, companies, languages, countries, etc.

Names of people, cities, etc. are spelled in Mirad to best reflect the foreign pronunciation, but also to remain recognizable. For example:

• Xikago....Chicago
• Paris....Paris
• Munxen....Munich/München
• Beijing....Beijing
• Nu York....New York
• Nu Orlinz....New Orleans
• Xampanya....Champagne
• Mehiko Dom....Mexico City
• Waxington....Washington
• Seol....Seoul
• Xeykspir....Shakespeare

An inhabitant of a city is formed by adding -t or -at to the name, depending on whether it ends in a vowel or consonant, respectively, eg. Parisat....a Parisian or Waxingtonati....Washingtonians. Chicago's main newspaper is expressed in Mirad as ha agala jubdindref bi Xikago. The English preposition in used before cities, states, and countries is translated by be in Mirad, eg. At tambese be Paris.....I live in Paris. or Iyt yexe be Deum.....She works in Germany.

Nouns can be modified by various qualitative, quantitative, and deictic adjectives, which all precede the noun. These modifiers come in the same order as in English. There is no gender or number agreement between the modifiers and the noun, except that numeric adjectives, such as ewa....two naturally are followed by a noun in the plural number.

Noun Modifiers

Mirad	English
ha ewa aga tami	the two big houses
gla ifxea taxi	many pleasant memories
hya fia tob	every good man
ha yaga via mepi	the long, beautiful roads
gra vua sexen	too much ugly construction
ata aja teji	my past lives

Nouns can be

1. linked with a preposition or conjunction, where the prepositional/conjunctional phrase follows the head noun, or
2. juxtaposed, where the modifier noun is separated by a space and comes before the head noun, or
3. compounded, where the modifier noun is prefixed to a headword, or
4. hyphenated, where two equal elements are joined by a hyphen.

Examples:

Noun Linkage

Linkage Example	Construction
Ivan ay Maria....Ivan and Maria	nouns linked associatively by the conjunction ay (and)
ha tam ey ha par....the house or the car	nouns linked associatively by the conjunction ey (or)
hyati oy ha toybi....all but the women	nouns linked associatively by the conjunction or (but)
nyandras boy eta dyun....a list without your name	nouns linked associatively by the preposition boy (without)
tej bi nasuk....a life of poverty	nouns linked associatively by the preposition bi (of)
ha tam bi Maria ....Mary's house (the house of Mary	nouns linked possessively by the preposition bi (of)
job bi aga ivan....a time of great joy	nouns linked associatively by the preposition bi (of)
dyes ayv ha Ea Mira Dropek....a book about the Second World War	nouns linked associatively by the preposition ayv (about)
dropek jwabeni....war preparations	modifier noun dropek (war) juxtaposed with the head noun jwabeni (preparations)
dom yuzpur....a city bus	modifier noun dom (city) juxtaposed with the head noun yuzpur (bus)
tojojfon....a death wish	modifier noun toj (death) compounded with the head noun ojfon (wish)
jogatanyaf....youth league	modifier noun jogat (youth) compounded with the head noun anyaf (league)
maj-moj....a day-and-night	two or more equal, opposed nouns hyphenated

The X bi Y prepositional construction must always be used for possession by a named person, eg. ha tam bi Sam (Sam's house = the house of Sam). The methods of noun linkage otherwise follow the English pattern in most all cases. Pronominal possession such as his car is discussed in the section on personal pronouns. The preposition bi....of is used in partitive expressions like tilzyeb bi vifil....a glass of wine (but: vifil tilzeb....wine glass, where wine modifies the glass associatively). More about this and other prepositions or conjunctions can be found in the section on Mirad Grammar/Prepositions or Mirad Grammar/Conjunctions.

Details on how noun vocabulary is derived appears in the section on Mirad Grammar/Vocabulary Formation.

Nouns can be divided into:

• simple nouns such as pur....vehicle
• compound nouns such as bixpur....train < bix....pull + pur....vehicle (This is one of the most widespread ways for forming new concepts in Mirad.)
• hybrid nouns such as vaod....decision < va....yes + vo....no (hybridized to vao) + d....utterance
• derived nouns such as fabyan....forest < fab....tree + -yan....collection

Other derived nouns can be formed by attaching nominal suffixes or prefixes to words or roots. A list of nominal suffixes to form derived nouns is shown in the following table. More can be read about noun derivation in the section on vocabulary-building.

The noun suffixes -en, -eyn, and -un create nominalized forms from a verb stem, but are a bit confusing. The suffix -en is equivalent to the English -ing and forms a gerundive. It also used to translate many English verbal nominalizations ending in -tion. The suffix -eyn is a slight variation and refers to a single action or state. The ending -un forms a word meaning the result of an action and is often a thing. Sometimes -eyn is used instead of -un where the latter has a special meaning. Here are some examples:

• xer....to do

• xen....doing
• xeyn....deed
• xun....fact

• yugxer....to slow up

• yugxen....deceleration
• yugxun....bottleneck

• der....to say

• den....saying
• deyn....utterance, a saying
• dun....word

• ujer....to end

• ujen....ending eg. I like ending on a happy note.
• ujeyn....an ending, finale eg. This play's finale was emotional.
• ujun....end, tail end eg. The road came to a sudden end.

This suffix is a stub of byen....way, manner.

Prefixes can also be attached to nouns to create derivatives. Here are some common productive ones:

Nouns in Mirad are gender-neutral, unless those relating to people, animals, and sometimes clothing are altered to be specifically male/male-oriented or female/female-oriented. To create the male or male-oriented form of an otherwise gender-neutral noun, prefix the vowel of the semantically significant syllable with the letter w. To create the female or female-oriented form, suffix the vowel of the semantically significant syllable with y. If the noun is an agent noun with the suffix -ut, that is, a noun that means "one who does something as an occupation or behavior", the ending -ut is changed to -uyt for the female form, but the male form ending stays the same or becomes -twob. The reason for this is that the addition of a w to the agentive ending could be confused with the verbal passive marker w (see the chapter on Mirad Grammar/Verbs. The chart below shows how this works:

Making Nouns Gender-specific

Neutral	Masculine	Feminine
tob....human being, person	twob....man	toyb....woman
tobet....child	twobet....boy	toybet....girl
tad....spouse	twad....husband	tayd....wife
ejtad....step spouse	ejtwad....step-husband	ejtayd....step-wife
ajtad....ex-spouse	ajtwad....ex-husband	ajtayd....ex-wife
ted....parent	twed....father	teyd....mother
datif....sweetheart	dwatif....boyfriend	daytif....girlfriend
supet....pig	supwet....boar	supeyt....sow
edeb....monarch	edweb....king	edeyb....queen
gafapat....fowl	gafapwat....rooster	gafapayt....hen
tiuv....underwear	twiuv....briefs	tiuyv....panties
anbopet....antelope	anbopwet....deer	anbopeyt....doe
deuzut....singer	deuzut / deuztwob....male singer	deuzuyt ....songstress
tud....child	twud....son	tuyd....daughter
dezut....actor	dezut or deztwob....male actor	dezuyt....actress

For gender specification in pronouns, see Mirad Grammar/Pronouns, below).

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