Inflection of Nouns — Gender, Number, Derivative Prefixes

§32. GENDER Umbundu has no grammatical gender. Nouns are not masculine or feminine. Sex is distinguished only by separate words or by adding -lume (male) or -kai (female): o-njila o-ndume = male bird o-njila o-nkai = female bird o-mbua o-ndume = male dog o-mbua o-nkai = female dog (bitch) A small number of nouns inherently denote sex: u-lume = man u-kai = woman o-selenge = billy-goat o-hombo = she-goat o-ngombe = ox o-njindi = cow e-kota = elder brother omu-kai = sister §33. NUMBER Singular and plural are formed by changing the preformative: u-lume / a-lume omu-nu / oma-nu e-kapa / a-kapa ochi-ndele / ovi-ndele o-ngombe / olo-ngombe olu-si / olo-si oka-ndimba / otu-ndimba Some nouns occur only in singular (abstract nouns): e-kavo (weariness), ou-esi (laziness), i-lu (sky) Some occur only in plural (collective or natural plurals): ovi-ta (war — literally: armed men) oma-si (oil, fat) ova-va (water) ova-te (saliva) §34–35. DERIVATIVE PREFIXES The preformative of one class may be replaced by another to derive a new meaning: AUGMENTATIVE: replace any preformative with ochi- (sg) / ovi- (pl): u-lume (man) → ochi-lume (big man, hulking fellow) o-mbua (dog) → ochi-mbua (great dog) DIMINUTIVE: replace any preformative with oka- (sg) / otu- (pl): o-ndimba (hare) → oka-ndimba (little hare) u-kai (woman) → oka-kai (little woman) e-kapa (potato) → oka-kapa (small potato)