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