34 A GRAMMAR OF THE
52. The singular becomes plural thus,
1st. Nouns whose nominative singular ends in ം, drop the ം, and take
ങ്ങൾ; as,
| SINGULAR. | PLURAL. |
|---|---|
| ഗ്രാമം, Village. | ഗ്രാമങ്ങൾ, Villages. |
| വസ്ത്രം, Garment. | വസ്ത്രങ്ങൾ, Garments. |
| രൊഗം, Disease. | രൊഗങ്ങൾ, Diseases. |
2nd. Nouns ending with the vowel sound of അ, preceeded by വ,
form their plural in three different ways; thus,
By changing വ into ക്കൾ; as, ആത്മാവ, ആത്മാക്കൾ.
By changing വ into ക്കന്മാർ; as, രാജാവ, രാജാക്കന്മാർ.
By adding കൾ, ഉകൾ11, to വ; as, പ്രാവ, പ്രാവുകൾ.
Such of these nouns as are of the masculine gender, usually take ക്കാർ
for their plural; as,
| SINGULAR. | PLURAL. |
|---|---|
| രക്ഷിതാവ, | രക്ഷിതാക്കന്മാർ. |
| ഭൎത്താവ, | ഭൎത്താക്കന്മാർ. |
| കൎത്താവ, | കൎത്താക്കന്മാർ. |
| പിതാവ, | പിതാക്കന്മാർ. |
In some instances either of the above forms may be used indifferently,
but in general the plural is fixed to one; though no rule, without nume-
rous exceptions, can be given on this subject.
3rd. Nouns, ending with the vowel sound of അ preceeded by any
other consonant than വ, form their plural by adding കൾ, or ഉകൾ to
the nominative case; as,
| ആന, Elephant. | ആനകൾ, Elephants. |
| വില്ല, Bow. | വില്ലുകൾ Bows. |
11 The nouns ending with the vowel sound of അ, that take ഉകൾ for
their plural, are those whose last vowel is, for the most part, preceeded
by the letters ക, വ, ല, and ഇ; but the introduction of ഉ appears to be
owing to a loose manner of pronunciation; the principles of the language
requiring the plurals of such words to ends in കൾ.
For the same reason many similar mistakes have crept into the lan-
guage; thus for അതകൊണ്ട, the natives write and pronounce അതകൊണ്ട,
for ഏതപ്രകാരം, ഏതുപ്രകാരം, &c.
