Pluralizing with -kuna

Allin p'unchaw! Welcome back.

Introduction

In our last two lessons, we've built a solid foundation for talking about possession. First, you learned to use possessive suffixes to say "my house" (wasiy). Then, you learned to use the genitive suffix -pa to specify the owner, as in "Pedro's house" (Pedropa wasin).

Today's Goal: We will add another layer to this by learning how to make nouns plural. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use the pluralizer suffix -kuna with both simple nouns ("houses") and possessed nouns ("my houses," "Pedro's houses").

This is a key step in making your Quechua more descriptive and flexible.

¡Qallarisun! (Let's begin!)

---

1. The Plural Suffix: -kuna

In English, we form plurals in many ways ("-s", "-es", irregular forms like "children"). Quechua is much more regular. To make a noun plural, you simply add the suffix -kuna.

Quechua is an agglutinative language, which means suffixes are "glued" onto a root word to add meaning. Let's see how this works for plurals.

As the video demonstrates, the process is straightforward:

• mishi (cat) → mishi**kuna** (cats)

It's important to note, as the video mentions, that Quechua has no definite article ("the"). So, mishikuna can mean "cats" or "the cats" depending on the context.

Now, let's look at more examples to solidify this rule.

From the reading, you can see the pattern is very consistent:

• wasi (house) → wasi**kuna** (houses)
• runa (person) → runa**kuna** (people)
• ñan (path) → ñan**kuna** (paths)

A quick note on usage: If you specify a number, the -kuna suffix is often omitted. For example, you would say iskay wasi for "two houses," not iskay wasikuna.

---

2. Pluralizing Possessed Nouns

Now, let's combine what you've just learned with our previous lessons on possession. How do you say "my houses" or "your cats"?

The rule for ordering the suffixes is crucial:

Noun Stem + Possessive Suffix + Plural Suffix (-kuna)

A helpful resource states this rule very clearly: "The noun plural marker -kuna follows possessive suffixes." Let's see this in action.

The video shows the step-by-step construction:

1. mishi (cat)
2. mishi**yki** (your cat)
3. mishi**yki**kuna (your cats)

This order is fixed. You will always add the possessive suffix first, followed by the plural suffix.

Let's review the full set of combinations.

These tables are very useful, but they contain a simplification that we need to clarify. The tables suggest that -kuna is not added to the forms wasiyku (our [excl.] house) and wasinku (their house). This is not entirely accurate.

The suffixes -yku (our, exclusive) and -nku (their) already indicate a plural possessor. However, you can still add -kuna to indicate that these plural possessors own plural objects.

• wasiyku = Our (excl.) house

• wasiyku**kuna** = Our (excl.) houses

• wasinku = Their house

• wasinku**kuna** = Their houses

The Langfocus video you watched earlier actually demonstrates this with the word ñan (road), forming ñanninkukuna for "their roads." The structure is ñan (road) + -nku (their) + -kuna (plural), with an extra -ni- added for easier pronunciation.

So, the rule holds: add -kuna to make the possessed noun plural, regardless of whether the owner is singular or plural.

---

3. Self-Assessment

Time to practice! Use what you've learned to form the correct Quechua words and phrases.

Part A: Pluralize these simple nouns.

1. allqu (dog) → ?
2. llaqta (city) → ?
3. orqo (mountain) → ?

Answers

1. allqukuna
2. llaqtakuna
3. orqokuna

Part B: Pluralize these possessed nouns.

1. wasiy (my house) → ?
2. panayki (your [a man's] sister) → ?
3. maman (his/her mother) → ?
4. wasiykichik (your [pl.] house) → ?

Answers

1. wasiykuna
2. panaykikuna
3. mamankuna
4. wasiykichikkuna

Part C: Putting it all together.

Remember the genitive structure from our last lesson: Possessor-pa Possessed-n. How would you say the following?

1. Maria's cats (mishi)
2. Pedro's houses (wasi)

Answers

1. Mariapa mishinkuna
2. Pedropa wasinkuna

Breakdown for #1: `Maria-pa` (Maria's) `mishi-n` (her cat) `-kuna` (plural) → `Mariapa mishinkuna`.

---

Conclusion

¡Allin llamk'asqa! (Good work!)

Today you've mastered a fundamental aspect of Quechua grammar, allowing you to express quantity for both simple and possessed nouns.

Key Takeaways:

• The suffix -kuna is used to make nouns plural (e.g., wasi → wasikuna).
• When a noun is possessed, the plural suffix -kuna is added after the possessive suffix.
• The correct order is: Noun + Possessive Suffix + -kuna (e.g., wasi + -y + -kuna → wasiykuna).

Preview of the Next Lesson:
Now that you can form plurals, the next logical step is to learn how to count. In our next lesson, we will learn the numbers from 1 to 20 and how to use them to quantify objects, giving you another way to talk about more than one thing.

Tupananchiskama! (Until we meet again!)