Like essentially all languages, Arapaho has nouns, which are words for things, as opposed to actions or descriptions. Just as Arapaho verbs distinguish between animate and inanimate things, the nouns are divided into these two classes as well. For the moment, we will discuss only inanimate nouns.

 

nihíít	word
tóuyoó	cup
niisih'íít	name
híx	bone

 

The plural of these words is often formed by adding -(o)no:

 

nihíítono	words
tóuyóóno	cups
niisih'íítono	names
hixóno	bones

 

Notice that -ono is added after nouns ending in a consonant, while nouns ending in a vowel simply add -no. A second group of inanimate things forms the plural by adding a long -ii or -uu:

 

hinóoox	treebark	plural = hinóooxuu
hó3	arrow	plural = hó3ii

 

There is no rule for knowing whether noun plurals involve -(o)no or -ii/-uu, you must simply memorize this information. But in almost every case, if a noun ends in a vowel, its plural will be -(o)no. For -ii and -uu, there is a rule to at least help you remember which of these two endings should be used: if the vowel in the final syllable of the noun is -o-, and the last consonant is -h-, -'-, -w-, -x- or -k-, then the plural will be -uu. If not, it will be -ii.

 

Here is a list of some very common nouns, and their plurals:

 

NOUN	MEANING	PLURAL
booo / bo'o	road	boono
hoo3itoo	story	hoo3itoono
beteneyooo / beteneyo'o	one's body	beteneyoono
bii3hiitooo/bii3hiito'o	table	bii3hiitoono
3io'kuutooo / 3io'kuuto'o	chair	3io'kuutoono
wo3onohoe	book, paper	wo3onohoeno
ce'einox	bag	ce'eino3o (slightly irregular)
bes	wood, stick	bexo (slightly irregular)
niicii / niicie	river	niiciihoho(slightly irregular)
niiinon / ni'inon	tipi	niiinono / ni'inono
3ouuyokoy	tipi	3ouuyokoyono
beesib	plum	beesibino
hohe'	mountain	hoh'enii
hono'	sky	hono'uu (rare)
see3	pine	see3ii
yookox	willow	yookoxuu
bo'ooceibiis	red willow	bo'ooceibiisii

 

There is a special set of nouns (all with final -i' or -u') which have a different plural:

 

ho'oowu'	house	ho'oowuu
biito'owu'	land, earth	biito'owuu
hiisi'	day	hiisii / hiisi'i

 

These nouns are almost always plural:

 

bii3wo	food (literally 'things eaten')
biino	chokecherries
bei'ci3ei'i	money (literally 'metal ones')

 

A note on spelling: notice above that the word for 'road' is written either booo or bo'o. In very slow, careful pronunciation, people say booo. But when talking more quickly or more normally, they say bo'o. You can choose to write the word either way. All words which have three consecutive vowels (niiinon / ni'inon 'tipi'; beteee / bete'e, 'dance!') can be pronounced and written either of these two ways. Also words which have /h/ plus /'/ often drop the /'/ in normal or rapid pronunciation, as: nih'oo3oo / nihoo3oo 'white person.' Again, you can spell and pronounce the word either way.

 

 

Go on to Part Two of this Lesson