Nouns in Rihan decline to reflect their usage as plural, possessive and indirect object. There are three cases of Rihan nouns:
- Nominative-Accusative (Subject-Direct Object)
- Genitive (Possessive)
- Dative (Indirect Object)
Rihan nouns decline by group, based on the ending letter(s) of their root word. The root word is the same as the Nominative-Accusative case, which is also the dictionary version of the noun. There are six groups of nouns.
- Proper Nouns: names, cities, planets, etc.
- Group 1 Nouns: nouns ending in -æ, -e and -i
- Group 2 Nouns: nouns ending in -a, -o and -u
- Group 3 Nouns: nouns ending in a consonant but not -am
- Group 4 Nouns: nouns ending in -sam
- Group 5 Nouns: nouns ending in -am but not -sam
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom-Acc Subject-Object |
Genitive Possessive |
Dative Indirect Object |
Nom-Acc Subject-Object |
Genitive Possessive |
Dative Indirect Object |
|
| Proper | (-ha) | s'- | -(h)'ri | -su[2] | ch'- | -su'ri[2] |
| Group 1 | -n | -vha | -in | -en | -vher | |
| Group 2 | -m | -vha | -r | -(')en | -vher | |
| Group 3 | -ai | -evha | -ir | -en | -evher | |
| Group 4 | -sam to -sem | -*sam to -sevha[1] | -sam to -sai | -sam to -sen | -*sam to -sevher[1] | |
| Group 5 | -am to -em | -*am to -evha[1] | -am to -ai | -am to -en | -*am to -evher[1] | |
| Notes: [1] An asterisk denotes the removal of a letter from the indicated location. For example: "-*am to -evha" means to remove the -dam from rhadam before adding -evha to make rhaevha. [2] A final -n or -m in the root word is doubled before adding -su or -su'ri. For example: Rihan doubles its -n to become Rihannsu. |
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For examples, please see the expanded Declension Tables.
Irregular Nouns
A few nouns decline in an irregular manner: hfai (servant), hfihar (houseclan) and eredh (cadet). For the declension of hfai and hfihar, please see the expanded Declension Tables. Eredh declines like a normal Group 3 Noun except that it has an irregular plural: eredhin.
Derivation of Nouns
New nouns can be created from existing words in a variety of manners. Rihan is a very flexible language that makes use of numerous prefixes and suffixes to change a word's meaning.
| -{')elh | to create a deverbal noun, e.g. plhere'elh, "entrance (place to enter)" from the verb plhere, "to enter." A glottal stop is added if the last letter of the root ends in i or e. |
| -sam | to create a deverbal noun, similar to -elh above, e.g. fuhhesam, "resemblance" from the adjective fuhhe, "resemble." |
| -(i)fv | to create a deverbal noun, similar to -elh and -sam above. The i is inserted if the verb-root ends in a consonant. |
| tem- | to create an action noun, e.g. templhere, "entry, entrance (act of entering)." |
| -lai | to create an action noun, similar to tem- above. |
| i(')- ... -(')edh | to create an "-tion"/"-sion" noun, e.g. ivhuinedh, "permission," from the verb vhuin, "to permit, to allow." A glottal stop is added after i if the first letter of the root begins in e. A glottal stop is added before edh if the last letter of the root ends in i or e. |
| -nen | to create an agent - one who does the activity specified by the verb, e.g. kholhnen, "defender," from the verb kholh, "to defend." |
| -asi | poetic alternate to -nen and -asi. e.g. kholhasi, "defender." |
| ra'- | rarely-used poetic alternates to -nen and -asi. |
| ro- | |
| la- | |
| -an | |
| la- ... -(e)ri | to create a noun which is the object of the root verb, e.g. larhudheri, "employee," from the verb rhudh, "to employ, to use." The e is dropped if the verb root ends in e. |
| -hai | a less-commonly encountered alternative to the la-...-eri affix set |
| -ma | corresponds to the English "-ship," e.g. ra'nodairema, "leadership," from the noun ra'nodaire, "leader." |
| -'dænn | corresponds to the English suffix "-y," e.g. lehrei'dænn, "agency," from the noun lehrei, "agent." |
| -sam | corresponds to English "-ance" and "-ism," e.g. etrehhsam, "mechanism" from the noun etrehh, "machine." |
| -asi, -a | forms an agent noun, e.g. edaolasi, "stranger" from the adjective edaol, "strange." (See the "From Verb" table above.) |
| -'le | corresponds to English "-ness," e.g. eiheu'le, "calmness" from the adjective eiheu, "calm." |
| -sam | corresponds to English "-ance" and "-ism," e.g. thehnhasisam, "resistance" from the adjective thehnhasi, "resistant." |
| -no | corresponds to English "-ity," e.g. aledno, "ability" from the adjective aled, "able." |
| al' | indicates an improvement in the root. |
| d' | is an honorific, giving the meaning "grand, great" to the root. |
| ehl' | indicates a loss, a lack, or a deficiency in the root. |
| el' | indicates an increase in the root, or a more advanced or superior level of the root. |
| ne | indicates a decrease in the root, or a less advanced or inferior level of the root. |
| di' | indicates a male gender of the root (generally used only with nouns denoting living beings). |
| ri' | indicates a female gender of the root (generally used only with nouns denoting living beings). |
| -al | is a diminutive. |
| -hwy | indicates that the root is tamed, or in some way held or restrained. |