Nouns

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 , -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
Simplified Declension Table
  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.

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.

From Verbs
-{')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

From Nouns
-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."

From Adjectives
-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."

Other Affixes
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.