Recognize masculine and feminine, and form the plural.
In Kabyle, every noun has a gender: masculine or feminine. The gender can often be recognized by the noun's prefix. The plural is formed by changing the prefix and sometimes the suffix, and sometimes the root changes as well.
Most masculine nouns start with a- (sometimes am- or an-).
| Kabyle | English |
|---|---|
argaz | man |
aqcic | boy |
axxam | house |
amɣar | old man |
anegmar | hunter |
The feminine is generally formed with ta-...-t: the mark t- at the beginning and -t at the end. Some feminine nouns are irregular (like tameṭṭut for "woman").
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
aqcic (boy) | taqcict (girl) |
amɣar (old man) | tamɣart (old woman) |
aɣyul (donkey) | taɣyult (female donkey) |
argaz (man) | tameṭṭut (woman) — irregular |
The masculine plural often uses the frame i-...-en. The feminine plural uses ti-...-in. Some nouns change the internal vowel (broken plural).
| Singular | Plural | Type |
|---|---|---|
argaz | irgazen | regular (masc.) |
aqcic | iqcicen | regular (masc.) |
taqcict | tiqcicin | regular (fem.) |
amɣar | imɣaren | regular (masc.) |
taddart (village) | tuddar | broken plural |
The a- / ta-...-t rule works for most words, but there are three major exceptions you need to memorize.
For some very common words (especially family), the masculine and feminine share no root. They are completely different words.
| Masculine | Feminine | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
argaz | tameṭṭut | man / woman |
mmi | yelli | my son / my daughter |
gma | weltma | my brother / my sister |
Sometimes, adding the feminine frame ta-...-t doesn't mean "female version of...", but creates a word with a completely new, related meaning.
Some words are inherently feminine and have no masculine version, or their masculine version is extremely rare.
| Feminine word | Meaning |
|---|---|
taddart | village |
tala | spring / fountain |
tamurt | country / homeland |