[jbovlaste] Re: plural

[Jorge Llambias <jjllambias@hotmail.com>]

tijlan:
> Can "suzmei" (su'o zei mei) mean "plural" in the sense of "more than one"?
"su'o mei" is "at least one", so you would need "za'u mei" or "su'o re mei" for "more than one" or "at least two".
I wouldn't gloss it as "plural" though. "Plural" usually means "pertaining to more than one", but not "is/are more than one".
A plural noun is not more than one noun, it's a noun that refers to more than one thing.
The word "men" is plural not because it is more than one but because it refers to more than one.
Similarly for "singular", the word "man" is singular not because it is one but because it refers to one.
So I would suggest "pavra'a" for "singular", "x1 pertains to one thing". "pavmei" is more like "x1 is one" or "x1 is a singleton" than "x1 is singular".
Some options for "plural":
suzrelra'a "x1 pertains to at least two things"sosra'a "x1 pertains to several things"soryra'a "x1 pertains to many things"
mu'o mi'e xorxes

 		 	   		  
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