8 Plurals of nouns: hopuetake ‘children’
In English, almost every noun has a plural: book, books; man, men, etc. In Mvskoke, only a few nouns referring to humans have plural forms. Most nouns like efv do not have a plural and can be translated as ‘dog’ or ‘dogs’ depending on context.
- A few nouns referring to humans that end in wv have a plural in -take.
| honvnwv | ‘male, man’ | honvntake | ‘men’ |
| hopuewv | ‘child’ | hopuetake | ‘children’ |
| ēwvnwv | ‘(a man’s) sister’ | ēwvnwvtake | ‘(a man’s) sisters’ |
| vpvlwv | ‘the rest’ | vpvltake | ‘the others’ |
- A few other nouns referring to humans use -vke in the plural.
| hoktē | ‘female, woman’ | hoktvke | ‘women’ |
| mēkko | ‘chief’ | mēkkvke | ‘chiefs’ |
| hoktvlwv | ‘old woman’ | hoktvlvke | ‘old women’ |
| cēpvnē | ‘boy’ | cēpvnvke | ‘boys’ |
| vculē | ‘old person’ | vculvke | ‘old people’ |
- When a noun has a special plural form, that plural form must be used in plural contexts.
Este-honvntake hokkolet welakvtēs.
person-males two (two) were about
‘Two men were about (very long ago).’
Group plural –vlke
The suffix -vlke is used for groups of people like clans, tribes, or denominations.
| cetto | ‘snake’ | Cettvlke | ‘Snake clan’ |
| fuswv | ‘bird’ | Fuswvlke | ‘Bird clan’ |
| kaccv | ‘tiger’ | Kaccvlke | ‘Tiger clan’ |
| wotko | ‘raccoon’ | Wotkvlke | ‘Raccoon clan’ |
| este Maskoke | ‘Muscogee person’ | este Maskokvlke | ‘the Muscogee’ |
| este Semvnole | ‘Seminole person’ | este Semvnolvlke | ‘the Seminole’ |
| este Cahtv | ‘Choctaw person’ | este Cahtvlke | ‘the Choctaw’ |
| este Cvlakke | ‘Cherokee person’ | este Cvlakkvlke | ‘the Cherokee’ |
