Since we are going to deal with the plurals of nouns, which are obviously in the nominative case, this grammar topic is actually a subset of Declensions. Konkani nouns in our vocabulary list are going to include four principal parts: the nominative singular, singular flex stem, nominative plural and the plural flex stem. In this section we are going to deal with the third principal parts of nouns, viz., the nominative plural. Thus we are giving this topic a special treatment because of its importance. However, today we shall restrict ourselves to masculine nouns only.
1. Masculine nouns that end in o
Examples:
ghoddo
Sometimes, however, the change in the vowel (from o to e) may be accompanied by a change in the preceding consonant as well. This happens in three cases:
a) when the preceding consonant is an s
b) when the preceding consonant is a z
Examples:
a) The plural of kollso
b) The plural of bhozo
There is a third case wherein while the preceding consonant remains the same as far as the spelling is concerned, the sound of that consonant changes.
Example:
Mocho
2. Masculine nouns whose last vowel is either an ê
Examples:
Khêll
3. All other masculine nouns retain the same form in the (nominative) plural.
Examples:
the words raza