Regular Declensions — Declension 2

When we talk about declensions, we deal mainly with nouns (and also adjectives that are used nominally, i.e., as nouns, as in “The good, the bad and the ugly”). The second declension comprises all feminine words ending in i, with the exception of monosyllabic or disyllabic nouns (not adjectives) having a single consonant (unless it is j or x) before the i, e.g. bi  (seed), koddi 

(curry), suri  (knife), talli  (a tiny branch of a tree) which all belong to the fourth declension. Hence even disyllabic adjectives with single consonants before the ending i come under this declension.

Unlike the words of the first declension, where neuter nouns form their plurals differently from the masculine nouns, the words belonging to the second declension form not only their flex stems but even their plurals in the same manner. The singular flex stem is formed by replacing the ending i with ê, the plural (nominative) is formed by replacing the i with eô, and the plural flex stem is formed by by replacing the i with eam. However, in the case of disyllabic adjectives with a single consonant before the i (mentioned above), if the first vowel happens to be an o or e, it opens out in the plural flex stem. Thus the o‘s in gori, gorê and goreô are all closed, while it is open in the word goream. Listen to these sounds in the last example below.

Here are some examples of words of the second declension:

Singular				Plural
bokddi	bokddê	goat		bokddeô	bôkddeam	goats
ostori	ostorê	woman		ostoreô	ostôream	women
mhatari	mhatarê	old lady		mhatareô	mhataream	old ladies
gori	gorê	fair lady		goreô	goream	fair ladies