Noun Classes §

All Kaitag nouns belong to one of three classes — human male в-, human female р-, and neuter б- — and copulas, verbs, and adjectives must agree with them.

• урши ви "the boy is"
• рирси ри "the girl is"
• бизи би "the cat is"

In the plural, the two human classes merge into б-, while neuter becomes д-.

• рирсбе би "the girls are"
• дяьне би "the children are"
• бизне ди "the cats are"

Thus, a class may be the only distinguishing marker:

• Ьелтти бярун. "They (humans) went."
• Ьелтти дярун. "They (non-humans) went."

What Drives Agreement §

For intransitive verbs, copulas, and adjectives, agreement is with the subject.

• урши вейкку "there's no boy"
• рицци регур "sister left"
• буҡен ҳуне "the long road"

For transitive verbs, agreement is with the object, not the actor.

• Рирсил атта чи важив. "The girl saw (masc.) her father."
• Уршил уба чи ражив. "The boy saw (fem.) his mother."
• Убал бяъруме дирцив. "Mother washed the walls."

For impersonal statements about weather or environment, the default б- is used.

• Ттура буцӏал це. "It's hot outside."
• Атта ҡил у дул абарьид. "I don't know if father is home."
• Ьелин вянара бажил акку. "No need to go there."

Class Slot Position §

Not all words have a class slot; when present, it appears at the beginning.

• ҡил буҡҡара "to carry home"
• ҡил тта цаҡҡара "to bring from home"
  same root, but no class slot
• дуцӏар бирме "hot days"
• буххар бирме "cold days"
  б- is frozen, does not agree

In verbs, some prefixes can precede it.

• Марка кабаҳул це. "The rain is precipitating."
• Миркне кадаҳул це. "The rains are precipitating."

In fact, many words starting with б-, д-, or even р- contain historical fossilized classes that no longer change: рицци "sister", дяьне "kids", биара "to say".

Dropping в- §

The masculine class в- is regularly dropped in two environments.

First, when the class slot is followed by у, since ву generally does not occur in Kaitag:

• буҡен "long (it)"
• уҡен "long (he)" (not *вуҡен)
• руҡен "long (she)"

Second, when preceded by ка-, ьа-, or ца-, the masculine class is deleted along with the preceding vowel:

• кабижив "it sat"
• кижив "he sat" (not *кавижив)
• карижив "she sat"

Additionally, two verbs never take в-: бикӏора "to speak" and цянара "to come" (with directional variants ьянара "to come up" and кянара "to come down"). This applies to compound verbs as well.

• рицци рикӏор "sister says"
• уцци икӏор "brother says" (not *викӏор)
• Бизи дуцӏ бикӏул це. "The cat runs."
• Урши дуцӏ икӏул це. "The boy runs." (not *викӏул)
• Рирси цярун, и ра цяре! "The girl came, you (fem.) come too!"
• Урши цяун, и ра ця! "The boy came, you (masc.) come too!"

The reflexive pronoun цебе "itself" also follows this pattern — its masculine form is цей "himself".

Forms with a pronounced в- like цяве "come", цявъун "he came", or цеве "himself" are also used.

Special Classes §

One non-human exception: "God" takes male class в- — виккан Аллаь "beloved God".

Some nouns — mostly fruits and berries — use neuter б- for singular and д- for plural while remaining singular in form. The class prefix is then the only way to tell them apart.

• ьинце беччив "gave an apple"
• ьинце деччив "gave apples"

Some words — typically uncountable or abstract — take д- even in singular:

• шин ди "there's water"
• чирка деғив "morning came"

First and second person plural always take class д-, alongside a personal suffix:

• нисса дирьид "we can"
• нишша дирьитта "you (pl.) can"

In Practice §

Атта цяун, машин давкк барив, цӏил нисса дегурда аттаба чи рагара.
"Father came, fixed the car, then we went to see grandmother."

• атта цяун "father came"
  dropped masculine
• машин давкк барив "fixed the car"
  б- for an object (i.e. the car), д- is not a class prefix
• цӏил нисса дегурда "then we went"
  1st person plural
• аттаба чи рагара "to see grandmother"
  female target

Ҡил шин дейччу ьинце дирцара, ьелей дяьне адеркун бужив.
"There was no water at home to wash the apples, so the kids ended up not eating them."

• ҡил шин дейччу "there was no water at home"
  substance noun, always д-
• ьинце дирцара "to wash apples"
  implied object plural
• ьелей дяьне "so the kids"
  д- is not a class prefix
• адеркун "not eaten"
  object plural, i.e. the apples
• бужив "stayed"
  human plural, i.e. the kids