Noun
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Basically, a noun is the name of a thing.
For example, the following words are nouns: dog, person, jealousy, crowd, fear, death, event.
A more general definition: A noun is the name of an entity we can relate to as an object, assign properties to and/or act upon. That entity could be:
- a physical object (the basic notion of a "thing")
- an abstract entity (like an emotion, a point in time, etc.)
- a situation (like a position, danger, death, etc.)
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Classification
Nouns are classified in several ways.
- Gender - a classification according to (some notion of) which sex the noun/entity belongs to. The most common classes are masculine, feminine and neuter, but some languages use other classes and some have no gender (at least none with an effect on grammar).
- common/proper - This signifies whether the noun is the name of one type of entity, or if it is the name of one individual entity (one instance).
- Countable - This basically signifies whether numbers can be applied to the noun. In grammar it signifies whether both singular and plural inflections are legal.
Common/proper names
- A "common name" is a noun denoting a type of entity.
- A "proper name" is a noun denoting one individual entity.
In writing, proper names usually start with a capital letter. Proper names are often uncountable.
Countable/uncountable
Countable nouns are more common. Uncountable nouns can be said to fall in two subcategories: singular and plural.
The reason why a noun is uncountable may be some difficulty in applying numbers, grouping/counting is not natural or the entity cannot be viewed as individual objects.
Articles often behave differently with uncountable nouns. In particular, the definite article may be implied with proper names (hence, in some languages proper names do not take articles).
A countable noun in one language may be uncountable in another language.
English examples:
- Money (sing.) - Money is nice to have.
- People (pl.) - Mostly, people are friendly.
"People" is an example of a noun that has both countable and uncountable forms. When used to define ethnical groups etc., the noun is countable. (The nomadic peoples of the world). When used to denote humans in general, it is uncountable.
Translations
- Danish: substantiv n, navneord n
- Dutch: zelfstandig naamwoord n
- Faroese: navnorð n
- Galician: substantivo n, nome n
- German: Substantiv n, Nomen n
- Swedish: substantiv n, nomen n
- Italian: sostantivo m, nome m
- Portuguese: substantivo m, nome m
- Spanish: su(b)stantivo m
- Greek: ουσιαστικό (ousiastikó) n
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