In English, when we want to talk about more than one of something, we usually add an s to the end of a noun:
| one door | two doors | three doors |
In Inuktut, we use different endings to distinguish between two of something and more than two of something:
| tuktu | one caribou |
| tuktuk | two caribou |
| tuktut / tuktuit | caribou (3+) |
The dual form is used to talk about two of a particular object. The dual form of nouns in Inuktut always ends with a -k sound.
| ukkuak | two doors |
| igluuk | two buidings/houses |
| titirautiik | two pens |
| qarliik | a pair of pants |
Here is the general pattern of changes between the singular and dual in Inuktut. Keep in mind that their are irregular forms of the dual that are widely used and do not follow this pattern.
- if the object ends in a vowel, double the vowel, before adding k :
| nuvuja | cloud |
| nuvujaak | two clouds |
-
if the object ends in a t, add the ending -iik:
| titiraut | pen |
| titirautiik | (two) pens |
- if it ends in any consonant other than t, delete the last consonant, double the last vowel, and add k:
| kamik | boot |
| kamiik | two boots |
| qaritaujaq | computer |
| qaritaujaak | two computers |
- if the last vowel sound in the word is a long vowel or a double vowel, just add k:
| nunannguaq | map |
| nunannguak | (two) maps |