Noun Declension

Anything that can be food or water is declensed by how many people it can feed/quench. The final vowel of the noun changes according to this amount.*

i - not enough to feed anyone

e - about enough to feed one child

a - about enough to feed one person

u - enough to feed a few people

ae - about enough to feed a nuclear family

o - enough to feed the entire clan/group (in cases when the clan is just one nuclear family, o is usually preferred over ae)

Examples:

tsini - dry riverbed; tsino - river

dem - one small fish; dom - a school of fish

*If something that is not traditionally seen as food or drink is being treated as such, the appropriate vowel is tacked on as a suffix. (Ex: baha “sea” -> bahao when there is a way to take the salt out of the seawater.)

Something may be referred to differently depending on whether it will be used to provide food or drink. A single lactating camel being used for milk will in most cases be called “mudae,” while a single camel being used for meat will be called “mudo.”

Something that could be traditionally used as a food source may sometimes be referred to with the i vowel even when there would be enough there to eat, simply to emphasize that it is not to be eaten.

Nouns that can be declensed according to amount must also be declensed according to past and future tense. In present tense, there is no change in the nouns, but in past and present tense, a prefix is added to establish tense.

Future tense - The prefix "om" is added. If a group is looking for a river that they can all drink from, they will call it "omtsino."
Past tense - The prefix "ga" is added if the root word begins with a consonant and "gan" is added if the root word begins with a vowel. If someone is discussing a camel steak they've eaten, they will call it "gafoa."