minush	cat	minushat	cats
utapan	car	utapana	cars

The words minush and utapan refer to one cat and one car. We say that they are singular. The words minushat and utapana refer to more than one cat and more than one car. We say that they are plural. In Innu, animate nouns like minush and inanimate nouns like utapan take different plural endings. The way number (singular or plural) is marked on nouns depends on their gender (animate or inanimate).

To form the plural of animate nouns, the suffix at is added.

Example	Singular/peikushu ↓	Plural/mitshena = at ↓
Animate / ka ińniuimakak →	minush	minushat
	atiku	atikuat
	nishk	nishkat
	atimu	atimuat
	ińnu	ińnuat
	napeu	napeuat
	aueshish	aueshishat
	nishtesh	nishteshat
	uapimin	uapiminat

To form the plural of inanimate nouns, the suffix a is added.

Example	Singular/peikushu ↓	Plural/mitshena = a ↓
Inanimate / eka ka ińniuimakak →	utapan	utapana
	tetapuakan	tetapuakana
	uapikun	uapikuna
	mashinaikan	mashinaikana
	massin	massina
	ashini	ashinia
	mitshuap	mitshuapa
	mishta-min	mishta-mina
	meshkanau	meshkanaua

The best way to know whether a noun is animate or inanimate is to check the dictionary. It will be written as either “na” (animate noun) or “ni” (inanimate noun).

Here are some examples of sentences written in singular and plural:

Animate / ka ińniuimakak
Peikussu minush, uapishiu.	Mitshetuat minushat, patetat itashuat.
There is a cat, it is white.	There are several cats, there are five.
Nuapamau peikuatiku pemutet.	Pimipatauat nishtuatikuat shakaikanit.
I see a caribou walking.	Three caribou run on the lake.

Inanimé / eka ka ińniuimakak
Mińuashu utapan, mikuashu.	Nuapaten nishuaush utapana pemipaniti.
The car is pretty, it’s red.	I see eight cars pass.
Ishpanau tetapuakan.	Nitaianan nishutetapuakana.
The chair is high.	We buy two chairs.