Page:An elementary grammar of the Japanese language.djvu/18

4 A Noun is the name of any person, place, or thing; as, niwa [sic], garden; Nippon [sic], Japan.

Nouns are either Proper or Common:— Nouns are varied by number and gender.
 * 1) A Proper Noun is the name of any particular person, place, or thing, as Yokohama, Kosi.
 * 2) A Common Noun is a name given in common to everything of the same kind, as , table.

There are two numbers, the Singular and Plural.

In Japanese, nouns change their forms in a few cases; generally they have the same forms, both in their plural and singular. But when they change their forms the plural is rendered by adding ', ', or ' to the singular; as ', child; ', gentleman; ', student, in the singular; and ', ', , in the plural.

The number of nouns generally are distinguished by numeral adjectives; as  , one person; hito , two persons.

Nouns have three genders—the Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter.