Substantivul

1 Felul substantivelor

Substantivele in limba engleza se pot imparti in patru categorii:

• substantive comune: cat, girl, lamp
• substantive proprii: England, London, Mr Smith, Mary
• substantive abstracte: beauty, love, courage, fear, joy
• substantive colective: crowd, group, team

2. Genul

Substantive de genul masculin sunt fiintele si animalele de sex masculin:
Ex.: man, boy, lion, dog

Substantivele de genul feminin sunt fiintele si animalele de sex feminin:
Ex.: woman, girl, cat, giraffe

Substantive de genul neutru sunt lucrurile, plantele, animale sau fiinte al caror sex nu este cunoscut (pronume: it/they):
Ex.: world, peace, house, mouse, baby
Exceptii: tarile, navele, in majoritatea cazurilor si autovehiculele sau alte vehicule sunt de genul feminin.

Substantivele de genul comun sunt o particularitate a limbii engleze. Substantivele care intra in aceasta categorie au aceeasi forma pentru ambele sexe:
Ex.: child (copil, copila), cook (bucatar, bucatareasa), teacher (profesor, profesoara).

Unele substantive au forme diferite pentru genul masculin si cel feminin:
Ex.: boy - girl, husband - wife, brother - sister, father - mother, son - daughter, uncle - aunt, dog - bitch, bull - cow, king - queen

3. Numarul

Numarul este forma pe care o ia un substantiv pentru a arata ca ne referim la unul sau mai multe obiecte sau fiinte.

• Singularul coincide cu forma de baza a unui substantiv: dog, girl, wife, world, storm
• Pluralul substantivelor se formeaza prin adaugarea unui s la forma de singular:
  Ex.: cat+s=cats, day+s=days, world+s=worlds
• Pluralul substantivelor teminate in ch, o, sh, s, x se formeaza adaugand es la singular.
  Ex.: church+es=churches, bush+es=bushes, class+es=classes, potato+es=potatoes, bush+es=bushes, box+es=boxes

3. Pluralul neregulat

• Substantive terminate in consoana+y fac pluralul in ies:
  Ex.: company - companies, factory - factories, baby - babies
• Unele substantive terminate in o fac plural prin adaugarea unui s.
  Ex.: soprano - sopranos, piano - pianos, photo - photos
• Unele substantive terminate in f sau fe vor suferi la plural schimbarea in ves.
  Ex.: leaf - leaves, half - halves, wife - wives, life - lives, self - selves, wolf - wolves
  Exceptii: roof - roofs, handkerchief - handkerchiefs, gulf - gulfs, wharf - wharfs/ wharves
• Cateva substantive formeaza pluralul prin schimbarea unei vocale interne
  Ex.: foot - feet, man - men, tooth - teeth
• Pluralul substantivului child este children.
• Unele substantive raman identice la plural Ex.: aircraft, deer, series, sheep, species, fish

3.2 Pluralul substantivelor compuse

• In cazul substantivelor compuse numai ultimul cuvant va trece la plural.
  Ex.: boy-friends, break-ins, travel agents
  Exceptii: substantivele compuse al caror prim element este man sau woman vor primi semnul pluralului pentru ambele substantive componente.
  Ex.: men drivers, women teachers, men servants
• In cazul substantivelor compuse formate din constructii de genul substantiv + prepozitie / adverb + substantiv, substantivul de baza va primi semnul pluralului.
  Ex.: sisters-in-law, passers-by, men-of-war, hangers-on, lookers-on, runners-up
• Abrevierile sau initialele vor forma pluralul prin adaugarea unui s
  Ex.: MPs (Members of Parliament), VIPs (very important persons)

4. Substantivele unice (uncountable nouns)

Sunt substantive care nu se pot numara (uncountable) deoarece reprezinta fie unicate, obiecte puternic individualizate, notiuni abstracte.

• Nume de substante: bread, coffee, gold, paper, cloth, glass, oil, stone, wood
• Abstractiuni: earth, paradise, nature, the present, advice, death, help, information, news, beauty, experience, horror, knowledge, friendship, theory, literature
• Alte substantive: baggage, damage, shopping, reading, luggage, parking, weather

Substantivele unice sunt intotdeana la singular si vor lua un verb la singular:
Ex.: This coffee is cold. The weather was dreadful.

Nu sunt precedate de a/an; pentru a exprima o unitate din aceste substantive se foloseste: some, any, no, a little, bit, piece of, slice of, etc.
Ex.: I do not want any help. I need some information. This slice of bread is hard. The piece of advice you gave me helped.

Nota: Multe dintre substantivele unice pot avea si sensuri care se pot numara, astfel devenind substantive comune si comportandu-se ca atare (primes a/an la singular, pot avea plural).

Sens Unic / Sens Comun

Her hair is black. (Parul ei este negru.)
She found a hair in the milk. (A gasit un fir de par in lapte.)
Their house was made of wood. (Casa lor este din lemn.)
We picnicked in the woods. (Am mers la picnic in padure.)

5. Forma posesiva

• Se adauga 's la forma de singular a substantivelor care nu se termina in s:
  Ex.: a child's voice, the people's choice, a horse's mouth, women's clothes
• Vom folosi doar apostroful (') cu formele de plural ale substantivelor care se termina in s.
  Ex.: a boys' school, the Johnsons' residence
• Numele proprii terminate in s vor primi fie doar apostrof ('), fie 's
  Ex.: Mr Jones's / Mr Jones' car, Yeats's / Yeats' poems
• In cazul substantivelor compuse si a titlurilor ultimul cuvant va primi 's
  Ex.: My father-in-law's guitar, Henry the Eighth's wives
• 's se foloseste si dupa initiale sau abrevieri.
  Ex.: The CEO's assistant, the PM's speech
• Forma posesiva se foloseste in general cand vorbim de oameni, animale, tari. Se foloseste de asemenea in urmatoarele cazuri:
• In expresii temporale
  Ex.: yesterday's newspaper, in five years' time, ten minutes' break
• In expresii construite dupa modelul bani + worth
  Ex.: ten dollars' worth of bananas, a shilling's worth of stamps
• In alte expresii uzuale:
  Ex.: for heaven's sake, a winter's day, the water's edge, the plane's wings, the train's departure
• In cazul anumitor substantive folosite la posesiv, este uzuala omisiunea substantivului urmator atunci cand sensul comunicarii este clar (magazine, birouri, oficii, casa, locuinta).
  Ex.: You can buy this at the baker's (shop). Mary bought her tickets at the travel agent's (office). The kids went to Bobby's (house).

Ideea de posesie se poate exprima si cu ajutorul constructiei of+substantiv. Aceasta constructie se foloseste mai ales pentru lucruri sau fiinte umane sau animale atunci cand acestea sunt urmate de o propozitie subordonata.
Ex.: the walls of the town, the roof of the church, the keys of the house
I took the advice of the girl I met on the bus and went to buy the book.