(2) Singular A kangaroo Booroo
Dual A pair of kangaroos Booroolallee
Plural Several kangaroos Boorooyargang
It will be observed that the dual and plural suffixes vary slightly in form, according to the termination of the noun.
Gender.—Mur′riñ, a man; bul′lan, a woman; boobal, a boy; mullunga, a girl; goodha, a child of either sex; warrambal, a young man. Another name for a man is boual; a married man is kunbeelang; a married woman is boualillang. Generally the males of animals are distinguished by the addition of goomban, and the females by dhoorook. The males of certain animals have a name which distinguishes them without stating the sex; thus, the male of wallee, the opossum, is known as jerrawul, while the female is wallee dhoorook. Goola, the native bear, has burrandang for the male and goola dhoorook for the female. A few animals have a distinctive word for the female as well as for the male; thus, the female of the wallaroo is bâwa, and the male goondarwâ. Others again have the suffix koual for the male, and ñoual for the female. The words for “male” and “female” are inflected for number like other adjectives.
Case.—There are two forms of the nominative, the first naming the subject at rest; as Boual ngabooromañ, the man sleeps. The second shows that the subject is doing some act; thus, mirreegangga wallee burrârañ, the dog an opossum bit. Mirreegang is a dog in the first nominative.
The possessive case takes a suffix both to the possessor and that which is possessed:
Murringoo warrangangoong, a man’s boomerang.
Mirreegangoo goodhâwoong, a dog’s puppy.
Bullangoo goodhâyarroong, a woman’s children.
Booroongoo dhoombirgoong, a kangaroo’s tail.
Any object over which one can exercise ownership can be conjugated by possessive suffixes for number and person: