1. Nouns to which possessive suffixes may be added:
Certain nouns take the suffixed pronoun denoting the possessor.
These are nouns denoting:
a. Parts of the body: lima hand, limagu my hand, aba arm, abamu thy arm, maa eye, maamu thy eye.
b. Position, end, middle, top: buri behind, burigu behind me, i dalumana in the midst, isingana its end, i kamena lobo beside the lake, i fafona on top of it.
c. Certain states or doings of men: life, death, speech, custom, goings: mae to die, maela death, maelana his death, baela speech, baelagu my word.
d. The word sasi brother, sasigu my brother, my sister. The other words denoting relationship employ the personal pronoun to denote possession.
2. Formation of nouns: Nouns which have a special termination showing them to be nouns substantive are (a) verbal nouns and (b) independent nouns.
a. Verbal nouns are formed from verbs by the terminations a, fa, la, ta: mae to die, maea death or sickness, maela death, bae to speak, baea word, baela speech, fanga to eat, fangaa feast, food, fangala food, mae to die, maemaefa sickness, nao to lead, naofa first, naofe mwela eldest child, also with suffixed pronoun naofana mwela; ta is seen in the root afuta all, which is used only with the suffixed pronoun, afutagera all of them, afutana na ai gi all the people. The termination la has a more or less gerundival force.
Compound nouns may be formed, girigiri lifoa gnashing of teeth, saitama dooa wisdom.
Where in the vocabulary fa and ta have a hyphen attached, it is intended to show that they are used only with the suffixed pronoun attached.