1. The noun is a part of speech that denote the object. It answer on questions "who is this?" or "what is this?". For example: who is this? - a man, a girl, an engineer; what is this? - a house, wheat, darkness, work.

2. Usually we use nouns with articles and prepositions: a table, the table, on the table, under the table.

3. Nouns have two numbers: a single (a table, a book) and a plural (tables, books) form.

4. Nouns have two cases: general (worker, father) and possessive (worker's, father's).

5. In English kind of nouns is not determined by the form of the word, the meaning of the word is important. Animate objects are masculine and feminine: a man, a woman. Inanimate objects are neuter: a chair, water, a window.

6. Nouns are simple (ship, town, book, wheat) and derivatives (darkness, misprint, unemployment).
The most typical suffixes of derived nouns are:
-er: worker, writer
-ment: development, government
-ness: happiness, kindness
-ion: restiction, connection
-dom: freedom, wisdom
-hood: childhood, neighborhood
-ship: leadership, friendship

Tags: derivatives, feminine, general, masculine, neuter, noun, plural, possessive, simple, single