2 (), whereas disyllabic low-high nouns typically take Plural 1 (). Gender is expressed lexically, occasionally by use of a suffix, but more often with a different noun altogether, or, in the case of animals, by use of a separate nominal element 'masculine' or 'feminine': 'man' vs. 'woman' 'boy' vs. 'girl' 'she-ass' vs. 'donkey' The pair male slave/female slave forms an interesting exception, showing gender marking through different endings of the lexeme: 'slave (m)' vs. 'slave (f)'. An Old Nubian equivalent which does not seem to show the gender is 'slaves'; the plural suffix has a modern equivalent in (see above). In compound nouns composed of two nouns, the tone of the first noun becomes low while the appended noun keeps its own tonal pattern. 'cat' + 'wild' → 'wild cat' 'guest' + 'house' → 'guest room' 'sling' + 'stone' → 'sling stone' Many compounds are found in two forms, one more lexicalized than the other. Thus, it is common to find both the coordinated noun phrase 'the water of the river' and the compound noun 'river-water', distinguished by their tonal pattern. Verbs Verbal morphology in Nobiin is subject to numerous morphophonological processes, including syllable contraction, vowel elision, and assimilation of all sorts and directions. A distinction needs to be made between the verbal base and the morphemes that follow. The majority of verbal bases in Nobiin end in a consonant (e.g. 'sleep', 'eat', 'follow', 'lie'); notable exceptions are 'go' and 'drink'. Verbal bases are mono- or disyllabic. The verbal base carries one of three or four tonal patterns. The main verb carries person, number, tense, and aspect information. (I morning.prayer pray:I.PRESENT) 'I pray the morning prayer.' Only rarely do verbal bases occur without appended morphemes. One such case is the use of the verb 'go' in a serial verb-like construction. (meat one:OB FUTURE go buy:IPRESENT) 'I'm going to buy a piece of meat.' Syntax The basic word order in a Nobiin sentence is subject–object–verb. Objects are marked by an object suffix , often assimilating to the final consonant of the word (e.g. 'book', 'book-OBJECT' as seen below). In a sentence containing both an indirect and a direct object, the object marker is suffixed to both. (camel corn-OB eat:he.PRESENT) 'The camel eats corn.' (I you-OB this book-OB give:I.PRESENT) 'I give you this book.' Questions can be constructed in various ways in Nobiin. Constituent questions ('Type 1', questions about 'who?', 'what?',