* Number: singular vs. plural (e.g., cat vs. cats)
* Tense: past, present, future (e.g., walk vs. walked vs. will walk)
* Person: first, second, third (e.g., I walk vs. you walk vs. he walks)
* Case: nominative, accusative, genitive (e.g., I vs. me vs. my)
* Gender: masculine, feminine, neuter (e.g., prince vs. princess)
* Degree: comparative, superlative (e.g., tall vs. taller vs. tallest)
Here are some examples:
* Number: "book" (singular) vs. "books" (plural)
* Tense: "play" (present) vs. "played" (past)
* Person: "I walk" vs. "you walk" vs. "he walks"
* Case: "I" (nominative) vs. "me" (accusative) vs. "my" (genitive)
Key points about inflectional morphemes:
* They are bound morphemes, meaning they can't stand alone as words.
* They are grammatical markers, changing the grammatical function of a word.
* They don't change the basic meaning of the word.
* They are productive, meaning they can be applied to new words.
In contrast to inflectional morphemes, derivational morphemes change the meaning of a word. For example, adding "-ness" to "happy" creates the word "happiness," which is a completely different concept than "happy."
Understanding inflectional morphemes is crucial for understanding the structure and grammar of a language. They allow us to express different grammatical relationships and nuances within a sentence.