Nouns

Cases

Nominative

Vocative

Accusative

Genitive

Dative

Prepositional

Ablative

Instrumental

Locative

Quick Reference

Case

Indicates

Sample case words

Sample sentence

Notes

Nominative

Subject of a finite verb

we

We went to the store.

Corresponds to English's subject pronouns.

Accusative

Direct object of a transitive verb, exclamations*

us,
for us,
the (object)

The clerk remembered us.
John waited for us at the bus stop.
Obey the law.

Corresponds to English's object pronouns and preposition for construction before the object, often marked by a definite article the. Together with dative, it forms modern English's oblique case.

*Cf. Latin "exclamatory accusative". Constructs such as "(I wish you a) happy birthday!" may omit the subject and verb, but still inflect as accusative implicitly.

Dative

Indirect object of a verb

us,
to us,
to the (object)

The clerk gave us a discount.
The clerk gave a discount to us.
According to the law...

Corresponds to English's object pronouns and preposition to construction before the object, often marked by a definite article the. Together with accusative, it forms modern English's oblique case.

Ablative

Movement away from

from us

The victim went from us to see the doctor.

Genitive

Possessor of another noun

's,
of (the),
his

John's book was on the table.
The pages of the book turned yellow.
Table made out of wood.
To each his own.

Roughly corresponds to English's possessive (possessive determiners and pronouns) and preposition of construction.

Vocative

Addressee

John

John, are you all right?
Hello,John!

Locative

Location, either physical or temporal

in China,
at the bus stop,
in the future

We live in China.
''John is waiting for us at the bus stop.
We will see what will happen in the future.

Roughly corresponds to English prepositions in, on, at, and by and other less common prepositions.

Instrumental

A means or tool used or companion present in/while performing an action

with a mop,
by hand

We wiped the floor with a mop.
This letter was written by hand.

Corresponds to English prepositions by, with and via as well as synonymous constructions such as using, by use of and through.

Morphology

The following hypothetical reconstructions for noun inflection are derived from David Stifter, Alan Ward (to the extent that his reconstructions have not been outmoded), and the Wikipedia article. Please note that orthographic variances between sources may not be fully reckoned with at this time. Inflections listed with multiple endings given may reflect instances where the differences between source material could not be reconciled.

Note: For vowel-stem nouns, all consonant endings are additive while vowel endings are substitutive. E.g.:

*sanesto- + -s = sanestos\ *sanesto- + -ī = sanestī

o-stem

Masculine

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

-s

-o(u)

-(o)i

Vocative

-e

-o(u)

-ūs

Accusative

-m

-o(u)

-ūs

Genitive

-ī, si̭o

-ū(s)

-m

Dative

-ū(i)

-bim*

-bis*

Ablative

-ū

-bim

-bis

Instrumental

-ū

-bim

-ūs

Locative

-ei

-ou

-bis

Neuter

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nom., Voc., Acc.

-m

-ou?

-ā

Genitive

-ī

-ūs?

-m

Dative

-ūi, -ōi*

-bom

-bos

Ablative

-ū

-bim

-bis

Instrumental

-ū

-bim

-ūs

Locative

-ei

-ou

-bis

ā-stem

Feminine

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

-

-ai

-s

Vocative

-

-ai

-s

Accusative

-m

-ai

-s

Genitive

-s

-ou, -ajous

-om

Dative

-āi

-bim*

-bis

Abl., Instr.

-ī

-bim

-bis

Locative

-āi

-bim

-bis

Masculine*

Identical to feminine except:

Case

Singular

Nominative

-s

Anomalous

According to David Stifter, the noun *bena- was inflected identically to regular ā-stems, except that the initial letter may shift from \'b\' to \'m\' in some cases:

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

b-

m/b-

m/b

Vocative

b-

m/b-

m/b-

Accusative

b-

m/b-

m/b-

Genitive

m/b-

b-

b

Prepositional

m/b-

m/b-

m/b-

i-stem

Feminine (and Masculine*)

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

-s

-ī

-ī(e)s

Vocative

-(s)

-ī

-īs

Accusative

-m

-ī

-īs

Genitive

-eis, -ēs

-jou(s)

-jom

Dative

-ei, -mi

-bom, -ibim

-bos, -bis

Ablative

-ī

-bom

-bis

Instr., Loc.

-ī

-bim

-bis

Neuter

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nom., Voc.*, Acc.

-

-ī

-jā

Genitive

-eis, -ēs

-jou(s)

-jom

Dative

-ei, -ī

-bom, -bim

-bos, -bis

Abl., Instr., Loc.

-ī

-bim

-bis

u-stem

Masculine

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

-s

-ou, -ū

-owes

Vocative

-

-ou, -ū

-owes, -ūs

Accusative

-m

-ou, -ū

-ūs

Genitive

-ous

-owou

-owom

Dative

-ou, -ū, -oṷei̭

-bom, -bim

-bos, -bis

Abl., Instr., Loc.

-ū

-bim

-bis

Neuter

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nom., Voc.*, Acc.

-

-ou, -ū

-wā, -ū

Genitive

-ous

-owou

-owom

Dative

-ou, -ū, -ouei

-bom, -bim

-bos, -bis

Abl., Instr., Loc.

-ū

-bim

-bis

velar/dental stems

Note: For velar and dental stems, all endings are additive except for the nominative and vocative singular cases. In these cases, the endings are substitutive because the velar consonants are fricated and dentals devoiced. E.g.:

*rīg- + -xs = rīxs\ *druwid- + -ts = druwits

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

-xs, ts

-e

-es

Vocative

-xs, -ts

-e

-es, ās

Accusative

-am, em*

-e

-ās

Genitive

-os

-ou

-om

Dative

-ei, -i

-obom, -obim

-obos, -bis

Ablative

-ī

-obim

-obis

Instrumental

-e

-obim

-obis

Locative

-i

-obim

-obis

nasal stem

Masculine and Feminine

Except where noted below, all masculine and feminine nasal stem inflections are the same as other consonant stems, as exemplified in the preceding velar and dental stem class.

Note: Endings beginning in \'m\' are substitutive as are the nominative and vocative singular cases. All others are additive. E.g.:

*talamon- + -ū (nom. sg.) = talamū\ *talamon- + -mbis = talamombis\ *talamon- + -es = talamones

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nom., Voc.

-ū

-es

Dative

-mbim

-mbis

Neuter

Stifter posits the following for neuter nasal and n-stem nouns. Wikipedia agrees in regards to the singular nominative and vocative cases, but otherwise adheres to the previously established consonant stem inflections.

Duals are unknown. The inflectional endings for singular prepositional are substitutive.

Case

Singular

Plural

Nominative

-

-ā

Vocative

-

?

Accusative

?

-ā

Genitive

-ēs

-om

Prepositional*

-enei, -eni

-mbis

s-stem

Wikipedia posits that s-stems typically end in -es-, and it provides an inflection paradigm that differs significantly from Stifter. Because neither Stifter nor Matasović is in apparent agreeance with this, only Stifter\'s paradigm will be provided. All inflectional endings are substitutive. E.g.:

*nemos- + -isos = nemisos

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nom., Acc.

-

?

-isa

Genitive

-isos

-isou (?)

-isom

Prepositional*

-isei, -isi

-izbim (?)

-izbis

r-stem

Regular

With the exception of the nominative, vocative, and accusative cases, all inflections delete the vowel that precedes the word-final \'r\'. E.g.:

*fatīr + -es = fatīres\ *fatīr + -os = fatros

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nominative

-, -i-

-e

-es

Vocative

-

-e

-es

Accusative

-am

-e

-ās

Genitive

-os

-ou

-om

Dative

-ei

-ebom, -ibim

-eibos, -ibis

Abl, Loc.

-ī

-ebim

-ebis

Instrumental

-e

-ebim

-ebis

Irregular

The exemplary irregular r-stem noun is *swes-ūr/*swe(s)r-, \'sister\'. The nominative, vocative, and accusative utilize the former stem while genitive and dative utilize the latter. The former stem\'s inflectional endings are substitutive while the latter\'s endings are additive. E.g.:

*swes-ūr + -ore = swesore\ *swer- + -ros = swerros

Case

Singular

Dual

Plural

Nom., Voc.

-

-ore

-ores

Accusative

-oram

-ore

-ores

Genitive

-ros

-rou

-rom

Dative

-rei

-ribim

-ribis