Nouns in Vrkhazhian

Vrkhazhian nouns are called ğanūm (singular ğanum). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Specifically there are four cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, and vocative) and two numbers (singular and plural). Additionally, Vrkhazhian has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. When referring to humans, deities, and certain higher-order animals, masculine refers to beings and animals of the male sex while feminine refers to beings and animals of the female sex. When referring to lower-order animals, masculine refers to wild animals (e.g. sammalim "crocodile") while feminine refers to domesticated animals (e.g. ḫuzum "horse"). When referring to plants and non-living entities, masculine refers to more inanimate entities (e.g. adgim "sand") while feminine refers to more animate entities (e.g. mazûm "sea").

Noun inflection

Imperial Vrkhazhian nouns are declined for all five cases. Cases are the forms and suffixes that nouns take when they occur in certain parts of a sentence. The six cases are thus:

• The nominative (NOM) case indicates the subject or agent (doer) of a verb ("Henry runs to the store", "Henry sees Sam").
• The accusative (ACC) case indicates the object or patient (receiver/target) of a verb ("Henry sees Sam", "Henry gave Sam a pencil", "John wrote to Mary").
• The genitive (GEN) case indicates the possessor of another noun ("That is Sam's dog", "That pencil is mine").
• The equative (EQU) case indicates likeness or equivalence to the marked noun ("these knifelike nails", "they stood tall like kings")

rēbim (man, husband) Singular Plural Nominative rēb-im rēb-īm Accusative rēb-is rēb-īs Genitive rēb-in rēb-īn Equative rēb-ili rēb-īli

surğum (chicken) Singular Plural Nominative surğ-um surğ-ūm Accusative surğ-us surğ-ūs Genitive surğ-un surğ-ūn Equative surğ-uli surğ-ūli

nātas (night) Singular Plural Nominative nāt-as nāt-ās Accusative Genitive nāt-aḫ nāt-āḫ Equative nāt-ali nāt-āli

ezîm (boar) Singular Plural Nominative ez-îm Accusative ez-îs Genitive ez-în Equative ez-îli

mazûm (sea, saltwater) Singular Plural Nominative maz-ûm Accusative maz-ûs Genitive maz-ûn Equative maz-ûli

kapâs (drinking water) Singular Plural Nominative kap-âs Accusative Genitive kap-âḫ Equative kap-âli

Noun states

Nouns are also considered to be placed into what are called "noun states". In Vrkhazhian, there are only two states: the absolute state, or status absolutus, and the construct state, or status constructus. This form of the noun is marked by the removal of the case endings and a change or removal of the gender-marking vowel. The construct state is used primarily in possessive constructions to mark the head (modified or possessed) noun rather than the dependent (modifying or possessing) noun, but this form is also used in some predicative expressions. This is also the form the noun takes when possessive suffixes are attached. Nouns that that are not placed in the construct state are considered to be in the absolute state, which is the default state of all nouns.

rēbim (man, husband) Singular Plural Nominative rēb rēb-ē Accusative Genitive rēb-ī Equative rēb-eli rēb-ēli

surğum (chicken) Singular Plural Nominative suruğ surğ-ā Accusative Genitive surğ-ū Equative surğ-ali surğ-āli

nātas (night) Singular Plural Nominative nāt nāt-ā Accusative Genitive Equative nāt-ali nāt-āli

ezîm (boar) Singular Plural Nominative ezu ez-ê Accusative Genitive ez-î Equative ez-êli

mazûm (sea, saltwater) Singular Plural Nominative mazi maz-â Accusative Genitive maz-û Equative maz-âli

kapâs (drinking water) Singular Plural Nominative kapi kap-â Accusative Genitive Equative kap-âli

Noun derivation

Vrkhazhian nouns are mostly derived from verbs and there are numerous ways to derive nouns from them: