Vrkhazhian nouns are called ǧimū (singular ǧimu). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Specifically there are three cases (nominative, accusative, instrumental, and locative) and two numbers (singular and plural). Additionally, Vrkhazhian has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. These genders are not strictly based on sex and the gender of non-human nouns is somewhat unpredictable.
Noun inflection
Imperial Vrkhazhian nouns are declined for all four cases. The nominative case indicates the subject or agent of the verb while the accusative case indicates the object or patient of the verb. The instrumental case indicates the instrument or tool used to perform an action as well as the theme of a ditransitive verb. Lastly, the locative case indicates the location or possessor of another noun.
sarbim (raven)
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|
Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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sarb-im |
sarb-īm
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| Accusative
|
sarb-it |
sarb-īt
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| Instrumental
|
sarb-is |
sarb-īs
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| Locative
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sarb-ik |
sarb-īk
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|
|
ḫuzum (horse)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
|
ḫuz-um |
ḫuz-ūm
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| Accusative
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ḫuz-ut |
ḫuz-ūt
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| Instrumental
|
ḫuz-us |
ḫuz-ūs
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| Locative
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ḫuz-uk |
ḫuz-ūk
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|
Common Vrkhazhian nouns are declined in only two cases: the nominative and the oblique, where the oblique case indicates the object, or patient, of a transitive verb. It also indicates the possessor of a genitive construction as well as the object of a postposition.
sarbi (raven)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
|
sarb-i |
sarb-ī
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| Oblique
|
sarb-e |
sarb-ē
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|
|
ḫuzu (horse)
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|
Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
|
ḫuz-u |
ḫuz-ū
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| Oblique
|
ḫuz-a |
ḫuz-ā
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|
Noun states
Nouns are also considered to be placed into what are called "states". There are two states: the governed state, or status rectus, and the construct state, or status constructus.
The construct state is used in genitive constructions to mark the head noun (possessed noun), while the oblique case is used to mark the dependent (modifying) noun. The construct state is also used to mark the predicate of a nominal sentence. Nouns that that are not placed in the construct state are considered to be in the governed state, which is the default state of all nouns.
When a noun is placed in the construct state, it is stripped of its gender-case ending.
sarbim (raven)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Construct State
|
sarab |
sarb-ē
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|
|
ḫuzum (horse)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Construct State
|
ḫuz |
ḫuz-ē
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|
Noun derivation
Vrkhazhian nouns are mostly derived from verbs and there are numerous ways to derive nouns from them:
