Vrkhazhian nouns are called ğanūm (singular ğanum). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Specifically there are four cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, and equative) and two numbers (singular and plural). Additionally, Vrkhazhian has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and inanimate. The assignment of gender to nouns is mostly non-arbitrary and determined by common, though not exhaustive, sets of criteria.
Nouns that are often feminine:
- female humans, spirits, and deities
- domesticated/safe animals
- seemingly animate things like rivers, oceans, and wind
Nouns that are often masculine:
- male humans, spirits, and deities
- wild/dangerous animals
- seemingly animate things like storms and fire
Nouns that are often inanimate:
- still-moving things like trees, mountains, buildings, and tools
- abstract concepts, including actions and states
- collective nouns regardless of animacy
- etc.
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")
strong masculine noun
rēbim (man, husband)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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rēb-im |
rēb-īm
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| Accusative
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rēb-is |
rēb-īs
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| Genitive
|
rēb-ini |
rēb-īni
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| Equative
|
rēb-ili |
rēb-īli
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|
|
strong feminine noun
surgum (chicken)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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surg-um |
surg-ūm
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| Accusative
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surg-us |
surg-ūs
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| Genitive
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surg-uni |
surg-ūni
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| Equative
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surg-uli |
surg-ūli
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|
strong neuter noun
nāpas (night)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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nāp-as |
nāp-ās
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
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nāp-aḫi |
nāp-āḫi
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| Equative
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nāp-ali |
nāp-āli
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weak masculine noun
ezîm (boar)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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ez-îm
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| Accusative
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ez-îs
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| Genitive
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ez-îni
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| Equative
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ez-îli
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weak feminine noun
mazûm (sea, saltwater)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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maz-ûm
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| Accusative
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maz-ûs
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| Genitive
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maz-ûni
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| Equative
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maz-ûli
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weak neuter noun
kapâs (drinking water)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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kap-âs
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
|
kap-âḫi
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| Equative
|
kap-âli
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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)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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rēb |
rēb-ē
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
|
rēb-eni |
rēb-ēni
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| Equative
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rēb-eli |
rēb-ēli
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|
|
surgum (chicken)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
|
surug |
surg-ā
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
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surg-ani |
surg-āni
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| Equative
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surg-ali |
surg-āli
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|
nāpas (night)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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nāp |
nāp-ā
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
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nāp-ani |
nāp-āni
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| Equative
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nāp-ali |
nāp-āli
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|
|
ezîm (boar)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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ezu |
ez-ê
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
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ez-îni
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| Equative
|
ez-êli
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mazûm (sea, saltwater)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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mazi |
maz-â
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
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maz-ûni
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| Equative
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maz-âli
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kapâs (drinking water)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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kapi |
kap-â
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| Accusative
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| Genitive
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kap-âni
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| Equative
|
kap-âli
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Noun derivation
Vrkhazhian nouns are mostly derived from verbs and there are numerous ways to derive nouns from them:
