Nouns in Vrkhazhian
The table below shows the declension of the noun ʾalkad- (soldier).
| Noun (masc.) | Noun (fem.) | Noun (neut.) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative singular | ʾalkad-i | ʾalkad-a | ʾalkad-u |
| Accusative singular | t-ʾalkad-i | t-ʾalkad-a | t-ʾalkad-u |
| Genitive singular | ʾalkad-aẏ | ʾalkad-a | ʾalkad-aẇ |
| Allative singular | ʾalkad-eč-i | ʾalkad-eč-a | ʾalkad-eč-u |
| Ablative singular | ʾalkad-af-i | ʾalkad-af-a | ʾalkad-af-u |
| Nominative plural | ʾalikd-il | ʾalikd-an | ʾalikd-ud |
| Accusative plural | t-ʾalikd-il | t-ʾalikd-an | t-ʾalikd-ud |
| Genitive plural | ʾalikd-iḡ | ʾalikd-aš | ʾalikd-un |
| Allative plural | ʾalikd-eč-il | ʾalikd-eč-an | ʾalikd-eč-ud |
| Ablative plural | ʾalikd-af-il | ʾalikd-af-an | ʾalikd-af-ud |
Regarding the five cases: the Nominative case marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the agent of a transitive verb while the Accusative case marks the object, or patient, of a transitive verb. The Accusative case is denoted with the prefix "tu" and shortened to "t-" before a glottal stop (which is phonetically omitted word-initially). Next, The Allative case is used to indicate movement towards the marked noun while the Ablative case is used to denote movement away from the marked noun. Lastly, The Genitive case is used to mark the possessor of an object such as "Mark" in the sentence "Mark's cat". Proper nouns such as people and places are not marked with a genitive suffix.
Construct state
Nouns in Vrkhazhian can also be placed in the construct state (status constructus), which is used in genitive constructions to mark the head noun (possessed noun), while the Genitive case is used to mark the dependent (modifying) noun or adjective. Nouns that that are not placed in the construct state are considered to remain in the governed state (status rectus), which is the default state of all nouns. The table below shows the declensions of the noun ʾalkad- placed in the construct state:
| Noun (masc.) | Noun (fem.) | Noun (neut.) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative singular | ʾalkad | ʾalkad | ʾalkad |
| Accusative singular | t-ʾalkad | t-ʾalkad | t-ʾalkad |
| Genitive singular | ʾalkad-al | ʾalkad-al | ʾalkad-al |
| Allative singular | ʾalkad-ej | ʾalkad-ej | ʾalkad-ej |
| Ablative singular | ʾalkad-av | ʾalkad-av | ʾalkad-av |
| Nominative plural | ʾalikd-om | ʾalikd-om | ʾalikd-om |
| Nominative plural | t-ʾalikd-om | t-ʾalikd-om | t-ʾalikd-om |
| Genitive plural | ʾalikd-al-om | ʾalikd-al-om | ʾalikd-al-om |
| Allative plural | ʾalikd-ej-om | ʾalikd-ej-om | ʾalikd-ej-om |
| Ablative plural | ʾalikd-av-om | ʾalikd-av-om | ʾalikd-av-om |
Monosyllabic nouns are phonetically reduced to ʾaCC when they are placed in the construct state and can be inflected for gender in the singular like in its governed state. Examples of this are the nouns kaf (water) and šim (house) which, when placed in the construct state, are reduced to ʾakfu and ʾašmu.
Definite marking
Vrkhazhian has a proclitic "ṛ-" that indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be something already mentioned or uniquely specified. The clitic is attached to the noun and the adjective(s) that modify the noun.
