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In
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...
, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a
grammatical case A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nomin ...
for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the
grammars In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...
of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. The word "ablative" derives from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''ablatus'', the (irregular) perfect, passive participle of ''auferre'' "to carry away". The ablative case is found in several language families, such as
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
(e.g.,
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
,
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
, Albanian, Armenian), Turkic (e.g., Turkish, Turkmen,
Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...
, Uzbek, Kazakh,
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...
,
Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
is an umbrella term for different
), and
Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian lan ...
(e.g., Hungarian). There is no ablative case in modern
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
such as
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
. There ''was'' an ablative case in the early stages of
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
, but it quickly fell into disuse by the classical period.


Indo-European languages


Latin

The ablative case in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
(''cāsus ablātīvus'') appears in various grammatical constructions, including following various prepositions, in an ablative absolute clause, and adverbially. The Latin ablative case was derived from three
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
cases: ablative (from), instrumental (with), and locative (in/at).


Greek

In
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
, there was an ablative case ( ) which was used in the Homeric, pre-Mycenaean, and Mycenean periods. It fell into disuse during the classical period and thereafter with some of its functions taken by the
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
and others by the
dative In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
; the genitive had functions belonging to the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
genitive and ablative cases. The genitive case with the prepositions "away from" and "out of" is an example.


German

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
does not have an ablative case but, exceptionally, Latin ablative case-forms were used from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century after some prepositions, for example after ''von'' in ''von dem Nomine'': ablative of the Latin loanword ''Nomen''. Grammarians at that time, Justus Georg Schottel, Kaspar von Stieler ("der Spate"), Johann Balthasar von Antesperg and
Johann Christoph Gottsched Johann Christoph Gottsched (2 February 1700 – 12 December 1766) was a German philosopher, author and critic of the Enlightenment. Biography Early life He was born at Juditten (Mendeleyevo) near Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Brandenburg-Pr ...
, listed an ablative case (as the sixth case after nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative) for German words. They arbitrarily considered the dative case after some prepositions to be an ablative, as in ("from the man" or "of the man") and ("with the man"), while they considered the dative case after other prepositions or without a preposition, as in , to be a dative.


Albanian

The ablative case is found in Albanian; it is the fifth case, ''rasa rrjedhore''.


Sanskrit

In
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
, the ablative case is the fifth case (''pañcamī'') and has a similar function to that in Latin. Sanskrit nouns in the ablative often refer to a subject "out of" which or "from" whom something (an action, an object) has arisen or occurred: ''pátram taróḥ pátati'' "the leaf falls from the tree". It is also used for nouns in several other senses, as for actions occurring "because of" or "without" a certain noun, indicating distance or direction. When it appears with a comparative adjective, (''śreṣṭhatamam,'' "the best"), the ablative is used to refer to what the adjective is comparing: "better than X".


Armenian

The modern Armenian ablative has different markers for each main dialect, both originating from
Classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, in Eastern Armenian pronunciation: Grabar, Western Armenian: Krapar; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at ...
. The
Western Armenian Western Armenian ( Classical spelling: , ) is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. It is based mainly on the Istanbul Armenian dialect, as opposed to Eastern Armenian, which is mainly base ...
affix -է ''-ē'' (definite -էն ''-ēn'') derives from the classical singular; the
Eastern Armenian Eastern Armenian ( ''arevelahayeren'') is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Western Armenian. The two standards form a pluricentric language. Eastern Armenian is spoken in Armenia, Artsakh, Russia, as ...
affix -ից ''-ic’'' (both indefinite and definite) derives from the classical plural. For both dialects, those affixes are singular, with the corresponding plurals being -(ն)երէ(ն) and -(ն)երից . The ablative case has several uses. Its principal function is to show "motion away" from a location, point in space or time: It also shows the agent when it is used with the passive voice of the verb: It is also used for comparative statements in colloquial Armenian (including infinitives and participles): Finally, it governs certain postpositions:


Uralic languages


Finnish

In Finnish, the ablative case is the sixth of the locative cases with the meaning "from, off, of": ''pöytä – pöydältä'' "table – off from the table". It is an outer locative case, used like the
adessive In grammar, an adessive case (abbreviated ; from Latin '' adesse'' "to be present (at)": ''ad'' "at" + ''esse'' "to be") is a grammatical case generally denoting location at, upon, or adjacent to the referent of the noun; the term is most frequentl ...
and allative cases, to denote both being on top of something and "being around the place" (as opposed to the inner locative case, the
elative Elative can refer to: *Elative case, a grammatical case in Finno-Ugric languages and others *Elative (gradation) In Semitic linguistics, the elative ( ar, اِسْمُ تَفْضِيل ', literally meaning "noun of preference") is a stage of g ...
, which means "from out of" or "from the inside of"). With the locative, the receding object was near the other place or object, not inside it. The Finnish ablative is also used in time expressions to indicate times of something happening (''kymmeneltä'' "at ten") as well as with verbs expressing feelings or emotions. The Finnish ablative has the ending ''-lta'' or ''-ltä'', depending on
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...
.


Usage

; away from a place: *''katolta'': off the roof *''pöydältä'': off the table *''rannalta'': from the beach *''maalta'': from the land *''mereltä'': from the sea ; from a person, object or other entity: *''häneltä'': from him/her/them ; with the verb ''lähteä'' (stop): *''lähteä tupakalta'': stop smoking (in the sense of putting out the cigarette one is smoking now, lit. 'leave from the tobacco') *''lähteä hippasilta'': stop playing tag (''hippa''=tag, ''olla hippasilla''=playing tag) ; to smell/taste/feel/look/sound like something: *''haisee pahalta'': smells bad *''maistuu hyvältä'': tastes good *''tuntuu kamalalta'': feels awful *''näyttää tyhmältä'': looks stupid *''kuulostaa mukavalta'': sounds nice


Estonian

The ablative case in Estonian is the ninth case and has a similar function to that in Hungarian.


Hungarian

The ablative case in Hungarian is used to describe movement away from, as well as a concept, object, act or event originating from an object, person, location or entity. For example, one walking away from a friend who gave him a gift could say the following: :''a barátomtól jövök'' (I am coming (away) from my friend). :''a barátomtól kaptam egy ajándékot'' (I got a gift from my friend). When used to describe movement away from a location, the case may only refer to movement from ''the general vicinity'' of the location and not from inside of it. Thus, ''a postától jövök'' would mean one had been standing ''next to'' the post office before, not inside the building. When the case is used to refer to the origin of a possible act or event, the act/event may be implied while not explicitly stated, such as : I will defend you from the robber. The application of
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...
gives two different suffixes: ''-tól'' and ''-től''. These are applied to back-vowel and front-vowel words, respectively. Hungarian has a narrower
delative case In grammar, the delative case ( abbreviated ; from la, deferre "to bear or bring away or down") is a grammatical case in the Hungarian language which originally expressed the movement from the surface of something (e.g. "off the table"), but has al ...
, similar to ablative, but more specific: movement off/from a surface of something, with suffixes ''-ról'' and ''-ről''.


Turkic languages


Azerbaijani

The ablative in
Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...
(') is expressed through the suffixes ''-dan'' or ''-dən'': :Ev – evdən :''House – from/off the house'' :Aparmaq – aparmaqdan :''To carry – from/off carrying''


Tatar

The ablative in
Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
is an umbrella term for different
(') is expressed through the suffixes ''-дан'' or ''-дән'' or ''-тан'' or ''-тән'' or ''-нан'' or ''-нән'': :Өй - өйдән :''House - from/off the house''


Turkish

The ablative in
Turkish (''-den hali'' or ''ayrılma hali'') is expressed through the suffix ''-den'' (which changes to ''-dan'', ''-ten'' or ''-tan'' to accommodate the
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...
and voicing harmony): :Ev – evden :''House – from/off the house'' :At – attan :''Horse – from/off the horse'' :Taşımak – taşımaktan :''To carry – from/off carrying'' :Ses – sesten :''Sound/volume – from/off sound/volume'' In some situations simple ablative can have a "because of" meaning; in these situations, ablative can be optionally followed by the postposition ''dolayı'' "because of". :Yüksek sesten (dolayı) rahatsız oldum. / ''I was uneasy because of high volume. ''


See also

* Allative case *
Delative case In grammar, the delative case ( abbreviated ; from la, deferre "to bear or bring away or down") is a grammatical case in the Hungarian language which originally expressed the movement from the surface of something (e.g. "off the table"), but has al ...
*
Locative case In grammar, the locative case ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...


Further reading

* *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ablative Case Grammatical cases