Nouns
The declension of a noun depends on whether the root of the noun ends with a vowel or a consonant. If the root of the noun ends with a vowel, the declension can be either truncating (roots ending with -e or -a) or non-truncating (roots ending with -o or -u). In the truncating declensions, the last vowel of the word stem is lost in the genitive and the instrumental cases. The table below lists the suffixes for each noun case, with an example next to it.
| Consonant final stem | Example: k'ats- ("man") | Vowel final stem (truncating) | Example: mama- ("father") | Vowel final stem (non-truncating) | Example: Sakartvelo- ("Georgia") | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -i | k'ats-i | -Ø | mama | -Ø | Sakartvelo | ||
| Ergative | -ma | k'ats-ma | -m | mama-m | -m | Sakartvelo-m | ||
| Dative | -s | k'ats-s | -s | mama-s | -s | Sakartvelo-s | ||
| Genitive | -is | k'ats-is | -is * | mam-is | -s | Sakartvelo-s | ||
| Instrumental | -it | k'ats-it | -it * | mam-it | -ti | Sakartvelo-ti | ||
| Adverbial | -ad | k'ats-ad | -d | mama-d | -d | Sakartvelo-d | ||
| Vocative | -o | k'ats-o! | -Ø | mama! | -Ø | Sakartvelo! |
(* truncation of the last vowel occurs)
Read more about this topic: Georgian Grammar
Famous quotes containing the word nouns:
“Children and savages use only nouns or names of things, which they convert into verbs, and apply to analogous mental acts.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“All the facts of nature are nouns of the intellect, and make the grammar of the eternal language. Every word has a double, treble or centuple use and meaning.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)