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Case: case

Case is an inflectional feature of nouns and other parts of speech (adjectives, numerals) that mark agreement with nouns. It is also valency feature of prepositions (saying that the preposition requires its argument to be in that case).

Case helps to specify the role of the noun phrase in the sentence. For example, the nominative and accusative cases often distinguish subject and object of the verb, while in fixed-word-order languages these functions would be distinguished merely by the positions of the nouns in the sentence.

Czech morphology distinguishes seven cases: Nom, Gen, Dat, Acc, Loc and Ins (this ordering is fixed in the grammar and the cases are also referred to by numbers 1–7).

Examples

The descriptions of the individual case values below include semantic hints about the prototypical meaning of the case. Bear in mind that quite often a case will be used for a meaning that is totally unrelated to the meaning mentioned here. Valency of verbs, adpositions and other words will determine that the noun phrase must be in a particular grammatical case to fill a particular valency slot (semantic role).

Nom: nominative

The base form of the noun, also used as citation form (lemma). This is the word form used for subjects of clauses.

Gen: genitive

Prototypical meaning of genitive is that the noun phrase somehow belongs to its governor; it would often be translated by the English preposition of.

Note that despite considerable semantic overlap, the genitive case is not the same as the feature of possessivity (Poss). Possessivity is a lexical feature, i.e. it applies to lemma and its whole paradigm. Genitive is a feature of just a subset of word forms of the lemma. Semantics of possessivity is much more clearly defined while the genitive (as many other cases) may be required in situations that have nothing to do with possessing. For example, без папиной дочери  “without the father’s daughter” is a prepositional phrase containing the preposition без  “without”, the possessive adjective папиной  “father’s” and the noun дочери  “daughter”. The possessive adjective is derived from the noun папа  but it is really an adjective (with separate lemma and paradigm), not just a form of the noun. In addition, both the adjective and the noun are in their genitive forms (the nominative would be папина дочь). There is nothing possessive about this particular occurrence of the genitive. It is there because the preposition без  always requires its argument to be in genitive.

Examples

Dat: dative

This is the word form often used for indirect objects of verbs.

Examples

Acc: accusative

Perhaps the second most widely spread morphological case. This is the word form most frequently used for direct objects of verbs.

Loc: locative

The locative case often expresses location in space or time, which gave it its name. As elsewhere, non-locational meanings also exist and they are not rare. On the other hand, some location roles may be expressed using other cases (e.g. because those cases are required by a preposition).

This is the only Russian case that is used exclusively in combination with prepositions.

Examples

Ins: instrumental

The role from which the name of the instrumental case is derived is that the noun is used as instrument to do something (as in писать ручкой  “to write using a pen”). Many other meanings are possible, for example the instrumental is required by the preposition “with” and thus it includes the meaning expressed in other languages by the comitative case.

In Russian the instrumental is also used for the agent-object in passive constructions (cf. the English preposition by).

Examples


Treebank Statistics (UD_Russian)

This feature is universal. It occurs with 8 different values: Acc, Dat, Gen, Ins, Loc, Nom, Par, Voc.

54171 tokens (55%) have a non-empty value of Case. 26936 types (90%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. 1 lemmas (0) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. The feature is used with 11 part-of-speech tags: ru-pos/NOUN (26652; 27% instances), ru-pos/ADJ (12478; 13% instances), ru-pos/PROPN (7601; 8% instances), ru-pos/VERB (2103; 2% instances), ru-pos/NUM (1896; 2% instances), ru-pos/PRON (1759; 2% instances), ru-pos/DET (1667; 2% instances), ru-pos/X (11; 0% instances), ru-pos/ADV (2; 0% instances), ru-pos/SCONJ (1; 0% instances), ru-pos/SYM (1; 0% instances).

NOUN

26652 ru-pos/NOUN tokens (100% of all NOUN tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which NOUN and Case co-occurred: Animacy=Inan (22876; 86%), Number=Sing (19915; 75%).

NOUN tokens may have the following values of Case:

ADJ

12478 ru-pos/ADJ tokens (100% of all ADJ tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which ADJ and Case co-occurred: Animacy=Inan (11174; 90%), Number=Sing (9641; 77%).

ADJ tokens may have the following values of Case:

PROPN

7601 ru-pos/PROPN tokens (100% of all PROPN tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which PROPN and Case co-occurred: Number=Sing (7361; 97%), Gender=Masc (5254; 69%), Animacy=Inan (4190; 55%).

PROPN tokens may have the following values of Case:

VERB

2103 ru-pos/VERB tokens (22% of all VERB tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which VERB and Case co-occurred: Mood=EMPTY (2101; 100%), Person=EMPTY (2099; 100%), Tense=Past (1684; 80%), Animacy=Inan (1653; 79%), Aspect=Perf (1581; 75%), Voice=Pass (1495; 71%), Number=Sing (1452; 69%).

VERB tokens may have the following values of Case:

NUM

1896 ru-pos/NUM tokens (100% of all NUM tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which NUM and Case co-occurred: Number=EMPTY (1579; 83%), Gender=EMPTY (1301; 69%), Animacy=EMPTY (987; 52%).

NUM tokens may have the following values of Case:

PRON

1759 ru-pos/PRON tokens (100% of all PRON tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which PRON and Case co-occurred: Reflex=EMPTY (1421; 81%), Person=3 (1188; 68%), Number=Sing (1081; 61%).

PRON tokens may have the following values of Case:

DET

1667 ru-pos/DET tokens (100% of all DET tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which DET and Case co-occurred: Animacy=Inan (1461; 88%), Number=Sing (1243; 75%).

DET tokens may have the following values of Case:

X

11 ru-pos/X tokens (1% of all X tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

X tokens may have the following values of Case:

ADV

2 ru-pos/ADV tokens (0% of all ADV tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

ADV tokens may have the following values of Case:

SYM

1 ru-pos/SYM tokens (1% of all SYM tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

SYM tokens may have the following values of Case:

SCONJ

1 ru-pos/SCONJ tokens (0% of all SCONJ tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

SCONJ tokens may have the following values of Case:

Relations with Agreement in Case

The 10 most frequent relations where parent and child node agree in Case: NOUN –[amod]–> ADJ (9845; 99%), NOUN –[conj]–> NOUN (1780; 96%), PROPN –[name]–> PROPN (979; 99%), NOUN –[acl]–> VERB (896; 90%), NOUN –[appos]–> PROPN (860; 66%), PROPN –[amod]–> ADJ (658; 89%), NOUN –[det]–> DET (655; 98%), NOUN –[det]–> PRON (648; 99%), PROPN –[conj]–> PROPN (578; 99%), NOUN –[appos]–> NOUN (505; 57%).


Treebank Statistics (UD_Russian-SynTagRus)

This feature is universal. It occurs with 8 different values: Acc, Dat, Gen, Ins, Loc, Nom, Par, Voc.

437740 tokens (42%) have a non-empty value of Case. 88702 types (81%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. 32646 lemmas (82%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. The feature is used with 6 part-of-speech tags: ru-pos/NOUN (299470; 29% instances), ru-pos/ADJ (103761; 10% instances), ru-pos/DET (18416; 2% instances), ru-pos/VERB (12127; 1% instances), ru-pos/NUM (3962; 0% instances), ru-pos/AUX (4; 0% instances).

NOUN

299470 ru-pos/NOUN tokens (100% of all NOUN tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which NOUN and Case co-occurred: Animacy=Inan (246596; 82%), Number=Sing (220766; 74%).

NOUN tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ДОМNomAccDatGenLocInsPar
Number=Singдомдомдомудомадомедомомдому
Number=Plurдомадомадомамдомовдомахдомами

ADJ

103761 ru-pos/ADJ tokens (91% of all ADJ tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which ADJ and Case co-occurred: Degree=Pos (103286; 100%), Number=Sing (68597; 66%).

ADJ tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm КОТОРЫЙNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Masc|Number=Singкоторого
Animacy=Anim|Number=Plurкоторых
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Masc|Number=Singкоторый
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Neut|Number=Singкоторые
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plurкоторые
Gender=Masc|Number=Singкоторыйкоторомукоторогокоторомкоторым
Gender=Fem|Number=Singкотораякоторуюкоторойкоторойкоторойкоторой
Gender=Neut|Number=Singкотороекотороекоторомукоторогокоторомкоторым
Number=Plurкоторыекоторымкоторыхкоторыхкоторыми

DET

18416 ru-pos/DET tokens (87% of all DET tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which DET and Case co-occurred: Number=Sing (12449; 68%).

DET tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ЭТОТNomAccDatGenLocIns
Gender=Masc|Number=Singэтотэтот, этого, этоэтомуэтогоэтомэтим
Gender=Fem|Number=Singэтаэтуэтойэтойэтойэтой
Gender=Neut|Number=Singэтоэтоэтомуэтогоэтомэтим
Number=Plurэтиэти, этихэтимэтихэтихэтими

VERB

12127 ru-pos/VERB tokens (10% of all VERB tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which VERB and Case co-occurred: Person=EMPTY (12127; 100%), VerbForm=Part (12127; 100%), Mood=EMPTY (12127; 100%), Tense=Past (7173; 59%), Number=Sing (6870; 57%), Aspect=Perf (6415; 53%), Voice=Act (6267; 52%).

VERB tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ПОЛУЧАТЬNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Aspect=Perf|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившего
Animacy=Anim|Aspect=Perf|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучивших
Animacy=Inan|Aspect=Imp|Number=Plur|Tense=Pres|Voice=Passполучаемые
Animacy=Inan|Aspect=Perf|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученный
Animacy=Inan|Aspect=Perf|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившие
Animacy=Inan|Aspect=Perf|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученные
Aspect=Imp|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Pres|Voice=Passполучаемой
Aspect=Imp|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Tense=Pres|Voice=Passполучаемое
Aspect=Imp|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучавшие
Aspect=Imp|Number=Plur|Tense=Pres|Voice=Actполучающиеполучающихполучающими
Aspect=Imp|Number=Plur|Tense=Pres|Voice=Passполучаемыеполучаемыхполучаемыми
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившийполучившемуполучившего
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученныйполученномуполученногополученным
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученнаяполученнуюполученнойполученнойполученной
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившееполучившееполучившего
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученноеполученноеполученногополученном
Aspect=Perf|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившиеполучившихполучившими
Aspect=Perf|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученныеполученнымполученныхполученными

NUM

3962 ru-pos/NUM tokens (30% of all NUM tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

NUM tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ДВАNomAccDatGenLocIns
_двумдвухдвухдвумя
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Mascдвух
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Femдвух
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Mascдва
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Femдве
Gender=Mascдва
Gender=Femдве
Gender=Neutдвадва

AUX

4 ru-pos/AUX tokens (0% of all AUX tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which AUX and Case co-occurred: Mood=EMPTY (4; 100%), Tense=Past (4; 100%), VerbForm=Part (4; 100%), Aspect=Imp (4; 100%), Person=EMPTY (4; 100%), Voice=Act (4; 100%).

AUX tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm БЫТЬNomLoc
Gender=Masc|Number=Singбывшийбывшем
Number=Plurбывшие

Relations with Agreement in Case

The 10 most frequent relations where parent and child node agree in Case: NOUN –[amod]–> ADJ (81511; 100%), NOUN –[conj]–> NOUN (20564; 96%), NOUN –[det]–> DET (18266; 86%), NOUN –[amod]–> VERB (10308; 99%), NOUN –[appos]–> NOUN (5794; 80%), NOUN –[name]–> NOUN (5008; 100%), ADJ –[conj]–> ADJ (3777; 98%), NOUN –[nsubj]–> NOUN (3109; 64%), NOUN –[parataxis]–> NOUN (1650; 50%), ADJ –[amod]–> ADJ (1533; 100%).


Case in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]