Votian/Main Cases

== Main cases ==

Morphophonology

 * Nominative case has no marker.
 * Plural nominative has only a plural marker -t . It may take only a vowel stem.
 * Thus singular nominative is usually in a grade opposite to plural nominative, caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g.  seppä ('a blacksmith') vs. sepäD ('blacksmiths'),  ammaz ('a tooth') vs. ampāD ('teeth').
 * The singular partitive suffix takes a consonant stem if available e.g.  nōr-ta ('younger' singular partitive ) vs.  nōre̮-t  ( plural nominative ),  päivüt-tä ('sun' singular partitive ) vs.  päivǖ  ( singular genitive ).
 * Thus a singular partitive is usually in a grade opposite to plural nominative, caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g.  seppǟ  ('a blacksmith' singular partitive ) vs. sepäD ('blacksmiths'),  ammassa ('a tooth' singular partitive) vs. ampāD ('teeth').
 * Plural partitive is always in the strong grade  if available  e.g.  rataz ('wheel' singular nominative) vs. rattaita ( plural partitive ),  linnuD ('bird' plural nominative) vs. lintuita  ( plural partitive ).
 * All the genitive suffixes take a vowel stem e.g. rataz ('wheel' singular nominative) vs. rattā  ( singular genitive ), rattajē ( plural genitive ).
 * Thus a singular genitive is usually in a grade opposite to singular nominative, caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g.  kotti ('bag' singular nominative) vs. kotī ( singular genitive ),  uhsi ('door' singular nominative) vs. uhzē̮  ( singular genitive ),  ammaz (' tooth' singular nominative) vs. ampā (singular genitive).
 * Plural genitive is always in the strong grade   e.g.  rataz ('wheel' singular nominative) vs. rattajē ( plural genitive ),  linnuD ('bird' plural nominative) vs. lintujē  ( plural genitive ).

Usage
Baltic Finnic languages oppose I.e.
 * 1)  partial    subject   to  total subject   and
 * 2)  partial    object   to  total object  and
 * 3)  partial    predicative   to  total predicative
 * 1) Partitive marks a  partial    subject   while  nominative   marks a  total subject   of a sentence.
 * 2) Partitive marks a  partial    object   while  nominative  or  genitive  mark a  total object  of a sentence.
 * 3) Partitive marks a  partial    predicative   while  nominative  marks a  total predicative  of a sentence.
 * See the details below.


 * 1) Partitive marks a matter which is measured. In such a case it's preceded by a quantity unit or a number e.g.   kahs pihua sūrimoi  ("Two handfuls of pearl-barley.").
 * 2) Countable nouns will be in singular e.g.   kahs pihua  ("Two handfuls.").
 * 3) Uncountable nouns will be in plural e.g.   pihu sūrimoi  ("A handful of pearl-barley.").
 * 4) Partitive, which expresses partiality, is opposed to  nominative , which marks the whole e.g.   ühs  pihu  sūrimoi  ("A handful of pearl-barley." Here the word  pihu  is in singular nominative.),  koko  pihu   ("A whole handful." ),  kõikk  sūrimaD   ("All the pearl-barley." Here the word  sūrimaD  is in plural nominative.).
 * 5) Partitive marks a  partial    subject   while  nominative   marks a  total subject   of a sentence e.g.  mā-mune̮ita lēB  ("There will be some potatoes (for you)." - plural partitive),  māmunaD om pe̮lloll   ("(All the) potatoes (what we are talking about) are on the field." - plural nominative)
 * 6) Negative constructions may have partial subjects e.g.   be̮лe̮    kaлoi  (" There is no fish." - plural partitive ),   mā pǟllä tiлā eb lē  (" There will be no place (for it) on the earth." - plural partitive ).


 * 1) Partitive marks a  partial    object   while  nominative  or  genitive  mark a  total object  of a sentence e.g.   tōn süvvä lihā i ve̮ita    ("I'll bring (you) some meat and butter to eat." - singular partitive ) vs.  tōn lihā i ve̮i   ("I'll bring all the meat and butter." - singular genitive ),  avān silmäd   ̮ avē  ("I open my eyes." - plural nominative ),   mahzan  ke̮ik̄     sūrē̮       mahzō    ("I am paying all the big tax." - singular genitive ).
 * 2) A  total object  is in   nominative, if
 * 3) the object is in plural e.g.   avān silmäd   ̮ avē  ("I open my eyes." - plural nominative ).
 * 4) the verb is in  imperative mood  e.g.   näütä miллe̮      merkki  ("Show me a sign." - singular nominative ).
 * 5) the verb is in  indefinite voice  e.g.   siллe̮     tuvvas̄       mokoma kirstu  ("They will bring you such a chest." - singular nominative ).
 * 6) Negative constructions have always partial objects. (The examples below are bare constructions for this course.)
 * 7)   en tō ve̮ita   ("I shall not bring (you) any butter." - singular partitive ).
 * 8) the object is in plural e.g.    en tō mā-mune̮ita   ("I shall not bring (you) any potatoes." - plural partitive ).
 * 9) the verb is in  imperative mood  e.g.   elä tō ve̮ita   ("Do not bring any butter." - singular partitive ).
 * 10) the verb is in  indefinite voice  e.g.   ep tuvva ve̮ita   ("Nobody will bring (you) any butter." - singular partitive ).


 * 1) Partitive marks a  partial    predicative   while  nominative  marks a  total predicative  of a sentence.
 * 2) Partial predicative expresses partiality.
 * 3) E.g.  tämä naizikko on tōž soikkoлaisī  ('This woman also is a one of Soikkola Ingrians.' i.e. We emphasize, that she belongs to a group of certain quality - is part of that group. )
 * 4)  sika on üvǟ sukua  ('The pig is of a good breed.').
 * 5)  tütär e̮li ke̮rke̮at kazvua  ("The daughter was tall.") Lempola dialect.
 * 6)  Total predicative
 * 7) E.g.  se on sūr ja varma  ( Rajo dialect "This (man) is big and strong." i.e. We don't tell you, if there is a group of men of that quality (big and strong), where he might belong to. He qualifies as a big and strong one himself. )
 * 8)  tämä on soikkuлaine̮  ( Liivtšülä dialect 'This one is a Soikkola Ingrian.' i.e. We don't emphasize, that she belongs to that group. )
 * 9)  tšen tämä e̮li ?  (Luuditsa dialect "Who was he?")
 * 10) Partitive marks time.
 * 11) If the time unit has an attribute, then the attribute only will be in  adessive , but the time unit itself is in  partitive  case - e.g.  senel̄   päivǟ  ('on that day'),  ühel̄    ke̮rtā tuli sūr tūli  ('Once there was a big wind')
 * 12) Partitive marks origin e.g.  tütär e̮li ke̮rke̮at kazvua  ('The daughter was tall.') Lempola dialect,   tämä naizikko on tōž soikkoлaisī  ('This woman also is a one of Soikkola Ingrians.'),   sika on üvǟ sukua  ('The pig is of a good breed.').
 * 13) Partitive marks cause e.g.  lezzellä e̮li itšävä mēssä  ('The widow longed for her husband.').
 * 14) Partitive marks direction e.g.  tämä taitšinākā viskazi īrtä  ('She threw dough towards the mouse.').
 * 15) Partitive is used with  comparison  e.g.  ke̮ikke̮a sūre̮p pojo  ('a boy bigger than all the others = the biggest boy'),   miä e̮лe̮n paĺĺo vanapi teitä  ('I'm much older than you.') ,   ke̮rke̮apaлt lidnā   ('higher than the town').
 * 16) Partitive is used with certain  postpositions and prepositions  e.g.  enne se̮tā   ('before the war').


 * 1) Genitive serves as an  attribute  of a (following) noun e.g.   poigā tširja  ('a letter from (my) son'),   se on sigā suku  ("They are pig's relatives" = immoral folks),   tševǟllä on lintui лauлu iлoza  ("In spring the singing of birds is beautiful.").
 * 2) In lyrics an attribute should not necessarily precede the noun, what it is qualifying e.g.  pilvi e̮лi tuллu taivā  (" A cloud of the sky had came .").
 * 3) Genitive may serve as an independent  possessive  noun e.g.  se e̮лi minū  (" It was mine ."),   štop  ̮ se e̮лe̮is̄   tämǟ   (" It should be  his  .") vs.  minūn   ̮ e̮ma  ("mine"),  лahzē̮n   ̮ e̮ma  ("something belonging to a child").
 * 4) Genitive marks the agent (in an  ergative  construction) e.g.   f j o k л a    on karū revittü  ("Fyokla has been ripped by a bear ."),   izǟ tuллe̮za kotōsē̮  ("The time, when father comes home .").
 * 5) Genitive may have  dative  functions (like in   Finnish ) e.g.   ke̮ikkī piti e̮ллa  (" Everybody had to be (there)."),   kumpa sinū näüttīp  ̮ pare̮p  ke̮ikkia  ("Which one (of those two) looks the best for you ."),   ohto sinū on savve̮a  se̮tkua  ("It's enough for you to knead the clay !"),   minū be̮лe̮  kuhe̮ mennä  (" I have nowhere to go .").
 * 6) Genitive marks a  total   object  of a clause e.g.  sōje̮tin vē  ("I warmed up the water ").