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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.

47596 tokens (54%) have a non-empty value of Case. 24529 types (90%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. 15044 lemmas (88%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. The feature is used with 8 part-of-speech tags: ru-pos/NOUN (24010; 27% instances), ru-pos/ADJ (10848; 12% instances), ru-pos/PROPN (6294; 7% instances), ru-pos/NUM (1821; 2% instances), ru-pos/VERB (1813; 2% instances), ru-pos/PRON (1697; 2% instances), ru-pos/DET (1088; 1% instances), ru-pos/AUX (25; 0% instances).

NOUN

24010 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 (20746; 86%), Number=Sing (18071; 75%).

NOUN tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ХОДNomAccDatGenLocInsPar
Number=Singходходходухода, ходуходеходомходу
Number=Plurходов

ADJ

10848 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 (9732; 90%), Number=Sing (8421; 78%).

ADJ tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ЙNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Masc|Number=Singгоим
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Masc|Number=Singйймугомм
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Fem|Number=Singяюйййй
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Neut|Number=Singеего
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plurеемхх

PROPN

6294 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 (6083; 97%), Gender=Masc (4363; 69%), Animacy=Inan (3285; 52%).

PROPN tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm РОССИЯNomAccDatGenLocIns
РоссияРоссиюРоссииРоссииРоссииРоссией

NUM

1821 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: NumType=Card (1821; 100%), Number=EMPTY (1538; 84%), Gender=EMPTY (1284; 71%), Animacy=EMPTY (915; 50%).

NUM tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ОДИНNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Mascодинодногоодномуодногоодним
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Femоднаодной
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Neutодного
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Mascодинодинодномуодногоодномодним
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Femоднаоднуоднойоднойоднойодной
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Neutодноодно, одногоодногоодномодним

VERB

1813 ru-pos/VERB tokens (25% 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 (1813; 100%), VerbForm=Part (1813; 100%), Person=EMPTY (1813; 100%), Tense=Past (1449; 80%), Animacy=Inan (1429; 79%), Aspect=Perf (1367; 75%), Voice=Pass (1295; 71%), Number=Sing (1243; 69%), Variant=EMPTY (993; 55%).

VERB tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm НАХОДИТЬСЯNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Pastнаходившийся
Animacy=Anim|Number=Plur|Tense=Presнаходящиесянаходящиесянаходящихся
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Pastнаходившийся
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Presнаходящемся
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Pastнаходившейся
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Presнаходящуюсянаходящейсянаходящейся
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Tense=Pastнаходившеесянаходившимся
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plur|Tense=Pastнаходившимсянаходившихся
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plur|Tense=Presнаходящиесянаходящихся

PRON

1697 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: Number=Sing (1284; 76%), Person=EMPTY (894; 53%), Animacy=EMPTY (879; 52%).

PRON tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ОНNomAccDatGenLocIns
онего, негоему, немунего, егонём, немним, им

DET

1088 ru-pos/DET tokens (78% of all DET tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which DET and Case co-occurred: Person=EMPTY (1043; 96%), Animacy=Inan (930; 85%), Reflex=EMPTY (867; 80%), Number=Sing (738; 68%).

DET tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm ЭТОТNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Masc|Number=Singэтотэтого
Animacy=Anim|Number=PlurЭтихэтимэтихэтими
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Masc|Number=Singэтотэтотэтомуэтогоэтомэтим
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Fem|Number=Singэтаэтуэтойэтой, этоэтойэтой
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Neut|Number=SingэтоэтоэтогоэтомЭтим
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plurэтиэтиэтимэтихэтихэтими

AUX

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

The most frequent other feature values with which AUX and Case co-occurred: Person=EMPTY (25; 100%), Mood=EMPTY (25; 100%), VerbForm=Part (20; 80%), Tense=Past (19; 76%), Number=Sing (18; 72%), Aspect=Perf (15; 60%), Gender=Masc (13; 52%).

AUX tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm БЫТЬNomGenIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Masc|Number=Singбывшегобывшим
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plurбывшие

Relations with Agreement in Case

The 10 most frequent relations where parent and child node agree in Case: NOUN –[amod]–> ADJ (8483; 98%), NOUN –[conj]–> NOUN (1586; 96%), PROPN –[flat]–> PROPN (848; 99%), NOUN –[acl]–> VERB (780; 89%), NOUN –[det]–> DET (778; 71%), NOUN –[appos]–> PROPN (731; 67%), PROPN –[conj]–> PROPN (504; 99%), VERB –[nsubj:pass]–> NOUN (436; 93%), NOUN –[appos]–> NOUN (427; 55%), NOUN –[nummod]–> NUM (408; 84%).


Treebank Statistics (UD_Russian-SynTagRus)

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

451003 tokens (46%) have a non-empty value of Case. 85698 types (80%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. 31730 lemmas (79%) occur at least once with a non-empty value of Case. The feature is used with 8 part-of-speech tags: ru-pos/NOUN (243362; 25% instances), ru-pos/ADJ (90650; 9% instances), ru-pos/PRON (45573; 5% instances), ru-pos/PROPN (34136; 3% instances), ru-pos/DET (20132; 2% instances), ru-pos/VERB (11569; 1% instances), ru-pos/NUM (5576; 1% instances), ru-pos/AUX (5; 0% instances).

NOUN

243362 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 (210528; 87%), Number=Sing (170105; 70%).

NOUN tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm видNomAccDatGenLocInsPar
Number=Singвидвидвидувидавиде, видувидомвиду
Number=Plurвидывидывидамвидоввидахвидами

ADJ

90650 ru-pos/ADJ tokens (90% 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 (90097; 99%), Number=Sing (60072; 66%).

ADJ tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm другойNomAccDatGenLocIns
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Masc|Number=Singдругого
Animacy=Anim|Number=Plurдругих
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Masc|Number=Singдругой
Animacy=Inan|Number=Plurдругие
Gender=Masc|Number=Singдругойдругомудругогодругомдругим
Gender=Fem|Number=Singдругая, другойдругую, другойдругойдругойдругойдругой
Gender=Neut|Number=Singдругое, др.другоедругомудругогодругомдругим
Number=Plurдругие, др.другимдругихдругихдругими, др

PRON

45573 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: Animacy=EMPTY (35162; 77%), Number=Sing (25329; 56%), Gender=EMPTY (24061; 53%).

PRON tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm онNomAccDatGenLocIns
онего, негоему, нему, имего, негонем, нёмним, им

PROPN

34136 ru-pos/PROPN tokens (94% 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 (32602; 96%), Gender=Masc (21724; 64%), Animacy=Inan (18092; 53%).

PROPN tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm россияNomAccDatGenLocIns
Россия, РОССИЯРоссиюРоссииРоссии, РОССИИРоссии, РОССИИРоссией

DET

20132 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: Number=Sing (13059; 65%).

DET tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm этотNomAccDatGenLocIns
Gender=Masc|Number=Singэтотэтот, этогоэтомуэтогоэтомэтим
Gender=Fem|Number=Singэтаэтуэтойэтойэтойэтой
Gender=Neut|Number=Singэтоэтоэтомуэтогоэтомэтим
Number=Plurэтиэти, этихэтимэтихэтихэтими

VERB

11569 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 (11569; 100%), Mood=EMPTY (11569; 100%), VerbForm=Part (11569; 100%), Tense=Past (6836; 59%), Number=Sing (6565; 57%), Aspect=Perf (6134; 53%).

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=Passполучаемыеполучаемыми
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившийполучившему
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученныйполученномуполученногополученным
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившаяполучившуюполучившей
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Passполученнаяполученнуюполученнойполученнойполученной
Aspect=Perf|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|Voice=Actполучившееполучившего
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

5576 ru-pos/NUM tokens (38% of all NUM tokens) have a non-empty value of Case.

The most frequent other feature values with which NUM and Case co-occurred: Gender=EMPTY (2905; 52%).

NUM tokens may have the following values of Case:

Paradigm одинNomAccDatGenLocIns
_Одниоднимодними
Animacy=Anim|Gender=Mascодного
Animacy=Inanодни
Animacy=Inan|Gender=Mascодин
Gender=Mascодинодномуодногоодномодним
Gender=Femоднаоднуоднойоднойоднойодной
Gender=Neutодноодноодномуодногоодномодним

AUX

5 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: Tense=Past (5; 100%), Mood=EMPTY (5; 100%), Aspect=Imp (5; 100%), VerbForm=Part (5; 100%), Voice=Act (5; 100%), Person=EMPTY (5; 100%), Number=Sing (3; 60%), Gender=Masc (3; 60%).

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 (74350; 100%), NOUN –[amod]–> DET (17108; 100%), NOUN –[conj]–> NOUN (16169; 95%), NOUN –[amod]–> VERB (9423; 99%), PROPN –[flat:name]–> PROPN (4555; 100%), NOUN –[appos]–> PROPN (3614; 78%), ADJ –[conj]–> ADJ (3298; 98%), PROPN –[conj]–> PROPN (1927; 99%), PROPN –[amod]–> ADJ (1838; 98%), NOUN –[nsubj]–> NOUN (1487; 52%).


Case in other languages: [am] [ar] [bg] [bxr] [ca] [ckb] [cop] [cs] [cu] [da] [de] [el] [en] [es] [et] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fo] [fr] [ga] [gl] [got] [grc] [he] [hi] [hr] [hu] [id] [it] [ja] [kk] [kmr] [ko] [la] [lv] [mr] [nl] [no] [pl] [pt] [ro] [ru] [sa] [sk] [sla] [sl] [so] [sr] [sv] [swl] [ta] [tr] [u] [ug] [uk] [ur] [urj] [vi] [yue] [zh]