Cases

Kewe has a case system, with there being 7 cases

Here I will talk about each case and its usage with some examples whilst other pages I will attempt a compilation of the different declination classes present in each gender.

Nominative/Absolutive

The nominative/absolutive is the dictionary default for nouns, the basic form of the noun.
It is used for the subject of tier 1 genders and the object for the inanimate gender

It is an unmarked case

The exceptions to the usage of the nominative is for state of being, an opinion or verbs of emotion or opinion

Examples:

• ca giɑ mal = I ate meat
  Here the 1sg is nominative and meat is absolutive since 1sg is the subject and meat is the inanimate object

• ca li'sa fucad = I held you
  Once again the 1sg is nominative as its the subject, however the object is now a 1st tier object and receives the Accusative case

• uɾ'ne make'ca loʂt = a rock hit a tree
  Here the subject 'rock' is inanimate so it gets the ergative and not the nominative, whilst tree is an inanimate object so gets the absolutive

Accusative

The accusative is used for tier 1 genders when they are the direct object of a verb.

Since Kewe is an SVO language the direct object comes after the verb, altho due to the case marking this position, the noun can actually be moved around in the sentence, such as moved to the front to put emphasis on the object

It is also used in prepositional phrases which start with the prepositions: be (behind), le (at), wi (on), ɾan (to), lewi (above)

Examples:

• ca ke fucad = I see you
  Here you has the accusative case as it is the one being seen

• uɾ'ne make'ca can = the rock hit me
  Here I is in the accusative as i am the one being hit by the rock

• ca kemake'ca be wiɑcan = I was hit behind the house
  Here the word house, even tho its inanimate, gets the accusative ending since its in prepositional phrase with an accusative preposition

Ergative

As you probably noticed this language is an ergative language for inanimate nouns. The ergative case evolved from an old instrumental case and thus has some other features involved with the instrumental rather than the ergative however that is for another article.

The ergative is mainly used to mark the inanimate subject of a transitive verb

Examples:

• uɾ'ne make'ca can = the rock hit me
  Here the rock is in the ergative as it is the subject of the verb hit

• can uɾ'ne make'ca = the rock hit me
  This sentence is the exact same as the one above however the 1sg-ACC was put at the front to emphasise the fact that i was the one being hit and not what actually hit me

Dative

The dative is a more complex case so we will focus here on it being the case used for the indirect object of verbs and used for state of being

In a sentence such as I give you food, You is the indirect object of the verb give as you are the recipient of the action but not actually the thing being given

State of being are sentences such as I am hot, I am fast. It is only used for temporary States of being, so I am Human would not have this dative construction

Examples:

• ca ra'ka ɾagza nagfan = I gave her food
  Here her is in the dative as she is the one receiving the food whilst food is in the accusative as it is the one being given away

• camig so canlwɑn = I am warm
  The 1sg is in the dative case as at the moment i feel warm

Genative

The genative is the case that marks the possessor of a noun equivalent to english's ''s'. It is also used in prepositional phrases which show the origin of movement. Also used for showing the source of nouns

This is one of the 'new cases' and as such comes after the gender suffix instead of being part of it

Examples:

• ca ra'ka caɾ ɾinanad nagfan = I gave my cat food
  the cat belongs to me thus the 1sg here gets the Genative case

• ca ra'ka caɾ zasaɾ ɾinanad nagfan = I gave my daughter's cat food
  Here the cat belongs to my daughter, thus both these nouns get a genative marker and their word order disambiguates the ownership of the cat

• ca o'la ge'wer = I came from the forest
  the origin of your movement is the forest thus it is marked with the genative. No prepositional phrase is needed here since the verb literally means to come from

• ca ɾama ɾan ge'wer = I walked from the forest
  once again the origin of movement is the forest but its in a prepositional phrase this time, thus forest is marked with the genative

• cuwer tɑɾnad = animal of the sea (sea's animal)
  This shows where the animal came from, the origin of the animal, thus getting the genative marker

Instrumental

As the name suggests, this case is used to mark the tool the action was performed with. It can also be used as a 'due to' phrase

This is another 'new case'

Examples:

• ca make'ca loli uɾnzi = I hit the tree with a rock
  The action of hitting the tree was done using a rock, so the rock gets marked with the instrumental

• ca ɾamaɾa falu fodɑzi o'ne = I walked due to the sun shining
  Here the reason you are out walking is the sun so you can put the instrumental case on the word sun

• ca ɾamaɾa fodɑzi = I walked due to the sun
  Same sentence as the one above however the verb (to shine) and adverb (due to) was dropped, this is more of a slang way of speaking and the full reason is gathered through context

Comitative

This case is used to show accompaniment

This is the last 'new case'

Examples:

• ca so ki faɾekis = I am with a friend
  Who are you with? With your friend so friend is in the comitative case

• ca so faɾekis = I am with a friend
  You can drop the preposition if that wont cause ambiguity

Comparative Case

This case is used when comparing two equal things and evolved from an older genative case. Coming from a genative case it still retains some old features of it mainly its usage in most 'of' prepositional phrases

Examples:

• ca so fuɾud = I am the same as you
  Here I am saying that i am the equal or the same as you thus you gets the Comparative case

• canu'we nuɾn = drop of water
  Water here is what the drop is made of thus getting the comparative case marker