Three grammatical cases are preserved: Nominative, Dative, and Accusative. Their functions are as follows:
Nominative - the absosutive case marking the subject of the sentence;
Dative - the case of the indirect object, used nearly exclusively after prepositions;
Accusative - the case of the direct object, similar to the Accusative cases in most of the world's languages.
Three genders are distinguished: the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. The neuter gender includes only inanimate objects, covering all the inanimate class (the principle of animacy is the same as, for example, in Russian or Japanese).
Declension of Nouns
There are four declensions:
- I (consonant) declension (words ending in a consonant)
- II (feminine) declension (some words of the feminine gender, all ending in -a
- III (n-) declension (most words of all genders ending in -a and all words ending in -i)
- IV (u-) declension (masculine words ending in -us and neuter words ending in -u)
I DECLENSION
II DECLENSION
III DECLENSION
Masculine
Feminine
a-Neuter
The word sterna 'star' has the endings of the II declension in the plural (see above): sternas etc.
i-Neuter
Two feminine words belong to the i-class: aiþi 'mother' and aivi 'grandmother'. These words have the endings of the II declension in the plural. The word mari 'sea' has the endings of the I declension in the plural: marja etc.
IV DECLENSION
The ending -um is bookish and somewhat archaic.
Declension of Pronouns
Personal pronouns have two numbers and three genders. They distinguish animate and inanimate subjects in the plural.
The possessive pronouns are inchangeable. There is also a pronoun ju, which serves as the polite version of þu and has the same declension as jus.
Possessive pronouns can be used in the Dative case without any prepositions, if the basic 'Dative' sense is implied (e.g. doing something to or for somebody). For example, "give it to Peter" is iib it ta Petra, but "give it to him" is gib it ima.
Nominative - the absosutive case marking the subject of the sentence;
Dative - the case of the indirect object, used nearly exclusively after prepositions;
Accusative - the case of the direct object, similar to the Accusative cases in most of the world's languages.
Three genders are distinguished: the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. The neuter gender includes only inanimate objects, covering all the inanimate class (the principle of animacy is the same as, for example, in Russian or Japanese).
Declension of Nouns
There are four declensions:
- I (consonant) declension (words ending in a consonant)
- II (feminine) declension (some words of the feminine gender, all ending in -a
- III (n-) declension (most words of all genders ending in -a and all words ending in -i)
- IV (u-) declension (masculine words ending in -us and neuter words ending in -u)
I DECLENSION
| case | endings | wulfs 'wolf' | stain 'stone' |
| Sing.Nom. | -s, -0 | wulfs | stain |
| Sing.Dat. | -a | wulfa | staina |
| Sing.Acc. | -0 | wulf | stain |
| Plur.Nom. | -i, -a | wulfi | staina |
| Plur.Dat. | -am | wulfam | stainam |
| Plur.Acc. | -as, -a | wulfas | staina |
II DECLENSION
| case | endings | maja 'girl' |
| Sing.Nom. | -a | maja |
| Sing.Dat. | -i | maji |
| Sing.Acc. | -a | maja |
| Plur.Nom. | -as | majas |
| Plur.Dat. | -am | majam |
| Plur.Acc. | -as | majas |
III DECLENSION
Masculine
| case | endings | guma 'man' |
| Sing.Nom. | -a | guma |
| Sing.Dat. | -in | gumin |
| Sing.Acc. | -an | guman |
| Plur.Nom. | -i | gumi |
| Plur.Dat. | -am | gumam |
| Plur.Acc. | -as | gumas |
Feminine
| case | endings | doxta 'daughter'' |
| Sing.Nom. | -a | doxta |
| Sing.Dat. | -in | doxtin |
| Sing.Acc. | -a | doxta |
| Plur.Nom. | -i | doxti |
| Plur.Dat. | -am | doxtam |
| Plur.Acc. | -as | doxtas |
a-Neuter
| case | endings | tunga 'tongue' |
| Sing.Nom. | -a | tunga |
| Sing.Dat. | -in | tungin |
| Sing.Acc. | -a | tunga |
| Plur.Nom. | -na | tungna |
| Plur.Dat. | -nam | tungnam |
| Plur.Acc. | -na | tungna |
i-Neuter
| case | endings | kuni 'gender' |
| Sing.Nom. | -i | kuni |
| Sing.Dat. | -in | kunin |
| Sing.Acc. | -i | kuni |
| Plur.Nom. | -ina | kunina |
| Plur.Dat. | -inam | kuninam |
| Plur.Acc. | -ina | kunina |
IV DECLENSION
| case | endings | anglus 'angel'' | xadu 'battle' |
| Sing.Nom. | -us, -u | anglus | xadu |
| Sing.Dat. | -u | anglu | xadu |
| Sing.Acc. | -u | anglu | xadu |
| Plur.Nom. | -i, -a | angli | xada |
| Plur.Dat. | -am, -um | anglam | xadam |
| Plur.Acc. | -as, -a | anglas | xada |
Declension of Pronouns
Personal pronouns have two numbers and three genders. They distinguish animate and inanimate subjects in the plural.
| Nom | Dat | Acc | Poss | |
| I | ik | mis | mik | min |
| thou | þu | þis | þik | þin |
| he | is | ima | ina | sin |
| she | si | izi | si | izi |
| it | it | ima | ina | sin |
| we | vis | uns | uns | unsr |
| you | jus | izer | izer | izer |
| they (an.) | jai | im | jes | iza |
| they (inan.) | ita | im | ita | iza |
Possessive pronouns can be used in the Dative case without any prepositions, if the basic 'Dative' sense is implied (e.g. doing something to or for somebody). For example, "give it to Peter" is iib it ta Petra, but "give it to him" is gib it ima.
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