View source for Declension

{{Short description|Inflection of words according to number, gender, and/or case}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2017}}
{{Grammatical categories}}

In [[linguistics]], '''declension''' (verb: ''to [[wikt:decline#Verb|decline]]'') is the changing of the form of a [[word]], generally to express its [[syntactic function]] in the sentence by way of an [[inflection]]. Declension may apply to [[noun]]s, [[pronoun]]s, [[adjective]]s, [[adverb]]s, and [[determiner]]s. It serves to indicate [[grammatical number|number]] (e.g. singular, dual, plural), [[grammatical case|case]] (e.g. [[nominative case|nominative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[genitive case|genitive]], or [[dative case|dative]]), [[grammatical gender|gender]] (e.g. masculine, feminine, or neuter), and a number of other [[grammatical categories]]. Inflectional change of [[verb]]s is called [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugation]].

Declension occurs in many languages. It is an important aspect of language families like [[Quechuan languages|Quechuan]] (i.e., languages native to the [[Andes]]), [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] (e.g. [[German language|German]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Baltic language|Lithuanian and Latvian]], [[Slavic languages|Slavic]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Latin]], [[Ancient Greek|Ancient]] and [[Modern Greek]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Classical Armenian|Classical]] and [[Modern Armenian]]),{{Overly detailed inline|date=August 2024}} [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] (e.g. [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Zulu language|Zulu]], [[Kikuyu language|Kikuyu]]), [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] (e.g. [[Modern Standard Arabic]]), [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] (e.g. [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]]), and [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] (e.g. [[Turkish language|Turkish]]).

[[Old English]] was an [[inflectional language]], but largely abandoned inflectional changes as it evolved into [[Modern English]]. Though traditionally classified as [[Synthetic language|synthetic]], Modern English has become a mostly [[analytic language]].

==English-speaking perspective==
<!-- This section uses Croatian as an invisible comparison language in the comments. Glosses are widely used for the same purpose, but additional lines in a foreign language might just confuse.-->
Unlike English, many languages use [[suffixes]] to specify subjects and objects and word cases in general. [[Inflected languages]] have a freer word order than modern English, an [[analytic language]] in which [[word order]] identifies the subject and object.<ref name="Drout">{{Cite book|first=Michael|last=Drout|title=King Alfred's Grammar|chapter=Word Order and Cases|url=https://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/gram/KingAlfredGrammar.html|chapter-url=https://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/gram/GrammarBook/GramCases.html|access-date=2021-05-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224012042/http://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/gram/KingAlfredGrammar.html|archive-date=2020-02-24|url-status=live|website=umass.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Martin|first1=Howard|last2=Ng|first2=Alan|last3=Korpi|first3=Sarah|title=Word Order |url=https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/word-order/|access-date=2021-09-23|website=A Foundation Course in Reading German|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison}}</ref> As an example, even though both of the following sentences consist of the same words, the meaning is different:<ref name="Drout" />
* "The dog chased a cat."
* "A cat chased the dog."

Hypothetically speaking, suppose English were a language with a more complex declension system in which cases were formed by adding the suffixes:<!--similar to notation in Drout, just shorter-->
: -{{blue|no}} (for [[Nominative case|nominative]] singular), -{{cyan|ge}} ([[Genitive case|genitive]]), -{{brown|da}} ([[Dative case|dative]]), -{{green|ac}} ([[Accusative case|accusative]]), -{{orange|lo}} ([[Locative case|locative]]), -{{purple|in}} ([[Instrumental case|instrumental]]), -{{gray|vo}} ([[Vocative case|vocative]]), -{{pink|ab}} ([[Ablative case|ablative]])

The first sentence above could be formed with any of the following [[Word order|word orders]] and would have the same meaning:<ref name="Drout" />
* "The dog{{blue|no}} chased a cat{{green|ac}}." 
* "A cat{{green|ac}} chased the dog{{blue|no}}."
* "Chased a cat{{green|ac}} the dog{{blue|no}}."

As a more complex example, the sentence: 
* Mum, this little boy's dog was chasing a cat down our street!<!-- Croatian: Mama, ovoga malenog dječaka pas lovio je mačku po našoj ulici! -->
becomes nonsensical in English if the words are rearranged (because there are no cases):
* A cat was down our street chasing dog this little boy's mum!<!-- Croatian: Mačku je po našoj ulici lovio pas ovoga malenog dječaka, mama! -->

But if English were a highly inflected language, like [[Latin]] or some [[Slavic languages]] such as [[Croatian language|Croatian]], both sentences could mean the same thing.<ref name="Drout" /> They would both contain five nouns in five different cases: ''mum'' – vocative (hey!), ''dog'' – nominative (who?), ''boy'' – genitive (of whom?), ''cat'' – accusative (whom?), ''street'' – locative (where?);<ref>{{Cite web|title=Imenice|trans-title=Nouns|url=http://gramatika.hr/pravilo/imenice/17/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Hrvatska školska gramatika|publisher=Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje|language=hr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326143831/http://gramatika.hr:80/pravilo/imenice/17/ |archive-date=2018-03-26 }}</ref> the adjective ''little'' would be in the same case as the noun it modifies (''boy''), and the case of the determiner ''our'' would [[Agreement (linguistics)|agree]] with the case of the noun it determines (''street'').<ref>{{Cite web|title=Atribut|trans-title=Attribute|url=http://gramatika.hr/pravilo/atribut/80/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Hrvatska školska gramatika|language=hr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326144854/http://gramatika.hr:80/pravilo/atribut/80/ |archive-date=2018-03-26 }}</ref>

Using the case suffixes invented for this example, the original sentence would read:
* Mum{{gray|vo}}, this{{cyan|ge}} little{{cyan|ge}} boy{{cyan|ge}} dog{{blue|no}} was chasing a cat{{green|ac}} down our{{orange|lo}} street{{orange|lo}}!<!--Croatian: Mama, ovoga malenog dječaka pas lovio je mačku po našoj ulici!-->

And like other inflected languages, the sentence rearranged in the following ways would mean virtually the same thing, but with different expressiveness:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Red riječi u rečenici|trans-title=Word order in sentences|url=http://gramatika.hr/pravilo/red-rijeci-u-recenici/108/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Hrvatska školska gramatika|language=hr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326143919/http://gramatika.hr:80/pravilo/red-rijeci-u-recenici/108/ |archive-date=2018-03-26 }}</ref>
* A cat{{green|ac}} was down our{{orange|lo}} street{{orange|lo}} chasing dog{{blue|no}} this{{cyan|ge}} little{{cyan|ge}} boy{{cyan|ge}}, mum{{gray|vo}}!<!--Croatian: Mačku je po našoj ulici lovio pas ovoga malenog dječaka, mama!-->
* Mum{{gray|vo}}, down street{{orange|lo}} our{{orange|lo}} a cat{{green|ac}} was chasing this{{cyan|ge}} little{{cyan|ge}} boy{{cyan|ge}} dog{{blue|no}}!<!--Croatian: Mama, po ulici našoj mačku je lovio ovoga malenog dječaka pas!-->

Instead of the ''locative'', the ''instrumental form'' of "down our street" could also be used:<ref name="Stolac">{{Cite web|title=Zagrebačka slavistička škola – Izražavanje prostornih značenja padežnim oblicima|url=https://www.hrvatskiplus.org/article.php?id=1823&naslov=izrazavanje-prostornih-znacenja-padeznim-oblicima|first=Diana|last=Stolac|language=hr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520140620/https://www.hrvatskiplus.org/article.php?id=1823&naslov=izrazavanje-prostornih-znacenja-padeznim-oblicima|archive-date=2021-05-20|url-status=live|website=hrvatskiplus.org}}</ref>
* Mum{{gray|vo}}, this{{cyan|ge}} little{{cyan|ge}} boy{{cyan|ge}} dog{{blue|no}} our{{purple|in}} street{{purple|in}} was chasing a cat{{green|ac}}!<!--Croatian: Mama, ovoga malenog dječaka pas našom je ulicom lovio mačku!-->
* A cat{{green|ac}} was, mum{{gray|vo}}, our{{purple|in}} street{{purple|in}} chasing dog{{blue|no}} this{{cyan|ge}} little{{cyan|ge}} boy{{cyan|ge}}<!--Croatian: Mačku je, mama, našom ulicom mačku lovio pas ovoga malenog dječaka!-->
* Our{{purple|in}} street{{purple|in}} a cat{{green|ac}} was chasing dog{{blue|no}} this{{cyan|ge}} little{{cyan|ge}} boy{{cyan|ge}}, mum{{gray|vo}}!<!--Croatian: Našom ulicom mačku je lovio pas ovoga malenog dječaka, mama!-->

Different word orders preserving the original meaning are possible in an inflected language,<ref name=":0" /> while modern English relies on word order for meaning, with a little flexibility.<ref name="Drout" /> This is one of the advantages of an inflected language. The English sentences above, when read without the made-up case suffixes, are confusing.

These contrived examples are relatively simple, whereas actual inflected languages have a far more complicated set of declensions, where the suffixes (or prefixes or [[infixes]]) change depending on the [[Noun gender|gender of the noun]], the [[Grammatical number|quantity of the noun]], and other possible factors. This complexity and the possible lengthening of words is one of the disadvantages of inflected languages. Notably, many of these languages lack [[Article (grammar)|articles]]. There may also be ''irregular nouns'' where the declensions are unique for each word (like [[irregular verbs]] with [[Verb conjugation|conjugation]]). In inflected languages, other [[Part of speech|parts of speech]] such as [[Numeral (linguistics)|numerals]], [[demonstrative]]s, [[Adjective|adjectives]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vrste riječi|url=http://gramatika.hr/pravilo/vrste-rijeci/16/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Hrvatska školska gramatika|language=hr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326145055/http://gramatika.hr:80/pravilo/vrste-rijeci/16/ |archive-date=2018-03-26 }}</ref> and [[Article (grammar)|articles]]<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Martin|first1=Howard|last2=Ng|first2=Alan|last3=Korpi|first3=Sarah |title=Cases |url=https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/category/02-cases-present/ |url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-23 |website=A Foundation Course in Reading German |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919021351/https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/category/02-cases-present/ |archive-date=2015-09-19 }}</ref> are also declined.

== History ==
It is agreed that [[Ancient Greeks]] had a "vague" idea of the forms of a noun in their language. A fragment of [[Anacreon]] seems to confirm this idea. Nevertheless, it cannot be concluded that the Ancient Greeks actually knew what the cases were. The [[Stoics]] developed many basic notions that today are the rudiments of [[linguistics]]. The idea of grammatical cases is also traced back to the Stoics, but it is still not completely clear what the Stoics exactly meant with their notion of cases.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 43646836|title = The Stoic Notion of a Grammatical Case|journal = Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies|volume = 39|pages = 13–24|last1 = Frede|first1 = Michael|year = 1994|doi = 10.1111/j.2041-5370.1994.tb00449.x|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref name=treccani>{{Cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/linguaggio|title = Linguaggio nell'Enciclopedia Treccani}}</ref>

==Modern English==
{{Further|Old English grammar#Nouns}}
In [[Modern English]], the system of declensions is so simple compared to some other languages that the term ''declension'' is rarely used.

===Nouns===
Most nouns in English have distinct ''singular'' and ''[[plural]]'' forms. Nouns and most noun phrases can form a ''[[possessive]]'' construction. Plurality is most commonly shown by the [[affix|ending]] ''-s'' (or ''-es''), whereas possession is always shown by the en[[clitic]] ''-'s'' or, for plural forms ending in ''s'', by just an apostrophe.

Consider, for example, the forms of the noun ''[[girl]]''. Most speakers pronounce all forms other than the singular plain form (''girl'') exactly the same.{{NoteTag|The elided possessive-indicating ''s'' of the plural possessive may be realised as [z] in some speakers' pronunciations, being separated from the plural-indicating ''s'' normally by a central vowel such as [ɨ̞].}}

{|class="wikitable"
|-
 ! 
 ! Singular
 ! Plural
|-
 ! Plain
 | girl
 | girls
|-
 ! Possessive
 | girl's
 | girls'
|}

By contrast, a few irregular nouns (like [[man]]/men) are slightly more complex in their forms. In this example, all four forms are pronounced distinctly.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
 ! 
 ! Singular
 ! Plural
|-
 ! Plain
 | man
 | men
|-
 ! Possessive
 | man's
 | men's
|}

For nouns, in general, gender is not declined in Modern English. There are isolated situations where certain nouns may be modified to reflect gender, though not in a systematic fashion. Loan words from other languages, particularly Latin and the Romance languages, often preserve their gender-specific forms in English, e.g. ''alumnus'' (masculine singular) and ''alumna'' (feminine singular). Similarly, names borrowed from other languages show comparable distinctions: ''Andrew'' and ''Andrea'', ''Paul'' and ''Paula'', etc. Additionally, suffixes such as ''-ess'', ''-ette'', and ''-er'' are sometimes applied to create overtly gendered versions of nouns, with marking for feminine being much more common than marking for masculine. Many nouns can actually function as members of two genders or even all three, and the gender classes of English nouns are usually determined by their agreement with pronouns, rather than marking on the nouns themselves.

There can be other derivations from nouns that are not considered declensions. For example, the proper noun ''[[wikt:Britain|Britain]]'' has the associated descriptive adjective ''[[wikt:British|British]]'' and the [[demonym]] ''[[wikt:Briton|Briton]]''. Though these words are clearly related, and are generally considered [[cognate]]s, they are not specifically treated as forms of the ''same word'', and thus are not declensions.

===Pronouns===
[[Pronouns]] in English have more complex declensions. For example, the [[First person pronoun|first person]] "[[wikt:I|I]]":

{|class="wikitable"
|-
 ! 
 ! Singular
 ! Plural
|-
 ! Subjective
 | I
 | we
|-
 ! Objective
 | me
 | us
|-
 ! Dependent possessive
 | my
 | our
|-
 ! Independent possessive
 | mine
 | ours
|}

Whereas nouns do not distinguish between the [[nominative case|subjective (nominative)]] and [[oblique case|objective (oblique)]] cases, some pronouns do; that is, they decline to reflect their relationship to a [[verb]] or [[preposition]], or [[grammatical case|case]]. Consider the difference between ''he'' (subjective) and ''him'' (objective), as in "He saw it" and "It saw him"; similarly, consider ''[[Who (pronoun)|who]]'', which is subjective, and the objective ''whom'' (although it is increasingly common to use ''who'' for both).

The one situation where [[gender]]{{NoteTag|Gender in English is not [[grammatical gender|grammatical]] but [[natural gender]].}} is still clearly part of the English language is in the pronouns for the third person singular. Consider the following:

{|class="wikitable"
|-
 ! rowspan="2" | 
 ! rowspan="2" | Masculine
 ! rowspan="2" | Feminine
 ! colspan="2" | Neuter
|-
 ! non-person
 ! person
|-
 ! Subjective
 | he
 | she
 | rowspan="2" | it
 | they
|-
 ! Objective
 | him
 | rowspan="2" | her
 | them
|-
 ! Dependent possessive
 | rowspan="2" | his
 | rowspan="2" | its
 | their
|-
 ! Independent possessive
 | hers
 | theirs
|}

The distinguishing of neuter for persons and non-persons is peculiar to English. This has existed since the 14th century.<ref name="Butterfield p814">{{Cite book|page=814|last1=Fowler |first1=H.W.|editor1-last=Butterfield |editor1-first=Jeremy|title= Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-966135-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |author-link1=Rodney Huddleston |last2= Pullum |first2= Geoffrey K. |author-link2= Geoffrey Pullum|title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge; New York |isbn=0-521-43146-8 |page=494 }}</ref> However, the use of ''[[singular they]]'' is often restricted to specific contexts, depending on the dialect or the speaker. It is most typically used to refer to a single person of unknown gender (e.g. "someone left their jacket behind") or a hypothetical person where gender is insignificant (e.g. "If someone wants to, then they should"). Its use has expanded in recent years due to increasing social recognition of persons who do not identify themselves as male or female<ref>{{cite news | title=The singular, gender-neutral 'they' added to the Associated Press Stylebook | author=Andrews, Travis M. | date=March 28, 2017 | newspaper=Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/03/28/the-singular-gender-neutral-they-added-to-the-associated-press-stylebook/}}</ref> (see [[Non-binary gender|gender-nonbinary]]). The ''singular they'' still uses plural verb forms, reflecting its origins.

===Adjectives and adverbs===
Some English adjectives and adverbs are declined for [[degree of comparison]]. The unmarked form is the [[positive (linguistics)|positive]] form, such as ''quick''. Comparative forms are formed with the ending ''-er'' (''quicker''), while superlative forms are formed with ''-est'' (''quickest''). Some are uncomparable; the remainder are usually periphrastic constructions with ''more'' (''more beautiful'') and ''most'' (''most modestly''). See [[degree of comparison]] for more.

Adjectives are not declined for case in Modern English (though they were in Old English), nor number nor gender.{{NoteTag|A few adjectives borrowed from other languages are, or can be, declined for gender, at least in writing: ''blond'' (male) and ''blonde'' (female).}}

===Determiners===
The demonstrative determiners ''this'' and ''that'' are declined for number, as ''these'' and ''those''.

The [[English articles|article]] is never regarded as declined in Modern English, although formally, the words ''that'' and possibly ''[[She (pronoun)|she]]'' correspond to forms of the predecessor of ''the'' (''sē'' m., ''þæt'' n., ''sēo'' f.) as it was declined in Old English.

==Latin==
{{Main|Latin declension|Latin syntax}}

Just as verbs in Latin are conjugated to indicate grammatical information, Latin nouns and adjectives that modify them are declined to signal their roles in sentences. There are five important cases for Latin nouns: [[Nominative case|nominative]], [[Genitive case|genitive]], [[Dative case|dative]], [[Accusative case|accusative]], and [[Ablative (Latin)|ablative]]. Since the [[vocative case]] [[Vocative case#Latin|usually]] takes the same form as the nominative, it is seldom spelt out in grammar books.{{dubious|date=May 2019}} Yet another case, the [[Locative case|locative]], is limited to a small number of words.

The usual basic functions of these cases are as follows:
*Nominative case indicates the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]].
*Genitive case indicates [[Possessive|possession]] and can be translated with 'of'.
*Dative case marks the [[Object (grammar)|indirect object]] and can be translated with 'to' or 'for'.
*Accusative case marks the [[Object (grammar)|direct object]].
*Ablative case is used to modify verbs and can be translated as 'by', 'with', 'from', etc.
*Vocative case is used to address a person or thing.

The genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative also have important functions to indicate the object of a preposition.

Given below is the declension paradigm of Latin ''puer'' 'boy' and ''puella'' 'girl':
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Case !! Singular !! Plural !! Singular !! Plural
|-
| Nominative || puer || puer'''ī''' || puell'''a''' || puell'''ae'''
|-
| Genitive || puer'''ī''' || puer'''ōrum''' || puell'''ae''' || puell'''ārum'''
|-
| Dative || puer'''ō''' || puer'''īs''' || puell'''ae''' || puell'''īs'''
|-
| Accusative || puer'''um''' || puer'''ōs''' || puell'''am''' || puell'''ās'''
|-
| Ablative || puer'''ō''' || puer'''īs''' || puell'''ā''' || puell'''īs'''
|-
|Vocative
|puer
|puer'''ī'''
|puell'''a'''
|puell'''ae'''
|}

From the provided examples we can see how cases work:

{{interlinear|lang=la|indent=2
| liber puerī
| book boy.GEN
| the book of the boy}}

{{interlinear|lang=la|indent=2
| puer puellae rosam dat
| boy.NOM girl.DAT rose.ACC give.3SG.PRES
| the boy gives the girl a rose}}

==Sanskrit==
{{Main|Sanskrit nouns}}
[[Sanskrit]], another Indo-European language, has eight cases: [[nominative]], [[vocative case|vocative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[genitive]], [[dative case|dative]], [[ablative case|ablative]], [[locative case|locative]] and [[instrumental case|instrumental]].<ref>[[James Clackson]] (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=DJDjNp6wODoC&pg=PA90 ''Indo-European linguistics: an introduction''], p.90</ref> Some do not count vocative as a separate case, despite it having a distinctive ending in the singular, but consider it as a different use of the nominative.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Huet |first1=Gérard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2f1hneiV08C&pg=PA68 |title=Sanskrit Computational Linguistics: First and Second International Symposia Rocquencourt, France, October 29-31, 2007 Providence, RI, USA, May 15-17, 2008, Revised Selected Papers |last2=Kulkarni |first2=Amba |last3=Scharf |first3=Peter |date=2009-03-09 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-642-00154-3 |language=en}}</ref>

Sanskrit grammatical cases have been analyzed extensively. The grammarian [[Pāṇini]] identified six semantic [[Thematic relation|roles]] or ''karaka'', which correspond closely to the eight cases:<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Verhagen |first1=Pieter Cornelis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vmaX_JQzc4C&pg=PA281 |title=Sanskrit Grammatical Literature in Tibet - a Study of the Indo-Tibetan Canonical Literature on Sanskrit Grammar and the Development of Sanskrit Studies in Tibet |last2=Bronkhorst |first2=Johannes |date=2001 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-11882-9 |language=en}}</ref>
* agent ({{transliteration|sa|kartṛ}}, related to the nominative)
* patient ({{transliteration|sa|karman}}, related to the accusative)
* means ({{transliteration|sa|karaṇa}}, related to the instrumental)
* recipient ({{transliteration|sa|sampradāna}}, related to the dative)
* source ({{transliteration|sa|apādāna}}, related to the ablative)
*relation ({{transliteration|sa|sambandha}}, related to genitive)
* locus ({{transliteration|sa|adhikaraṇa}}, related to the locative)
* address ({{transliteration|sa|sambodhana}}, related to the vocative)
For example, consider the following sentence:

{{interlinear|indent=3
| {{transliteration|sa|vṛkṣ-āt}} {{transliteration|sa|parṇ-aṁ}} {{transliteration|sa|bhūm-āu}} {{transliteration|sa|patati}}
| {from the tree} {a leaf} {to the ground} falls
| "a leaf falls from the tree to the ground"}}

Here ''leaf'' is the agent, ''tree'' is the source, and ''ground'' is the locus. The endings ''-aṁ'', ''-at'', ''-āu'' mark the cases associated with these meanings.

Verse 37 of the Rāmarakṣāstotram gives an example of all 8 types of declensions in Sanskrit for the singular proper noun Rāma.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shrirama RakshA Stotram |url=https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_raama/rraksha.html |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=sanskritdocuments.org}}</ref>

<!-- This is an interesting but lesser known mnemonic used to remember the declension for singular masculine nouns ending with -a.

I found some blogs and non-ISBN books discussing this but credible scholarly articles are harder to find.

I added this example because I felt that the other examples were insufficient or lacked comparision, and the 'English-speaking perspective' uses made up endings.   --><!-- 
I suggest adding more examples from other real languages that allow comparision of the same word in context for all possible cases. -->{| class="wikitable"
!Verse
!Case
!Translation and remarks
|-
|'''Rāmo''' rājamaṇiḥ
|Nominative
|''Rāma is a jewel among kings''
The case declension here is ''Rāmaḥ'' but the [[visarga]] has undergone [[sandhi]]. 
|-
|sadā vijayate '''Rāmaṃ''' rameśaṃ bhaje
|Accusative
|''Ever victorious, I worship that Rāma who is Ramā's lord.''
Both words '<nowiki/>''Rāma Rameśa'<nowiki/>'' are individually declined as '''rāmaṃ rameśaṃ''
|-
|'''Rāmeṇā'''bhihatā niśācaracamū
|Instrumental
|''Rāma, by whose hands are the armies of demons annhiliated''
''Rāmeṇa'' is the declension that underwent sandhi with the word ''abhihatā''
|-
|'''Rāmāya''' tasmai namaḥ
|Dative
|''I bow to that Rāma.''
Dative case is used here to show that ''Rāma'' is the receiver of the reverence.
|-
|'''Rāmā'''nnāsti parāyaṇaṃ parataraṃ
|Ablative
|''There is no better support than Rāma''
The declension here is ''Rāmāt'' that has undergone sandhi with ''nāsti.''

Ablative case is also used for comparisons in Sanskrit
|-
|'''Rāmasya''' dāso’smyahaṃ
|Genitive
|''I am a servant of Rāma.''
Normal declension without sandhi.
|-
|'''Rāme''' cittalayaḥ sadā bhavatu me
|Locative
|''Let my thoughts always be focused on Rāma.''
Locative case to indicate the 'focus of thoughts'
|-
|'''Bho Rāma''' māmuddhara!
|Vocative
|''O'' ''Rāma save me!''
Vocative case uses the plain stem, unlike Nominative which adds a visarga.
Sometimes vocative is considered to be a different use of nominative.<ref name=":1" />
|}

==Declension in specific languages==
*[[Albanian morphology|Albanian declension]]
*[[Basque grammar#Declension|Basque declension]]

=== Arabic ===

* Classical and Modern Standard [[ʾIʿrab|Arabic declension (ʾIʿrab)]] 

=== Greek and Latin ===
*Ancient Greek and Latin [[First declension]]
*Ancient Greek and Latin [[Second declension]]
*Ancient Greek and Latin [[Third declension]]
*[[Modern Greek grammar#Declensions|Greek declension]]
*[[Latin declension]]

=== Celtic languages ===
*[[Irish declension]]

=== Germanic languages ===
*[[German declension]]
*[[Icelandic grammar#Morphology|Icelandic declension]]
*[[Gothic declension]]
*[[Dutch declension system]] (abandoned)
*[[Middle English declension]]

=== Baltic languages ===
*[[Latvian declension]]
*[[Lithuanian declension]]

=== Slavic languages ===
*[[Serbo-Croatian grammar#Declension|Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian declension]]
*[[Czech declension]]
*[[Polish grammar#Declension|Polish declension]]
*[[Russian grammar|Russian declension]]
*[[Slovak declension]]
*[[Slovene declension]]
*[[Ukrainian grammar|Ukrainian declension]]

=== Romance languages ===

* [[Romanian grammar|Romanian declension]]

=== Indo-Aryan languages ===

* [[Hindustani declension|Urdu and Hindi declension]]

=== Uralic languages ===
*[[Finnish noun cases]]

=== Languages that lost their declension system ===

* [[Varieties of Arabic|Modern Arabic dialects]] (incl. [[Maltese language|Maltese]])

* Most Germanic languages:
** English 
** Dutch 
** Danish
** many Norwegian dialects
** many  Swedish dialects

* Most Romance languages:
** Spanish 
** Portuguese 
** French 
** Italian 
** Catalan 
* Some Slavic languages
** Bulgarian 
** Macedonian 
*Some Celtic languages
**Welsh

==See also==
* [[Grammatical conjugation]]
* [[Grammatical case]]
* [[Strong inflection]]
* [[Weak inflection]]

==Notes and references==
=== Notes ===
{{NoteFoot}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|declension}}
*[http://www.hi.is/~eirikur/cases.pdf The Status of Morphological Case in the Icelandic Lexicon] by Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson. Discussion of whether cases convey any inherent syntactic or semantic meaning.
*[http://web.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~wdl/OptCase.pdf Optimal Case: The Distribution of Case in German and Icelandic] by Dieter Wunderlich
<!--*[http://phrontistery.info/cases.html A long list of names for cases] found in one language or another--><!--dead link-->
* <small>Lexicon of Linguistics:</small> [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Declension Declension]
* <small>Lexicon of Linguistics:</small> [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Base Base], [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Stem Stem], [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Root Root]
* <small>Lexicon of Linguistics:</small> [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Defective+paradigm Defective Paradigm]
* <small>Lexicon of Linguistics:</small> [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Strong+verb Strong Verb]
* <small>Lexicon of Linguistics:</small> [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=IP Inflection Phrase (IP)], [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=INFL INFL], [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=AGR AGR], [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=tense Tense]
* <small>Lexicon of Linguistics:</small> [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Lexicalist+Hypothesis Lexicalist Hypothesis]
*[http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/nugreek/app1.htm classical Greek declension]

{{Grammatical cases}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Declension| ]]
[[Category:Grammatical cases]]
[[Category:Grammar]]
[[Category:Linguistic morphology]]
[[Category:Linguistics terminology]]