Ablative case

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Introduction to the ablative case from a 1903 Latin textbook

In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced /ˈæbleɪtɪv/ AB-lay-tiv; abbreviated abl) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages. It is used to indicate motion away from something, make comparisons, and serve various other purposes. The word "ablative" derives from the Latin ablatus, the (suppletive) perfect, passive participle of auferre "to carry away".

The ablative case is found in several language families, such as Indo-European (e.g. Sanskrit, Latin, Albanian, Armenian, Punjabi), Turkic (e.g. Turkish, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar), Tungusic (e.g. Manchu, Evenki), Uralic (e.g. Hungarian), and the Dravidian languages. There is no ablative case in modern Germanic languages such as German and English. There was an ablative case in the early stages of Ancient Greek, but it quickly fell into disuse by the classical period.

Indo-European languages

Latin

Main article: Ablative (Latin)

The ablative case in Latin (cāsus ablātīvus) appears in various grammatical constructions, including following various prepositions, in an ablative absolute clause, and adverbially. The Latin ablative case was derived from three Proto-Indo-European cases: ablative (from), instrumental (with), and locative (in/at).

Greek

In Ancient Greek, there was an ablative case (ἀφαιρετικὴ πτῶσις Template:Transliteration) which was used in the Homeric, pre-Mycenaean, and Mycenean periods. It fell into disuse during the classical period and thereafter with some of its functions taken by the genitive and others by the dative. The genitive case with the prepositions ἀπό Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss and ἐκ/ἐξ Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss is an example.

German

German does not have an ablative case but, exceptionally, Latin ablative case-forms were used from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century after some prepositions, for example after von in von dem Nomine: ablative of the Latin loanword nomen. Grammarians at that time, Justus Georg Schottel, Kaspar von Stieler, Johann Balthasar von Antesperg and Johann Christoph Gottsched, listed an ablative case (as the sixth case after nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative) for German words. They arbitrarily considered the dative case after some prepositions to be an ablative, as in von dem Mann[e] Template:Gloss and mit dem Mann[e] Template:Gloss, while they considered the dative case after other prepositions or without a preposition, as in dem Mann[e], to be a dative.

Albanian

The ablative case is found in Albanian; it is the fifth case, rasa rrjedhore.

Sanskrit

In Sanskrit, the ablative case is the fifth case (Template:Transliteration) and has a similar function to that in Latin. Sanskrit nouns in the ablative often refer to a subject "out of" which or "from" whom something (an action, an object) has arisen or occurred: Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss. It is also used for nouns in several other senses, as for actions occurring "because of" or "without" a certain noun, indicating distance or direction. When it appears with a comparative adjective, (Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss), the ablative is used to refer to what the adjective is comparing: Template:Gloss.

Armenian

The modern Armenian ablative has different markers for each main dialect, both originating from Classical Armenian. The Western Armenian affix -է Template:Transliteration (definite -էն Template:Transliteration) derives from the classical singular; the Eastern Armenian affix -ից Template:Transliteration (both indefinite and definite) derives from the classical plural. For both dialects, those affixes are singular, with the corresponding plurals being -(ն)երէ(ն) Template:Transliteration and -(ն)երից Template:Transliteration.

Western	Eastern	Gloss
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	from (a) man
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	from the man
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	from a house/from home
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	from the house

The ablative case has several uses. Its principal function is to show "motion away" from a location, point in space or time:

Western	Eastern	Gloss
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	I came from the city
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	I used to live far from here

It also shows the agent when it is used with the passive voice of the verb:

Western	Eastern	Gloss
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	You were always loved by me.
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	We were freed by the liberators.

It is also used for comparative statements in colloquial Armenian (including infinitives and participles):

Western	Eastern	Gloss
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	"What is sweeter than honey?" (proverb)
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	Mary is younger (lit. smaller) than her brother
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	Figs are better to taste than to see

Finally, it governs certain postpositions:

Western	Eastern	Gloss
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	below me
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	above you
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	after them
Template:Fs interlinear	Template:Fs interlinear	before us

Uralic languages

Finnish

In Finnish, the ablative case is the sixth of the locative cases with the meaning "from, off, of": pöytä – pöydältä "table – off from the table". It is an outer locative case, used like the adessive and allative cases, to denote both being on top of something and "being around the place" (as opposed to the inner locative case, the elative, which means "from out of" or "from the inside of"). With the locative, the receding object was near the other place or object, not inside it.

The Finnish ablative is also used in time expressions to indicate times of something happening (kymmeneltä "at ten") as well as with verbs expressing feelings or emotions.

The Finnish ablative has the ending -lta or -ltä, depending on vowel harmony.

Usage

away from a place

• katolta: off the roof
• pöydältä: off the table
• rannalta: from the beach
• maalta: from the land
• mereltä: from the sea

from a person, object or other entity

• häneltä: from him/her/them

with the verb lähteä (stop)

• lähteä tupakalta: stop smoking (in the sense of putting out the cigarette one is smoking now, lit. 'leave from the tobacco')
• lähteä hippasilta: stop playing tag (hippa=tag, olla hippasilla=playing tag)

to smell/taste/feel/look/sound like something

• haisee pahalta: smells bad
• maistuu hyvältä: tastes good
• tuntuu kamalalta: feels awful
• näyttää tyhmältä: looks stupid
• kuulostaa mukavalta: sounds nice

Estonian

The ablative case in Estonian is the ninth case and has a similar function to that in Hungarian.

Hungarian

The ablative case in Hungarian is used to describe movement away from, as well as a concept, object, act or event originating from an object, person, location or entity. For example, one walking away from a friend who gave him a gift could say the following:

a barátomtól jövök (I am coming (away) from my friend).

a barátomtól kaptam egy ajándékot (I got a gift from my friend).

When used to describe movement away from a location, the case may only refer to movement from the general vicinity of the location and not from inside of it. Thus, a postától jövök would mean one had been standing next to the post office before, not inside the building.

When the case is used to refer to the origin of a possible act or event, the act/event may be implied while not explicitly stated, such as Meg foglak védeni a rablótól: I will defend you from the robber.

The application of vowel harmony gives two different suffixes: -tól and -től. These are applied to back-vowel and front-vowel words, respectively.

Hungarian has a narrower delative case, similar to ablative, but more specific: movement off/from a surface of something, with suffixes -ról and -ről.

Turkic languages

Azerbaijani

The ablative in Azerbaijani (çıxışlıq hal) is expressed through the suffixes -dan or -dən:

Tatar

The ablative in Tatar (чыгыш килеше) is expressed through the suffixes -дан,-дән, -тан, -тән, -нан, or -нән:

Turkish

The ablative in Turkish (-den hali or ayrılma hali) is expressed through the suffix -den (which changes to -dan, -ten, or -tan to accommodate the vowel and voicing harmony):

In some situations simple ablative can have a "because of" meaning; in these situations, ablative can be optionally followed by the postposition dolayı Template:Gloss.

Tungusic

Manchu

The ablative in Manchu is expressed through the suffix -ci and can also be used to express comparisons. It is usually not directly attached to its parent word.

Evenki

The ablative in Evenki is expressed with the suffix -duk.

See also

• Allative case
• Delative case
• Locative case

Further reading

• Karlsson, Fred (2018). Finnish – A Comprehensive Grammar. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-82104-0.
• Anhava, Jaakko (2015). "Criteria for case forms in Finnish and Hungarian grammars". Journal.fi. Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Scholarly Journals Online.