Gothic/2/Cases

Codex Abrosianus

Hails!

Chapter One

1. Introduction
2. Gothic on your Computer
3. Gothic Alphabet
4. Accentuation

Chapter Two

1. Chapter Vocabulary
2. Cases of the Noun
3. Pronouns
4. Conjugation of the weak Verb
5. Word Declension
6. Exercises
7. Reading texts

Chapter Three

1. Chapter Vocabulary
2. Adjectives
3. Adverbs
4. Numbers
5. Exercises

Chapter Four

1. Chapter Vocabulary
2. Word Order
3. Strong verbs
4. Comparatives
5. Conjunctions
6. Neologisms
7. Exercises

Chapter Five

1. Chapter Vocabulary
2. Gothic-to-English Translation Exercises
3. English-to-Gothic Translation Exercises
4. Neologism Exercises

Appendix

1. Further Resources
2. Gothic Glossary
3. Answers to Exercises

What is a Case?

In the simplest terms, a case determines the function of a word in a sentence. Gothic has five cases: the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative.

• The Nominative Case indicates the subject of a sentence. Generally, the noun "that is doing something" is in the nominative. Example: The man went to the store.
• The Genitive Case indicates an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun, or in simpler terms, the genitive case indicates to whom an object belongs. Example: This is the man's store.
• The Dative Case indicates the indirect object of a sentence. Example: The man gave the money to the storekeeper.
• The Accusative Case indicates the direct object of a sentence or transitive verb. Example: The man bought food.
• The Vocative Case is used when you directly talk to someone, for example: "My brother, listen to me!" or "My friend, go with me".

Certain Gothic verbs, pronouns, and adjectives must modify a case.