Locative case
In grammar, the locative case is a grammatical case which indicates a location. In languages using it, the locative case may perform a function which in English would be expressed with such prepositions as "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the lative and ablative case.
The locative case exists in many language groups.
Indo-European languages
The Proto-Indo-European language had a locative case expressing "place where", an adverbial function. The endings are reconstructed as follows:| Singular | Plural | |
| Athematic | -i, *-Ø | -su |
| Thematic | -e, oy | -oysu |
In most later Indo-European languages, the locative case merged into other cases in form and/or function, but some daughter languages retained it as a distinct case. It is found in:
- modern Balto-Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Macedonian, although it is mostly used with prepositions in the other Slavic languages
- some classical Indo-European languages, particularly Sanskrit and Old Latin
- use in certain modern Indic languages
Latin
Old Latin still had a functioning locative singular, which descended from the Proto-Indo-European form. The locative plural was already identical to the dative and ablative plural. In Classical Latin, changes to the Old Latin diphthongs caused the originally-distinctive ending of the locative singular to become indistinguishable from the endings of some other cases.Because the locative was already identical to the ablative in the plural, the loss of distinction between the endings eventually caused the functions of the locative case to be absorbed by the ablative case in Classical Latin. The original locative singular ending, descended from the Old Latin form, remained in use for a few words. For first and second declension, it was identical to the genitive singular form. In archaic times, the locative singular of third declension nouns was still interchangeable between ablative and dative forms, but in the Augustan Period the use of the ablative form became fixed. Therefore, both forms rūrī and rūre may be encountered.
The locative ending of the fifth declension was -ē, identical to the ablative singular, as in .
The Latin locative case was only used for the names of cities, "small" islands and a few other isolated words. The Romans considered all Mediterranean islands to be small except for Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, and Cyprus. Britannia was also considered to be a "large island". There are a few nouns that use the locative instead of a preposition:
| Nomative | Locative | Meaning |
| rūs | rūrī | In the countryside |
| domus | domī | At home |
| humus | humī | On the ground |
| mīlitia | mīlitiae | In military service/on the field |
| bellus | bellī | In war |
| focus | focī | At the hearth |
| animus | animī | In spirit/at heart/in mind. |
bellī and mīlitiae are particularly used in contrast to domī, "at home" to convey that someone is away on military service, and are used interchangeably.
The first declension locative is by far the most common, because so many Roman place names were first declension, such as Roma, Rome, and therefore use the same form as the genitive and dative: Romae, at Rome, and Hiberniae, in Ireland. A few place-names were inherently plural, even though they are a single city, e.g. Athēnae, Athens and Cūmae, Cuma. These plural names also use the form similar to the dative and ablative: Athēnīs, at Athens, and Cūmīs, at Cumae. There are also a number of second declension names that could have locatives, e.g. Brundisium, Brindisi; Eborācum, York; with locatives Brundisiī, at Brindisi; Eborācī, at York. The locative cannot express being located at multiple locations; plural forms only exist because certain proper names such as Athēnae happen to be plural. "He is at home" can be expressed by " domi est" using the locative, but "They are at their homes" cannot be expressed by the locative.
Greek
In Ancient Greek, the locative merged with the Proto-Indo-European dative, so that the Greek dative represents the Proto-Indo-European dative, instrumental, and locative. The dative with the preposition ἐν "in" and the dative of time are examples of locative datives. Some early texts, in particular Homer, retain the locative in some words.Germanic languages
The locative case had merged with the dative in early Germanic times and was no longer distinct in Proto-Germanic or in any of its descendants. The dative, however, contrasts with the accusative case, which is used to indicate motion toward a place. The difference in meaning between dative and accusative exists in all of the old Germanic languages and survives in all Germanic languages that retain a distinction between the two cases.Sanskrit
The locative case in Sanskrit is usually known as the "seventh case". It is the last out of the main seven cases in the language. Along with "in", "on", "at", "or", and "by", the locative case is also generally used with "among" in Sanskrit.Slavic languages
Among Slavic languages, the locative is mostly used after a fixed set of commonly used prepositions. Besides location, Slavic languages also employ locative as a way of expressing the method of doing an action, time when the action is to take place, as well as the topic or theme that something describes in more detail; as such it is subordinate to other cases. The locative is kept in all Slavic languages, although Russian split it into locative and prepositional, and Serbo-Croatian uses almost the same set of endings as for the dative. The ending depends on whether the word is a noun or an adjective.Old Slavic
In Old Church Slavonic, the locative is mostly used with a preposition. Some uses of independent locatives remain, mostly in expressions of time, such as zimě "in winter", polu nošti "at midnight". The locative also occurs as the complement of a handful of verbs, such as kŭto prikosnǫ sę rizaxŭ moixŭ? "who touched my garments?". In Old East Slavic, moreover, place names are regularly used in the locative without a preposition.Czech
The Czech language uses the locative case to denote location, but as in the Russian language, the locative case may be used after certain prepositions with meanings other than location. Cases other than the locative may be used to denote location in Czech as well.The locative case is the only one of the 7 Czech cases which cannot be used without a preposition. It is used with these prepositions:
- v. Using this preposition with the accusative case has a different meaning and is regarded as archaic
- na. The use of this preposition with the accusative case has a different meaning.
- po. This preposition takes the accusative case in some meanings.
- při
- o. This preposition with the accusative case has a different use and meaning.
The locative form of substantives in the singular is mostly identical with the dative case. Possible endings for locative case:
- -u
- -i
- -ovi
- -e
- -ě
- -eti
- -í
- -ém for hard masculine and neuter adjectives
- -m for soft masculine and neuter adjectives
- -é for hard feminine adjectives
- -í for soft feminine adjectives
See Czech declension for declension patterns for all Czech grammatical cases, including the locative.
Slovak
The Slovak language uses the locative case to denote location, but as in the Russian language, the locative case may be used after certain prepositions with meanings other than location. Cases other than the locative may be used to denote location in Slovak as well. A preposition must always be used with this case.There are several different locative endings in Slovak:-e Used for singular nouns of all genders, e.g. stôl → o stole, láska → v láske, mesto → po meste.-u Used for:
- * Masculine inanimate singular nouns ending in a velar consonant, e.g. hliník → o hliníku, mozog → v mozgu, bok → na boku, vzduch → vo vzduchu, or a glottal consonant, e.g. hloh → po hlohu
- * All neuter singular nouns ending in -kV, -chV, -iV, -uV, e.g. jablko → v jablku, ucho → na uchu, akvárium → pri akváriu, vákuum → vo vákuu-i Used for:
- * Masculine inanimate nouns ending in a soft consonant, e.g. ovládač → o ovládači, tŕň → v tŕni
- * Feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant or a soft consonant followed by a, e.g. vôňa → o vôni, kosť → o kosti
- * Feminine nouns ending in -ia or -ea, e.g. Mária → na Márii, Andrea → v Andrei
- * Neuter nouns ending in -e or -, e.g. srdce → pri srdci-í used for neuter nouns ending in -, e.g. vysvedčenie → na vysvedčení-ovi used for masculine animate nouns, e.g. chlap → o chlapovi, hrdina → po hrdinovi-om used for masculine and neuter singular adjectives: pekný/pekné → o peknom-ej used for feminine singular adjectives and feminine nouns ending in -á: pekná gazdiná → na peknej gazdinej-m used for masculine animate nouns following the kuli pattern, e.g. Harry → o Harrym-och used for masculine nouns in plural, e.g. malí chlapi → o malých chlapoch-ách used for plural feminine and neuter nouns, e.g. ženy → o ženách. There are variations:
- * -ach used when the preceding vowel is long or a diphthong, e.g. lásky → v láskach, dielo → pri dielach
- * -iach used after soft consonants, e.g. schopnosť → o schopnostiach, srdce → v srdciach-ích / -ých Used for plural adjectives of all genders, e.g. malé obchody → v malých obchodoch, with the variation:
- * -ich / -ych when the preceding vowel is long: rýchle autá → o rýchlych autách
Polish
There are several different locative endings in Polish:-e is used after hard consonant except for k, g, and h in masculine and neuter nouns. In feminine nouns, it is used after all hard consonant, including k, g, and h. The ending has a softening effect on the preceding consonant.- * brat → bracie
- * rzeka → rzece
- * noga → nodze
- * rower → rowerze
- * piekło → piekle
- * koń → koniu
- * słońce → słońcu
- * dach → dachu-y is used in feminine nouns after hardened consonants.
- * ulica → ulicy
- * cisza → ciszy
- * róża → róży-i is used in feminine nouns after soft consonants.
- * kawiarnia → kawiarni
- * fasola → fasoli
- * Hania → Hani-im / -ym Used for masculine and neuter singular adjectives, e.g. język polski → w języku polskim -ej Used for feminine singular adjectives, e.g. duża krowa → o dużej krowie
Russian
In the Russian language, the locative case has largely lost its use as an independent case and become the prepositional case, which is used only after a preposition. The latter is not always used to indicate location, while other cases may also be used to specify location. Statements such as в библиотеке, or на Аляске,, demonstrate the use of the prepositional case to indicate location. However, this case is also used after the preposition "о" as in о студенте, .Nevertheless, approximately 150 masculine nouns retain a distinct form for the locative case, used only after "в" and "на". These forms end in "-у́" or "-ю́": лежать в снегу́,, but думать о сне́ге, . Other examples are рай, ; "в раю́", дым, ; and в дыму́,. As indicated by the accent marks, the stress is always on the last syllable, which is unlike the dative-case forms with the same spelling. A few feminine nouns that end with the soft sign, such as дверь and пыль, also have a locative form that differs from the prepositional in that the stress shifts to the final syllable: на двери́,, but при две́ри, . These distinct feminine forms are sometimes referenced as "second locative" or "new locative", because they developed independently from the true locative case, which existed in Old Russian.
With some words, such as дом,, the second locative form is used only in certain idiomatic expressions, while the prepositional is used elsewhere. For example, на дому́, would be used to describe activity that is performed at home, while на до́ме would be used to specify the location of the roof.
Ukrainian
The Ukrainian language uses the locative case to denote locations. For example, "A pen is on a book" would be written as "" in the locative. Ukrainian locative and instrumental cases usually go with a preposition, unlike the other four cases in Ukrainian grammar, that may generally be employed without prepositions. The most common locative prepositions are, and ; usage of these four different variations of "in" depends on whether the next word starts with a consonant or vowel.The locative is used to indicate static spatial relationships and to talk about thoughts, discussions and nuanced ideas. It is distinguished from dynamic spatial relationships, which indicate action or motion, and are expressed in the accusative case in Ukrainian and most other East Slavic languages. The adlative "goal function", which in most East Slavic grammars is prescribed to be expressed in accusative, may in Ukrainian sometimes be expressed in locative instead, but it is only considered acceptable under certain circumstances.
Ukrainian, unlike Russian, still retains a fully functional locative case. However, during the Russification of Soviet Ukraine between the 1930s and the 1980s, several expressions in the Ukrainian language using the locative case, such as "", were changed by Soviet linguistic policies, in this instance to a genitive case to "", in order to conform to standard Russian "". On the other hand, post-Soviet users of Surzhyk may mistakenly be employing the locative Russian form, instead of the instrumental Ukrainian form, in a sentence like "The book is written in English":
- Standard
- Surzhyk form:
- Standard
Armenian
In the Eastern standard of the Armenian language non-animate nouns take -ում for the locative. Animate nouns do not take the locative.Turkic languages
The Proto-Turkic language had a locative case, and most Turkic languages have retained it.Turkish
The locative case exists in Turkish, as the suffix generally specified by "-DA". For instance, in Turkish, okul means 'the school', and okulda means 'in the school'. The morpheme may exist in four different forms, depending on the preceding consonant and vowel. The first phoneme of the locative, "D", changes according to the previous consonant: it is "t" after voiceless consonants, but "d" elsewhere. The vowel changes depending on the phonetic characteristics of the previous vowel: it is "a" after a preceding back vowel, and "e" after a preceding front vowel, congruent with the vowel harmony of the language. This gives four different versions of the morpheme:- -ta, as in kitapta, "in the book".
- -te, as in kentte, "in the city".
- -da, as in odada, "in the room".
- -de, as in evde, "in the house".
Azerbaijani
The locative case also exists in Azerbaijani. Similarly to Turkish, Azerbaijani employs a system of vowel harmony throughout the language. There are two simple Locative case endings:- -da, as in kitabda, "in the book".
- -də, as in şəhərdə, "in the city".
Kazakh
The locative case also exists in Kazakh. Similarly to Turkish, Kazakh employs a system of vowel harmony throughout the language. There are four simple locative case endings:- -та, as in кітапта,, "in the book".
- -те, as in сөздікте,, "in the dictionary".
- -да, as in қалада,, "in the city".
- -де, as in бөлмеде,, "in the room".
- -нда, as in Ерболдың қаласында,, "in Erbol's city".
- -нде, as in Ерболдың сөздігінде,, "in Erbol's dictionary".
Uyghur
The locative case exists in Uyghur, similarly to Turkish. This gives four different versions of the morpheme:- -da, as in مەيداندا, "in the square".
- -de, as in ئۆيدە, "in the house".
- -ta, as in ئاپتاپتا, "in the sunshine".
- -te, as in دەرستە, "in the lesson".
Uzbek
The locative case exists also in Uzbek. For example, in Uzbek, shahar means 'city', and shaharda means 'in the city', so using -da suffix, the locative case is marked.Uralic languages
Proto-Uralic has been reconstructed with a single "state" or "stationary" locative case, with the ending -na or -nä in accordance with vowel harmony. In many of its descendants, additional locative cases were created by combining these endings with others.Inari Sami
In Inari Sami, the locative suffix is -st.- kielâst, 'in the language'
- kieđast, 'in the hand'
Hungarian
In the Hungarian language, nine such cases exist, yet the name 'locative case' refers to a form used only in a few city/town names along with the inessive case or superessive case. It can also be observed in a few local adverbs and postpositions. It is no longer productive.Examples:
- Győr, Pécs, Vác, Kaposvár and Kaposvárott, Hódmezővásárhely
- itt, ott, imitt, amott, alatt, fölött, között, mögött etc.
Finnic languages
In the Finnic languages, the original Proto-Uralic locative became the essive case, but is still found with a locative meaning in some fossilised expressions such as Finnish kotona "at home". Two new locative cases were created from the old locative:- The inessive case referring to internal location, with the reconstructed Proto-Finnic ending -ssa/*-ssä.
- The adessive case referring to external location, with the reconstructed Proto-Finnic ending -lla/-llä.
The Finnic languages, like some Indo-European languages, do not normally use the verb 'to have' to show possession. The adessive case and the verb 'to be' is used instead, so that the combination literally means "on/at me is...". For example, 'I have a house' in Estonian would be Mul on maja in which mul is in the adessive case, on is the third singular of 'to be', and maja is in nominative, not accusative. So maja is the subject, on is the verb and mul is the indirect object. This could be translated to English as 'At me is a house' or 'A house is at me' or 'There is a house at me'.
Etruscan
The Etruscan language has a locative ending in -thi. E.g. velsnalthi, "at Velznani", with reference to Volsinii.Algonquian languages
Algonquian languages have a locative.Cree
In Cree, the locative suffix is -ihk.- misâskwatômin → misâskwatôminihk = " Saskatoon, SK"
- misâskwatôminiskâ- → misâskwatôminiskâhk = " Saskatoon, SK"
- mînis → mînisihk = " Saskatoon, SK"
Innu-aimun
In Innu-aimun, the locative suffix is -t.- shipu → shipit
- katshishkutamatsheutshuap → katshishkutamatsheutshuapit
- nuitsheuakan → nuitsheuakanit
- nipi → nipit
- utenau → utenat