Language/Armenian/Grammar/The-Ablative-Case

The Ablative Case in Armenian

What is the Ablative Case in Armenian?

In Armenian grammar, the ablative case is used to indicate the movement away from a location or a point in time. It is formed by adding the suffix "-ից" (-its) to the stem of the noun.

For example:

• մարդ (mard) - man
• մարդուց (mardits) - from the man

Another example:

• քաղաք (k'aghak') - city
• քաղաքից (k'aghak'its) - from the city

Note that the ablative case is often used in conjunction with prepositions to indicate the specific nature of the movement away from a location or point in time.

The ablative case is used to compose sentences that answer questions “from whom?”, “from what?” “of what?” and “from where?”.

Nouns have a specific form in ablative case. The specific form a noun has in ablative depends on the type of declension it has in genitive.

Formation of the Ablative Case in Armenian

The chart below summarizes the rule for forming the ablative case.

Examples of sentences using the ablative:

1. Դու որտեղի՞ց ես գալիս։ Where are you coming from?
2. Ես գալիս եմ Հրազդանից։ I am coming from Hrazdan (city).
3. Սա ինչի՞ց ես պատրաստում։ What do you make this of?
4. Դա պատրաստում եմ փայտից։ I make it of wood.

When a word ending with a vowel gets an ending which starts with a vowel, a consonant letter is often added. Notice that words which use the "վա" declension, get an additional ն which stands right before the ից ending, converting it to նից. So “from that day” would be “այդ օրվանից” not “այդ օրվաից.”

When adding an ending which starts with a vowel, the last vowel of a word is sometimes dropped. Thus, we get շնից instead of շանից.

Other Uses of the Ablative

The ablative case has many other uses. The following chart presents a few examples:

The ablative case is also used to express “of something” like in “being scared of something.” The following verbs employ “of” in this manner:

զգուշանալ	to beware of, to take precaution against
ամաչել	to be embarrassed of
ձանձրանալ	to be sick of
հոգնել	to be tired of
գանգատվել	to complain of
վախենալ	to be scared of
ուշանալ	to be late of

1. Ծեր մարդիկ վախենում են մահից: Old men are scared of death.
2. Դուք գանգատվում եք հեռախոսից։ You complain of the phone.

Countries, Nationalities, and Language:

Most country names in Armenian end in “-իա” or “-ստան.” The great majority of nationalities are formed by the ending “-ացի” to the country name. Most names of languages are formed by adding “-երեն” to the root stem of the country.

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⇒ Other Cases of Nouns

Sources

• https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/handbook_of_armenian.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablative_case#:~:text=The%20modern%20Armenian%20ablative%20has,derives%20from%20the%20classical%20plural.
• http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Language_Lessons_Chapter_2

Other Lessons

• This, That and the Other One
• Word Order
• Time
• Prepositions and Postpositions
• Indefinite Pronouns
• Questions
• There Is and There Are
• Imperative Mood
• Causative Verbs