16 



THE NOUN. 



[Extra No. 



5. Inflection of nouns. 



The suffixes used in forming the different cases are a, ar, egh, m, a«ra 

 and ani, but these suffixes are put to a great variety of uses which will be 

 considered under the different cases. 



The most usual inflection is that in a. It may be used us an instru- 

 mental or nominative with verbs in a past tense, as an accusative, ablative, 

 and locative, its place is to a certain extent taken in the plui-al by the 

 suffix ani, the use of which is however more restricted. 



(1) The Nominative. The nominative of all intransitive verbs, and 

 of transitive verbs in the present and future is the simple uninflected noun. 

 With transitive verbs in tenses derived from the past participle the instru- 

 mental construction is employed, the inflected form in a being used for the 

 agent while the object is left uninflected. 



(2) Genitive. In most cases the simple base is used with a genitive 

 signification, but if greater precision is required the suffix egh is used, as 



Kn mard baehh, that man's son ; but hawe bachh anhi mardey/j en, 

 he is the son of that man. 



(3) Dative. The termination ar or ar is employed for the dative, as : 

 Mardumar n^gTi&na da^Aa-i, he gave the man bread. 



(4) Accusative. The most usual ending of the accusative is a, but 

 ar is frequently used, especially when emphasis is required or to distinguish 

 a nearer object from a more remote ; e. g., ma Balochiya roti-ar na_^/ian 

 khanuw. In Balochi we call " roti" naghw.. 



The uninflected noun is also sometimes used for the accusative. 



(5) Ablative, Locative. The inflected form in a is used with the 

 prepositions go " with," azh " from," pha " on," maw " in," gwar " in 

 possession of," dan "into," and avr "in, uj^on," which alone precede the 

 noun. It also expresses without a preposition position, motion to or from 

 time when. The meaning from is often implied without the use of the 

 preposition azh ; e. g., 



Kn ki khai chi ka-dJiivi Whatever thing comes from God 



Bahr-khanani go hadlnri That I will divide with my heart. 



Har shakha hazar shikh hitJia, On every branch a thousand branche 



sprang. 



Har sha^Zta wa^7«i gul biif7«a. On every branch its own flower. 



Plural. 



(6) . A'h. The termination an is used for the nominative and accusa 

 tive plural, but the singular forms are perhaps more frequently use 

 With numerals the singular is abnost exclusively used. 



a«ra. The plural dative in inxi is also of rare occurrence, the singula 

 being more frequently used. 



