Ingrammar, thelocative case (/ˈlɒkətɪv/LOK-ə-tiv;abbreviatedLOC) is agrammatical 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 thelative andablative case.
TheProto-Indo-European language had a locative case expressing "place where", an adverbial function. The endings are reconstructed as follows:
Singular
Plural
Athematic
*-i,*-Ø (no ending)
*-su
Thematic
*-e(y),*-oy
*-oysu
In most later Indo-European languages, the locative case merged into other cases (oftengenitive ordative) in form and/or function, but some daughter languages retained it as a distinct case. It is found in:
(Mostly uncommon, archaic or literary) use in certain modernIndic languages (such asBangla andMarathi—in which, however, a separateablative case has disappeared)
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. InClassical 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.
Declension
Old Latin
Classical Latin
Merger
1st
-āi
-ae
Merged with dative/genitive.
2nd
-ei
-ī
Merged with genitive.
3rd
-ei, -e
-ī, -e
Originally like the dative, but gradually replaced with the ablative.
4th
-ī, -ibus, -ubus
Gradually replaced with the ablative.
Because the locative was already identical to the ablative (which had a "location" meaning as well) 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 seconddeclension, 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 formsrūrī andrūre may be encountered.
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 forSicily,Sardinia,Corsica,Crete, andCyprus.Britannia was also considered to be a "large island". There are a few nouns that use the locative instead of a preposition:domus becomesdomī (at home),rūs becomesrūrī (in the country),humus becomeshumī (on the ground),militia becomesmilitiae (in military service, in the field), andfocus becomesfocī (at the hearth; at the center of the community).
The first declension locative is by far the most common, because so many Roman place names were first declension, such asRoma, Rome, and therefore use the same form as the genitive and dative:Romae, at Rome, andHiberniae, inIreland. A few place-names were inherently plural, even though they are a single city, e.g.Athēnae,Athens andCūmae, Cuma. These plural names also use the form similar to the dative and ablative:Athēnīs, at Athens, andCūmīs, at Cumae. There are also a number of second declension names that could have locatives, e.g.Brundisium,Brindisi;Eborācum,York; with locativesBrundisiī, at Brindisi;Eborācī, at York. The locative cannot express being located at multiple locations; plural forms only exist because certain proper names such asAthēnae happen to be plural. "He is at home" can be expressed by "(is) domi est" using the locative, but "They are at their (individual and separate) homes" cannot be expressed by the locative.
InAncient Greek, the locative merged with theProto-Indo-European dative, so that the Greek dative represents the Proto-Indo-European dative,instrumental, and locative. The dative with the preposition ἐνen "in" and the dative of time (e.g.,τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ,tēî trítēi hēmérāi, which means "on the third day") are examples of locative datives. Some early texts, in particular Homer, retain the locative in some words (for exampleἠῶθεν,ēôthen – at dawn,Iliad 24.401).
The locative case had merged with the dative in early Germanic times and was no longer distinct inProto-Germanic or in any of its descendants. The dative, however, contrasts with theaccusative case, which is used to indicate motion toward a place (it has anallative meaning). 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.
The locative case in Sanskrit is usually known as the "seventh case" (saptami vibhakti). It is the last out of the main seven cases (vibkhatis) in the language. Along with "in", "on", "at", "or", and "by", the locative case is also generally used with "among" in Sanskrit.
AmongSlavic 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 (except for Bulgarian and Macedonian), although Russian split it (in the singular of a group of masculine nouns) into locative andprepositional, andSerbo-Croatian uses almost the same set of endings (sometimes with different intonation) as for thedative. The ending depends on whether the word is a noun or an adjective (among other factors).
InOld Church Slavonic, the locative is mostly used with a preposition. Some uses of independent locatives remain, mostly in expressions of time, such aszimě "in winter",polu nošti "at midnight". The locative also occurs as the complement of a handful of verbs, such askŭto prikosnǫ sę rizaxŭ moixŭ? "who touched my garments?". InOld East Slavic, moreover, place names are regularly used in the locative without a preposition.
TheCzech language uses the locative case to denote location (v České republice, 'in the Czech Republic'), but as in theRussian language, the locative case may be used after certain prepositions with meanings other than location (o Praze, 'about Prague',po revoluci, 'after the revolution'). Cases other than the locative may be used to denote location in Czech as well (U Roberta, 'at Robert's house' -genitive, ornad stolem, 'above the table' -instrumental).
The locative case (commonly called the 6th case) is the only one of the 7 Czech cases which cannot be used without a preposition. It is used with these prepositions:
v (v místnosti = in the room,v Praze = in Prague). Using this preposition with the accusative case has a different meaning (v les = to the forest) and is regarded as archaic
na (na stole = on the desk,to záleží na tobě = it depends on you). The use of this preposition with the accusative case has a different meaning (na stůl = to the desk).
po (in different meanings: past, after, on, to, for, by). This preposition takes the accusative case in some meanings.
při (by, nearby, with)
o (about, of, on, for, at, during, by, with, over, against, using). This preposition with the accusative case has a different use and meaning (jedná se o to ≠ jedná se o tom).
If the preposition uses both accusative and locative case, the accusative is used for direction (where to) while locative for pure location (where). In case of the prepositiono (about), this distinction can be very subtle and untranslatable, or depending on the controlling verb.
The locative form of substantives in the singular is mostly identical with the dative case (3rd case). Possible endings for locative case:
-u (hard masculines:o pánu, hradu, hard neuters:městu)
-i (soft masculines:o muži, stroji, soudci, some neuters:moři, some feminines:růži, písni, kosti)
TheSlovak language uses the locative case to denote location (na Slovensku, 'in Slovakia'), but as in theRussian language, the locative case may be used after certain prepositions with meanings other than location (o Bratislave, 'about Bratislava,po revolúcii, 'after the revolution'). Cases other than the locative may be used to denote location in Slovak as well (U Milana, 'at Milan's house' -genitive, ornad stolom, 'above the table' -instrumental). 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 (except masculine animate), e.g.stôl → o stole, láska → v láske, mesto → po meste.
-u Used for:
Masculine inanimate singular nouns ending in avelar consonant, e.g.hliník → o hliníku, mozog → v mozgu, bok → na boku, vzduch → vo vzduchu, or aglottal consonant, e.g.hloh → po hlohu
All neuter singular nouns ending in-kV, -chV, -iV, -uV (V beingo orum), 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 (c, č, ď, dz, dž, j, ľ, ň, š, ť, ž), e.g.ovládač ("remote") →o ovládači ("about the remote"),tŕň → v tŕni
Feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant or a soft consonant followed bya, e.g.vôňa → o vôni,kosť ("bone") →o kosti ("about bone")
Feminine nouns ending in -ia or -ea, e.g.Mária → na Márii, Andrea → v Andrei
Neuter nouns ending in -e or -ie, e.g.srdce → pri srdci
-í used for neuter nouns ending in -ie, 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 (being most names in -i, -y etc.), 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 ("women") →o ženách ("about women"). There are variations:
-ach used when the preceding vowel is long or a diphthong (ia, ie, iu, ô), 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 ("small shops") →v malých obchodoch ("in small shops"), with the variation:
-ich / -ych when the preceding vowel is long:rýchle autá ("fast cars") →o rýchlych autách ("about fast cars")
See alsoSlovak declension for declension patterns for all Slovak grammatical cases, including locative.
Some masculine singular nouns, e.g.syn → synu, dom → domu, bok → boku, brzuch → brzuchu, worek → worku*, nastrój → nastroju*, deszcz → deszczu, miś → misiu, koń → koniu,Poznań → Poznaniu,Wrocław → Wrocławiu,Bytom → Bytomiu** [* In a few cases, a vowel change may occur, e.g. ó → o, or a vowel may be dropped. ** Final consonants in Wrocław and Bytom used to be soft, which is still reflected in suffixed forms, hence -i-.]
All neuter singular nouns ending in-e, e.g.miejsce → miejscu, życie → życiu
In the Russian language, the locative case has largely lost its use as an independent case and become theprepositional case, which is used only after apreposition. The latter is not always used to indicate location, while other cases may also be used to specify location (e.g. the genitive case, as inу окна,u okna ("by the window")). Statements such asв библиотеке,v biblioteke ("in the library") orна Аляске,na Aljaske ("inAlaska"), demonstrate the use of the prepositional case to indicate location. However, this case is also used after the preposition "о" ("about") as inо студенте,o studente ("about the student").
Nevertheless, approximately150 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,ležať v snegú (to lie in the snow), butдумать о сне́ге,dumať o snége (to think about snow). Other examples areрай,raj (paradise); "в раю́",дым,dym (smoke); andв дыму́,v dymú. 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 thesoft 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,na dverí ("on the door"), butпри две́ри,pri dvéri ("by the door"). 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.[1][2][3]
With some words, such asдом,dom (house), the second locative form is used only in certain idiomatic expressions, while the prepositional is used elsewhere. For example,на дому́,na domu ("at the house" or "at home") would be used to describe activity that is performed at home, whileна до́ме ("on the house") would be used to specify the location of the roof.
TheUkrainian language uses the locative case to denote locations. For example, "A pen is on a book" would be written as "Ручка на книжці,Ruchka na knyzhtsi" in the locative.[4] Ukrainian locative and instrumental cases usually go with apreposition, unlike the other fourcases in Ukrainian grammar, that may generally be employed without prepositions. The most common locative prepositions areна,na, 'on', andв, у, уві, ув,v, u, uvi, uv, 'in'; usage of these four different variations of "in" depends on whether the next word starts with aconsonant orvowel.[5]
The locative is used to indicate static spatial relationships and to talk about thoughts, discussions and nuanced ideas.[4][6] It is distinguished from dynamic spatial relationships,[6] which indicate action or motion,[4][6] and are expressed in theaccusative case in Ukrainian and most other East Slavic languages.[6] The adlative "goal function", which in most East Slavic grammars is prescribed to be expressed in accusative (for example,Ми поклали книжку на стіл,My poklaly knyzhku na stil, 'We laid a book on the table'), may in Ukrainian sometimes be expressed in locative instead (Ми поклали книжку на столі,My poklaly knyzhku na stoli, 'We laid a book on the table'; the difference in meaning cannot be translated into English), but it is only considered acceptable under certain circumstances.[7]
Ukrainian, unlike Russian, still retains a fully functional locative case. However, during theRussification of Soviet Ukraine between the 1930s and the 1980s, several expressions in the Ukrainian language using the locative case, such as "на адресу,na adresu, 'at the address'", were changed by Soviet linguistic policies, in this instance to agenitive case to "за адресою,za adresoyu", in order to conform to standard Russian "за адресом,za adresom".[8] On the other hand, post-Soviet users ofSurzhyk may mistakenly be employing the locative Russian form, instead of theinstrumental Ukrainian form, in a sentence like "The book is written in English":[9]
StandardUkrainian:Книга написана англійською мовою,romanized: Knyha napysana anhlijs'koju movoju,lit. 'book written English language [instrumental case]'[9]
Surzhyk form:Книга написана на англійській мові,romanized: Knyha napysana na anhlijs'kij movi, 'lit. 'book written on English language [locative case]'[9]
StandardRussian:Книга написана на английском языке,romanized: Kniga napisana na anglijskom jazyke,lit. 'book written on English language [locative case]'[9]
In the Eastern standard of theArmenian language non-animate nouns take-ում (-um) for the locative. Animate nouns (referring to persons especially) do not take the locative.
The locative case exists inTurkish, as the suffix generally specified by "-DA". For instance, in Turkish,okul means 'the school', andokulda 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" aftervoiceless consonants, but "d" elsewhere. The vowel changes depending on the phonetic characteristics of the previous vowel: it is "a" after a precedingback vowel, and "e" after a precedingfront vowel, congruent with thevowel harmony of the language. This gives four different versions of the morpheme:
The locative case also exists inAzerbaijani. Similarly to Turkish, Azerbaijani employs a system of vowel harmony throughout the language. There are two simple Locative case endings:
The locative case also exists inKazakh. Similarly to Turkish, Kazakh employs a system of vowel harmony throughout the language. There are four simple locative case endings:
-та, as inкітапта,kitapta, "in the book".
-те, as inсөздікте,sözdikte, "in the dictionary".
-да, as inқалада,qalada, "in the city".
-де, as inбөлмеде,bölmede, "in the room".
Furthermore, Kazakh nouns frequently utilize apossessive affix to indicate a relationship between the object and its owner. When forming the locative case of a noun in the presence of a possessive affix, there are two possible endings:
-нда, as inЕрболдың қаласында,Erboldıñ qalasında, "in Erbol's city".
-нде, as inЕрболдың сөздігінде,Erboldıñ sözdiginde, "in Erbol's dictionary".
The locative case exists also inUzbek. For example, in Uzbek,shahar means 'city', andshaharda means 'in the city', so using-da suffix, the locative case is marked.
Proto-Uralic has been reconstructed with a single "state" or "stationary" locative case, with the ending*-na or*-nä in accordance withvowel harmony. In many of its descendants, additional locative cases were created by combining these endings with others.
In theHungarian language, nine such cases exist, yet the name 'locative case' refers to a form (-t/-tt) used only in a few city/town names along with theinessive case orsuperessive case. It can also be observed in a few local adverbs andpostpositions. It is no longer productive.
In theFinnic languages, the original Proto-Uralic locative became theessive case, but is still found with a locative meaning in some fossilised expressions such as Finnishkotona "at home". Two new locative cases were created from the old locative:
The inessive case referring to internal location (being inside), with the reconstructedProto-Finnic ending*-ssa/*-ssä (from earlier*-s-na/*-s-nä).
Theadessive case referring to external location (being on, at), with the reconstructed Proto-Finnic ending*-lla/*-llä (from earlier*-l-na/*-l-nä).
These endings still survive as such in several Finnic languages including Finnish, but have been reduced to-s and-l in Estonian and some others.
The Finnic languages, like some Indo-European languages (Latin, Russian, Irish), do not normally use the verbto have to show possession. The adessive case and the verbto be is used instead, so that the combination literally means "on/at me is...". For example,I have a house in Estonian would beMul on maja in whichmul is in the adessive case,on is the third singular ofto be (is), andmaja is in nominative, not accusative. Somaja is the subject,on is the verb andmul is the indirect object. This could be translated to English asAt me is a house orA house is at me orThere is a house at me.
