Ingrammar, theinstructive case is agrammatical case used inFinnish,Estonian, and theTurkic languages.
InFinnish, the instructive case is used to indicate means, manner, instrument, location, or time. It is almost exclusively used infixed expressions, such as inomin silmin 'with one's own eyes'.[1] However, the instructive isproductive forinfinitive verbal constructions to indicate manner, as innauraen 'laughing':He astuivatnauraen sisään 'They stepped in through the doorlaughing'.[2]
In modern Finnish, many of itsinstrumental uses are being superseded by theadessive case, as inminä matkustinjunalla 'I travelledby train'.[citation needed]
The instructive case is only marginally present in Estonian in lexicalized expressions. Language reformers of the 20th century did try to revive it, but with little success.[3]
InTurkish, the suffix-le is used for this purpose; for example,Trenle geldim 'I came via train'.[citation needed]
