Case: case
| Values: | Abl | Ben | Ins | Loc | Mal |
In Amharic, Case is a lexical feature of adpositions and
describes the case meaning that the adposition contributes to the phrase
in which it appears.
Not all Amharic adpositions are annotated with a Case feature. Some
adpositions that have the feature are incorporated in a verb
form on the surface; they are treated as separate syntactic words in UD and
may depend directly on the verb stem.
Incorporated prepositions have been also described as applicative morphemes that make the verb agree with a prepositional argument (in addition to the agreement with the subject). This means that the prepositional argument becomes a core object and the valency of the verb is altered.
Ben: benefactive
The benefactive case corresponds to the English preposition for. While in other languages the benefactive case may cover also actions whose result is not advantageous for the person affected, in Amharic this case is used only for good things, and the bad ones are marked differently (see below).
Examples
- አስተናጋጁ ሻይ አመጣላቸውና ጠጡ ። / ‘äsətänagadžu šajə ‘ämäţalačäwəna ţäţu . “The waitress brought them tea and they drank.” (lit. the-host tea brought-she-BEN-them-and drank-they)
Mal: malefactive
Like benefactive, the malefactive denotes an entity (person) that is affected by an action in which it does not participate directly (neither as the actor nor as the patient). However, contrary to the benefactive, here the effect of the action is disadvantageous for the person.
Examples
- ገንዘቡ ጠፋበት ። / gänəzäbu ţäfabätə . “She lost her money.” (lit. the-money lost-she-MAL-him(it))
Loc: locative
Some applicatives (incorporated prepositions) have locative meaning. This type is less frequent and less frequently discussed in the literature than the others.
Examples
- መንገዱ የመጣንበት ነው ። / mänəgädu jämäţanəbätə näwə . “That is where we came from.” (lit. the-way that-came-we-LOC-it it-is)
Ins: instrumental
In some contexts the preposition bä has the interpretation of the instrumental.
Examples
- አስቴር በመጥረጊያው መስኮት ጠረገችበት ። / ‘äsəterə bämäţərägijawə mäsəkotə ţärägäčəbätə . “Esther wiped the window with a broom.” (lit. Esther with-the-broom window wiped-she-INS-her)
Abl: ablative
The preposition ከ / kä signifies the direction from some point.
Examples
- ከሱቅ ሱቅ ሲዞር አስመሸኝ ። / käsuqə suqə sizorə ‘äsəmäšäňə . “He made me wander from store to store.” (lit. from-store store that-he-turns made-he-me)
Case in other languages: [am] [apu] [arr] [bej] [bg] [cs] [el] [eme] [en] [es] [ess] [et] [fi] [ga] [gn] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [ka] [kmr] [koi] [kpv] [ky] [mdf] [myu] [myv] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tl] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urb] [urj]