Lesson №1. Noun. Declension by cases.
Lekanta №1. Sjunt. Létitå

What is a noun? Noun is a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun). For example: aveļ (table), lo (book), posta (bird).

To begin with, in Noviaļ such a notion as 'grammatical gender' is absent. That is, for example, such words as "dog" or "cat" in the Russian language are of feminine gender, in Noviaļ these words are not referred to any of them. It should also be noted that nouns do not have any definite endings, which makes it sometimes hard to detect them.
Since there is no gender, there is such a thing like relation to gender (HE 'ev' and SHE 'ìja'). And this relation is applied only to those nouns describing living creatures. For inanimate objects, the demonstrative pronoun "de" (it) is used. For example:

De ìt aveļ - It's a table. De ìt lo - It's a book.

But also for simply pointing out the fact of the existence of an object, "de" can also be used with animated objects.
De ìt posta - It is a bird.

Among other things, nouns are declined by cases. There are 5 cases to observe:


1) Nominative - NEALUS - marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments. Generally, the noun "that is doing something" is in the nominative, and the nominative is often the form listed in dictionaries.

2) Genitive - NEÌTALUS - marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun. A genitive can serve purposes other than indicating relationships other than one noun's relationship to another noun; for example, some verbs may feature arguments in the genitive case, and it may also have adverbial uses. It is also to some extent similar to the English Possessive Case.

3) Dative - DELUS - indicates, among other uses, the noun to which something is given. In these examples, the dative marks what would be considered the indirect object of a verb in English.

4) Instrumental - SORKELUS - indicates that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. The noun may be either a physical object or an abstract concept.

5) Local - LAERUS - indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by".

Let's study the declination in the singular. Most nouns obey this declension! We differentiate two types of declension: first - nouns ending in consonant, second - nouns ending in vowel. They are not utterly different from each other.

If words end in CONSONANT: REGLAB - Shop Nealus. reglab Neìtalus. reglaba <- ending is "а" here Delus. reglabů Sorkelus. reglabo Laerus. reglabé / reglabvà / reglabdes

If words end in VOWEL: GARVA - Planet Nealus. garva Neìtalus. garvi <- ending is "i" here Delus. garvi <- ending is "i" here Sorkelus. garvø <- ending is "ø" here Laerus. garvé / garvavà / garvades

Now let's have a look at declension for the nouns in plural!

If words end in CONSONANT: REGLAB - Shop Nealus. reglabå Neìtalus. reglabi <- ending is "i" here Delus. reglabom Sorkelus. reglabama Laerus. reglabå / reglabvà / reglabdes

If words end in VOWEL: GARVA - Planet Nealus. garvå Neìtalus. garvi <- ending is "i" here Delus. garvom Sorkelus. garvoma <- ending is "oma" here Laerus. garvå / reglabåvà / reglabådes

Locative case difficulties

The fact is that the locative case includes several spatial functions, thence depending on its function, the ending also changes. As we studied above, this case has several versions of words. Why?
If we ask different questions like WHERE? TO WHERE? or FROM WHERE?, the case ending will change as well.
WHERE? - ending "- é ": at home - honiscé
TO WHERE? - ending "- và ": home - honiscvà [the last syllable is stressed]
FROM WHERE? - ending "-des": from home - honiscdes [the last syllable is stressed]

Examples:
- We thought he is (WHERE?) in the street - Nerr jist, ìħ ìt placé .
- I'm going (TO WHERE?) to the street - Åm optrem placvà .
- She returns (FROM WHERE?) from school - Ìja spattì bringvigdes .

Interchange of consonants in Locative Case

This means that the final letter of the word is changed to another for euphony. The rule applies to singular nouns only. Consider.

t => č: boriot (measure) [boriːot] => boriočé (in measure) [borio:che]
r => ħ: vrer (brother) [vrær] => vreħé (in brother) [vræje]
z => ħ: foz (power) [foz] => foħé (in power) [fo:je]
s => š: klos (ball) [klo:s] => klošé (in ball) [klo:stze]
h => sc: teah (dream) [тЭах] => teascé (in dream) [tea:she]
sk => š: tesk (grief) [тэск] => tešé (in grief) [tæ:stze]

Exception:

If the noun ends in -K, then in Nominative and Locative cases plular form the letter is going to change to -Č. Let's see the example:

DERK - Fireplace И.п. derčå Р.п. derki Д.п. derkom Т.п. derkama М.п. derčå / derčåvà / derčådes

VACEK - Child И.п. vacečå (children) Р.п. vaceki Д.п. vacekom Т.п. vacekama М.п. vacečå / vacečåvà / vacečådes

Attention! In the dictionary, when searching for words, you can immediately find their declination by cases! Therefore, you should not worry, and if you are not sure, check the dictionary.

Important rule: If a noun is preceded by any preposition, the noun cases ARE NOT used. Pronouns are the exception from the rule.