Nota accusativi is a grammatical term for a

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...

(an uninflected word) that marks a noun as being in the accusative case. An example is the use of the word ''a'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

before an animate

direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...

: ''Jorge lleva a su gato'' (Jorge carries his cat).

Esperanto

Officially, in Esperanto, the suffix letter "''n''" is used to mark an accusative. But a few modern speakers use the unofficial preposition "''na''" instead of the final "n". * Mi havas domon. * Mi havas na domo. * I have a house.

Hebrew

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

the preposition אֶת ''et'' is used for definite

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

s in the accusative. Those nouns might be used with the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

(ה ''Ha'' "the"). Otherwise, the object is modified by a possessive pronominal suffix, by virtue of being a ''nomen regens'' within a genitive phrasing, or as a proper name. To continue with the Hebrew example: Ani ro'eh et ha-kelev. אני רואה את הכלב
''I see the dog.'' Ani ro'eh et kalbi. אני רואה את כלבי
''I see my dog.'' Ani ro'eh et kelev Dani'el. אני רואה את כלב דניאל
''I see Daniel's dog.'' Ani ro'eh et Dani'el. אני רואה את דניאל
''I see Daniel.'' On the other hand, "I see a dog" is simply "Ani ro'eh kelev." אני רואה כלב This example is obviously a specialized use of the ''nota accusativi'', since Hebrew does not use the nota accusativi unless the noun is in the definitive.

Japanese

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, the particle "を" (pronounced "お" o) is the direct object marker and marks the recipient of an action.

Korean

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

, the postposition "을" (pronounced "eul") or "를" (pronounced "reul") is the direct object marker and marks the recipient of an action. For example: "을" is used when the previous syllable ("면 (myeon)" in this case) is closed, i.e. when it ends with a consonant ("ㄴ (n) in 면 (myeon)" in this case). "를" is used when the previous syllable ("비 (bi)" in this case) is open, i.e. when it ends with a vowel ("l (i) in 비 (bi)" in this case).

Toki Pona

Toki Pona Toki Pona (rendered as ''toki pona'' and often translated as 'the language of good'; ; ) is a philosophical artistic constructed language (philosophical artlang) known for its small vocabulary, simplicity, and ease of acquisition. It was create ...

, the word ''e'' is used to mark accusative.

Other languages

Nota accusativi also exists in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and other languages. In other languages, especially those with grammatical case, there is usually a separate form (for each

declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence, by way of some inflection. Declensions may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and ...

if declensions exist) of the accusative case. The nota accusativi should not be confused with such case forms, as the term ''nota accusativi'' is a separate particle of the accusative case.

References

{{reflist Grammatical cases Parts of speech