In
grammar, the prepositional case (
abbreviated ) and the postpositional case (abbreviated ) - generalised as ''adpositional cases'' - are
grammatical cases that respectively mark the object of a
preposition and a postposition. This term can be used in languages where nouns have a declensional form that appears ''exclusively'' in combination with certain prepositions.
Because the objects of these prepositions often denote locations, this case is also sometimes called the ''
locative
In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
case'':
Czech and
Slovak ''lokál'' (as opposed to ''lokatív''), ''miejscownik'' in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
. This is in concord with its origin: the Slavic prepositional case hails from the Proto-Indo-European locative case (present in
Armenian,
Sanskrit, and
Old Latin, among others). The so-called "second locative" found in modern
Russian has ultimately the same origin.
In
Irish and
Scottish Gaelic, nouns that are the objects of (most) prepositions may be marked with prepositional case, especially if preceded by the definite article. In traditional grammars, and in scholarly treatments of the early language, the term ''
dative
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
'' case is incorrectly used for the prepositional case. This case is exclusively associated with prepositions. However, not all prepositions trigger prepositional case marking, and a small group of prepositions which are termed ''compound'' mark their objects with
genitive case
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
, these prepositions being historically derived from the fusion of a preposition plus a following noun which has become grammaticalised. (Compare English "in front of", "because of".) Note however that many nouns no longer exhibit distinct prepositional case forms in the conversational language.
In the
Pashto language, there also exists a case that occurs only in combination with certain prepositions. It is more often called the "first oblique" than the prepositional.
In many other languages, the term "prepositional case" is inappropriate, since the forms of nouns selected by prepositions also appear in non-prepositional contexts. For example, in English, prepositions govern the objective (or accusative) case, and so do verbs. In
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, prepositions can govern the
genitive
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
,
dative
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
, or
accusative, and none of these cases is exclusively associated with prepositions.
See also
*
Prepositional pronoun
A prepositional pronoun is a special form of a personal pronoun that is used as the object of a preposition.
English does not have a distinct grammatical case that relates solely to prepositional pronouns. Certain genitive pronouns (e.g. a frien ...
(in some languages, a special pronoun form that is used with prepositions and hence could be called the ''prepositional case'' of that pronoun)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prepositional Case
Grammatical cases