Noun Declension

Nouns in Kethic act as the anchors of the sentence. They use an agglutinative structure, where grammatical information is attached to the root in a fixed order.

Noun Formula

[ROOT] + [NUMBER/INFIX] + [CASE]

This order does not change. Number comes before case.

Number

Kethic marks four number categories.

• Singular: the base root of the word

• Dual: exactly two of something

• Formal Plural: plural used in literature, formal speech, noble address, and careful writing

• Informal Plural: casual plural used in everyday speech

Singular

The singular uses the base root.

Examples:

• kath = stone

• man' = person

• dren = fortress

Dual

The dual is used for exactly two of something.

It uses the infix -ir-, placed after the initial consonant cluster.

Examples:

• kath → kirath

• man' → miran'

• dren → driren

Formal Plural

The formal plural uses the suffix -aan.

It appears in formal, literary, ritual, noble, or careful speech.

Examples:

• kath → kathaan

• man' → man'aan

• dren → drenaan

Informal Plural

The informal plural is usually made by lengthening the root vowel, often to oo.

Examples:

• kath → kooth

• man' → moon'

• dren → droon

Case

Kethic has three grammatical cases.

• Nominative: subject or performer of the action

• Accusative: object or target of the action

• Genitive: possession, ownership, or origin

Nominative

The nominative has no suffix.

Examples:

• kath = stone as subject

• man' = person as subject

Accusative

The accusative uses -eth.

Examples:

• kath → katheth

• man' → man'eth

Genitive

The genitive uses -vael.

Examples:

• kath → kathvael

• man' → man'vael

Declension Table

Order of Suffixes

Number must appear before case.

Examples:

• kathaaneth = formal plural accusative, stones as object

• kirathvael = dual genitive, of two stones

• koothvael = informal plural genitive, of stones