Home > Parts of Speech > Nouns > Cases
There are 8 noun cases in Sinhala based on the role of the noun in the sentence.
Remember, the word order in Sinhala is typically Subject-Object-Verb, although it doesn't necessarily have to be. All these sentences follow the SOV word order.
1. Nominative (no marker)
Definition:The subject of the sentence
Example: The girl saw the cat.
කෙල්ල පුසව දැක්කාය
2. Genitive (-ge, -ගේ)
Possession
The girl's cat
කෙල්ලගේ පුසා
3. Accusative (-wuh, -ව)
Direct Object of the verb
The cat saw the girl
4. Agentive (-tuh, -ව)
noun upon which the verb acts
The girl hit the cat
කෙල්ල පුසට ගසයි
5. Instrumental (-en, -ෙන්)
means by which the action is carried out
The girl hit the cat with a stick
කෙල්ල පුසට කෝටුවෙන් ගසයි
Stick = කෝටුව
6. Dative (-tuh, -ට)
Indirect Object
The lady gave the cat to the girl
7. Ablative (-gen + "iwanatuh", -ගේ +ඉවනට )
the location from which something moves
The cat runs away from the girl
8. Locative (postposition: sitiji,සිටියි)
Where the action occurs
The girl is at the house
9. Vocative (unmarked)
Addressee of the sentence
Girl, throw the cat out of the house.
