oblique case
Non-nominative grammatical form
In grammar, an oblique case is any grammatical case other than the nominative (subject) case.
English barely preserves this distinction—only in pronouns like him, her, them, and whom, which serve as objects rather than subjects.
Languages with richer case systems have multiple oblique cases for different grammatical relationships.
Case for direct objects
- dativeCase showing indirect object
- genitiveCase expressing ownership
- locativeCase indicating place
- instrumentalServing as means
prepositional · vocative · partitive · benefactive · illative · objective · possessive
Noun form variation
- inflectionWord form alteration
- suffixationAdding endings to words
- agreementShared position between parties
- noun phraseMulti-word noun construction
pronoun · stem · affix · number · gender · syncretism · paradigm
Tangible entity or aim
- complementWhat makes complete
- adverbialFunctioning as manner-marker
- indirect objectReceiver of direct object
- direct objectVerb's immediate recipient
prepositional phrase · noun phrase · government · valency · transitivity · predicate · subcategorization · adjunct
accusative
Case for direct objects
instrumental · prepositional · vocative · partitive · benefactive · illative · objective · possessive
declension
Noun form variation
- inflectionWord form alteration
- suffixationAdding endings to words
- agreementShared position between parties
noun phrase · pronoun · stem · affix · number · gender · syncretism · paradigm
object
Tangible entity or aim
- complementWhat makes complete
- adverbialFunctioning as manner-marker
- indirect objectReceiver of direct object
direct object · prepositional phrase · noun phrase · government · valency · transitivity · predicate · subcategorization · adjunct · dependent
- grammardeclension, pronouns, adjectives, conjugation, nouns
- Declensionnominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative
- grammatical casesnominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative
- noun casesnominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative
- noun grammarnoun, noun phrase, case, declension, noun clause