Inflection of words according to number, gender, and/or case
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Declension" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Grammatical features
Related to nouns
Animacy
Case
Dative construction
Dative shift
Quirky subject
Nominative
Comitative
Instrumental
Classifier
Measure word
Construct state
Countability
Count noun
Mass noun
Collective noun
Definiteness
Gender
Genitive construction
Possession
Suffixaufnahme (case stacking)
Noun class
Number
Singular
Dual
Plural
Singulative-Collective-Plurative
Specificity
Universal grinder
Related to verbs
Associated motion
Clusivity
Conjugation
Evidentiality
Modality
Person
Telicity
Mirativity
Tense–aspect–mood
Grammatical aspect
Lexical aspect (Aktionsart)
Mood
Tense
Voice
General features
Affect
Boundedness
Comparison (degree)
Egophoricity
Pluractionality (verbal number)
Honorifics (politeness)
Polarity
Reciprocity
Reflexive pronoun
Reflexive verb
Syntax relationships
Argument
Transitivity
Valency
Branching
Serial verb construction
Traditional grammar
Predicate
Subject
Object
Adjunct
Predicative
Semantics
Contrast
Mirativity
Thematic relation
Agent
Patient
Topic and Comment
Focus
Volition
Veridicality
Phenomena
Agreement
Polypersonal agreement
Declension
Empty category
Incorporation
Inflection
Markedness
v
t
e
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 determiners to indicate number (e.g. singular, dual, plural), case (e.g. nominative case, accusative case, genitive case, dative case), gender (e.g. masculine, neuter, feminine), and a number of other grammatical categories. Meanwhile, the inflectional change of verbs is called conjugation.
Declension occurs in many of the world's languages. It is an important aspect of language families like Quechuan (i.e., languages native to the Andes), Indo-European (e.g. German, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Slavic, Sanskrit, Latin, Ancient and Modern Greek, Albanian, Romanian, Kurdish, Classical and Modern Armenian), Bantu (e.g. Zulu, Kikuyu), Semitic (e.g. Modern Standard Arabic), Finno-Ugric (e.g. Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian), and Turkic (e.g. Turkish).
Old English was an inflectional language, but largely abandoned inflectional changes as it evolved into Modern English. Though traditionally classified as synthetic, Modern English has moved towards a mostly analytic language.
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...
Latin declension is the set of patterns according to which Latin words are declined—that is, have their endings altered to show grammatical case, number...
The second declension is a category of nouns in Latin and Greek with similar case formation. In particular, these nouns are thematic, with an original...
In Russian grammar, the system of declension is elaborate and complex. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, demonstratives, most numerals and other particles are...
Lithuanian has a declension system is similar to declension systems in ancient Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit, Latin or Ancient Greek. It is...
The third declension is a category of nouns in Latin and Greek with broadly similar case formation — diverse stems, but similar endings. Sanskrit also...
This page describes the declension of nouns, adjectives and pronouns in Slovene. For information on Slovene grammar in general, see Slovene grammar. This...
The declension of nouns in Latin that are borrowed from Greek varies significantly between different types of nouns, though certain patterns are common...
comparison of the IPA system with those used in learners' materials. The declension of Irish nouns, the definite article, and the adjectives is discussed...
following declensions: Class I is derived from the Latin first declension. Class Ia mostly comes from Latin feminine nouns in the third declension. Class...
Portuguese (endonym: português or, in full, língua portuguesa) is a Western Romance language of the Indo-European language family originating from the...
second-declension and third-declension. They are so-called because their forms are similar or identical to first- and second-declension and third-declension...
The first declension is a category of declension that consists of mostly feminine nouns in Ancient Greek and Latin with the defining feature of a long...
Czech declension is a complex system of grammatically determined modifications of nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals in Czech, one of the Slavic...
German declension is the paradigm that German uses to define all the ways articles, adjectives and sometimes nouns can change their form to reflect their...
called a declension. There are five grammatical cases in Gothic with a few traces of an old sixth instrumental case. A complete declension consists of...
language, nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals are inflected in six declensions. There are seven cases: nominative (nominatīvs) genitive (ģenitīvs) dative...
n-stem nouns in Old English, but joined the weak declension in Middle English. Nouns of the strong declension are inherited from the other Old English noun...
characterised by a fairly regular system of inflection (conjugation and declension) as well as word formation. Certain regular or common alternations apply...
second-declension nouns (ending in -ος) and third-declension nouns. Second-declension masculine nouns have a regular vocative ending in -ε. Third-declension...
Classical Latin textbooks the declensions are named from the letter ending the stem or First, Second, etc. to Fifth. A declension may be illustrated by a paradigm...
Greek declension may refer to: Declensions in Ancient Greek grammar Declensions in Modern Greek grammar This disambiguation page lists articles associated...
forms that a noun will take for each case and number is determined by the declension that it follows. The five cases of Ancient Greek each have different functions...
inflections, traditionally called the "strong declension" and the "weak declension." Together, both declensions contain many different inflections, though...
The Attic declension is a group of second-declension nouns and adjectives in the Attic dialect of Ancient Greek, all of whose endings have long vowels...
identifiable declension classes, or groups of nouns with a similar pattern of case inflection or declension. Sanskrit has six declension classes, whereas...
participles, prepositions and postpositions, numerals, articles, etc., as declension. An inflection expresses grammatical categories with affixation (such...
the same word pattern is called a declension. There are five grammatical cases in Old High German. A complete declension consists of five grammatical cases...
case declension paradigms for nouns are shown below. Some masculine words ending in -ā (like pitā and kartā) retain 'ā' throughout their declension, only...
Global Information