Cases
Dothraki 1
Course 1 · Chapter 4 · Cases
English tells you who does what to whom mainly by word order: "the khal sees the rider" is not "the rider sees the khal". Dothraki also uses endings on the noun, called cases. This chapter gives the five cases, what each one is for and the endings you will meet most often. It builds on the animate and inanimate split from Chapter 3.
The Five Cases
| Case | What it marks | English clue |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | the subject; the dictionary form | "the rider" doing something |
| Accusative | the object of a verb | "sees the rider" |
| Genitive | possession and "of" | "the rider's", "of the rider" |
| Allative | movement towards | "to", "towards" |
| Ablative | movement away from | "from", "out of" |
Endings on Inanimate Nouns
For inanimate nouns the accusative is simply the bare stem, the same as the nominative. The other endings, taken from the paradigm of ato "one", are:
| Case | Form | Ending |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ato | (none) |
| Accusative | ato | (none: same as nominative) |
| Genitive | ati | -i replaces the final vowel |
| Allative | ataan | -aan |
| Ablative | atoon | -oon |
Endings on Animate Nouns
Animate nouns have a separate plural, so the table has two columns. The animate accusative singular is formed with -es. For the plural accusative one source gives -is; the plural allative and ablative are -ea and -oa. The model noun below is vekhikh, used as an example stem on the Dothraki wiki.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Accusative | vekhikhes | vekhikhis |
| Genitive | vekhikhi | (see the note below) |
| Allative | (like the inanimate: -aan) | vekhikhea |
| Ablative | (like the inanimate: -oon) | vekhikhoa |
Cases on Pronouns
Pronouns take the same kind of endings. Here are the allative and ablative forms of the main pronouns, from the pronoun table:
| Pronoun | Allative ("to") | Ablative ("from") |
|---|---|---|
| I (first person singular) | anhaan "to me" | anhoon "from me" |
| we | kishaan "to us" | kishoon "from us" |
| you (singular) | yeraan "to you" | yeroon "from you" |
| you (plural) | yerea | yeroa |
| he, she, it | maan | moon |
You can already see the same endings: -aan "towards" and -oon "from". Chapter 5 gives the full pronoun system, including the genitive forms that become "my", "your" and so on.
Reading a Short Phrase
Return to the phrase from Chapter 1: shekh ma shieraki anni "my sun and stars". The last word, anni, is the genitive of anha "I" ("of me"), which is exactly the genitive function you have just learned. Chapter 5 gives the full set of genitive forms.
Hands-On Exercises
Name the five Dothraki cases and say what each one marks. Then say which of them is shown by no ending at all on an inanimate noun.
📄 View solutionUsing the pattern of vekhikh, build the genitive, allative and ablative of the invented consonant-final practice noun dorak (not a real word). Then translate anhaan and anhoon.
📄 View solutionWhy does this course teach five cases and not six? And what is wrong with saying that every form in this chapter is official Dothraki?
📄 View solutionChapter 4 Quick Reference
- Five cases: nominative (subject), accusative (object), genitive (of), allative (towards), ablative (from)
- Inanimate: accusative = bare stem; genitive -i; allative -aan; ablative -oon
- Animate: accusative singular -es, plural -is; plural allative -ea, plural ablative -oa
- Pronouns: anhaan "to me", anhoon "from me", kishaan / kishoon "to / from us", yeraan / yeroon "to / from you"
- Fan-maintained sources differ on some details; check the dictionary