Editing Romani language (section)

==== Cases ====
Nouns are marked for any of eight cases; [[nominative case|nominative]], [[vocative case|vocative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[genitive case|genitive]], [[dative case|dative]], [[locative case|locative]], [[ablative case|ablative]], and [[instrumental case|instrumental]]. The former three are formed by inflections on the noun itself, but the latter five are marked by adding postpositions to the accusative, used as an "indirect root."<ref name="mluvnice"/>

The vocative and nominative are a bit "outside" of the case system<ref name="seb52">Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 52–54</ref> as they are produced only by adding a suffix to the root.

Example: the suffix for singular masculine vocative of ikeoclitic types is '''{{lang|rom|-eja}}'''.<ref>Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 47</ref>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=31|loc=V2,1}}
*'''{{lang|rom|čhaveja!}}''' - you, boy (or son)!
*'''{{lang|rom|cikneja!}}''' - you, little one!
*'''{{lang|rom|phrala!}}''' - brother!

The oblique cases disregard gender or type: ''{{lang|rom|-te}}'' / ''{{lang|rom|-de}}'' (locative), ''{{lang|rom|-ke}}'' / ''{{lang|rom|-ge}}'' (dative), ''{{lang|rom|-tar/-dar}}'' (ablative), ''{{lang|rom|-sa(r)}}'' (instrumental and [[comitative]]), and ''{{lang|rom|-ker-}}'' / ''{{lang|rom|-ger-}}'' (genitive).{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

Example: The endings for o/i ending nominals are as follows:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! sg. nom.
! sg. acc.
! sg. voc.
! pl. nom.
! pl. acc.
! pl. voc.
|-
! 'boy'<br />(masculine)
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-o}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-es}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-eja}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-e}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-en}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-ale}}''
|-
! 'woman'<br />(feminine)
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-i}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ja}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ije}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ja}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-jen}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ale}}''
|}

Example: the suffix for indirect root for masculine plural for all inherited words is ''{{lang|rom|-en}}'',<ref name="seb52"/>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=43|loc=V4}} the dative suffix is ''{{lang|rom|-ke}}''.<ref>Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 76–78</ref>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=60|loc=V7}}
*'''{{lang|rom|o xuxur}}''' - mushroom
*'''{{lang|rom|xuxuren}}''' - the indirect root (also used as accusative)
*'''{{lang|rom|Nilaj phiras xuxurenge.}}''' – In the summer we go on mushrooms (meaning picking mushrooms)

There are many [[declension class]]es of nouns that decline differently, and show dialectal variation.{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

Parts of speech such as adjectives and the article, when they function as attributes before a word, distinguish only between a nominative and an indirect/oblique case form.<ref>Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 52</ref> In the Early Romani system that most varieties preserve, declinable adjectives had nominative endings similar to the nouns ending in ''-o'' (masculine ''-o'', feminine ''-i'') but the oblique endings ''-e'' in the masculine, ''-a'' in the feminine. The ending ''-e'' was the same regardless of gender. So-called athematic adjectives had the nominative forms ''-o'' in the masculine ''and'' the feminine and ''-a'' in the plural; the oblique has the same endings as the previous group, but the preceding stem changes by adding the element ''-on-''.{{sfn|Matras|2002|p=95}}