The
normal word order in Gəʿəz is: Verb + Subject + Object i.e. “The man reads
books” becomes “Reads the man the books” in Gəʿəz. This word order can be
manipulated to nuance the meaning of the sentence.
The last
vital piece of the puzzle, at this stage, is the accusative case. For those of
you not familiar with declensions, the accusative case marks a word as the
direct object of a transitive verb. Itʾs usually a change in the ending of the
word, similar to how the word he changes to him in
the sentence: “the girl saw him.” In Gəʿəz, the accusative case
also marks the destination of a motion verb (where we would otherwise expect to
find "to" to "into" etc) and sometimes to designate a
period of time adverbially (at night, in the evening etc.) The accusative form,
youʾll notice, closely resembles the construct state:
11.1: For
most singular and plural words, the accusative case is marked with the ending “-a”:
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ሐነጸ፡ንጉሥ፡ሀገረ።
ḥanaşa nəguš hagara.
The king
built the city.
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ሐነጹ፡ነገሥት፡አህጉረ።
ḥanaşu nagašt ahgura.
The kings
built the cities.
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ረከበት፡በእሲት፡ካህነ።
rakabat baʾsit kahəna.
The woman
found the priest.
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ረከባ፡አንስት፡ካህናተ።
rakabat anəst kahənata.
The women
found the priests.
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ቦአክሙ፡ቤተ።
boʾakəmu béta.
You all
entered into the house.
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ሖረ፡ነቢይ፡ድባረ።
ḥora nabiy dəbra.
The prophet
went to the mountain.
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11.2: For
words that end with “-i”, the accusative case is marked with an “-e” ending:
ሰመዕነ፡አነ፡ወንግሥት፡ጸሓፌ።
samaºna ana
wa-nəgəšt şəhafe.
The queen
and I heard the scribe.
ሰአልኩ፡ብእሴ።
saʾalku bəʾse.
I
questioned the man.
11.3: For
words that end with other vowels the accusative ending is not marked.
This also includes the vowel “-e” i.e. if a word is in the construct
state and the object of an action, it will not be
marked for the accusative case:
ገብረ፡አምላከ፡ሰማይ፡አረዊተ፡ምድር።
gabra amlāka
səmay arawita mədr.
The lord
of heaven created the beasts of the earth.
ረእየት፡ወለተ፡ንጉሥ፡ጸሓፌ፡ቤተ፡ንጉሥ።
raʾyat walatta
nəguš şəḥafe beta nəguš.
The
princess saw the scribe of the palace.
11.4:
Proper names i.e. names of people, places, groups, typically do not take an
accusative case ending. In some texts, they take a special ending: “-hā”
መርሐ፡ሙሴ፡እስራኤል፡እምውስተ፡ግብጽ።
marḥa muse əsrael əmwəsta gəbṣ.
Moses led
Israel out of Egypt.
ረእዩ፡መልአክት፡ያዕቆብሃ።
raʾyu malʾakt yaºqobhā.
The
angels saw Jacob.
11.5: And
here are the accusative versions of the demonstrative pronouns:
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Masculine
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Feminine
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ዘንተ
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zantā
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This1
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ዛተ
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zāta
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This1
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ዛ
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zā-
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This2
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ዛ
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zā-
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This2
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እሎንተ
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əllonta
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These
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እላንተ
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əllānta
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These
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ውእተ
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wəʾəta
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That
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ይእተ
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yəʾəta
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That
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