Hand-book of Volapük/Cases

by Charles E. Sprague

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CASES.

The case endings are the first three vowels,

in the plural

-A.-E.-I.
-AS. -ES. -IS.

For example,

1. Kim? who?
2. Kima? whose? of whom?
3. Kime? to whom?
4. Kimi? whom?

The names of the cases are: „kimfal, kimafal, kimefal, kimifal“ taken from the cases of kim, with the word „fal,“ meaning “case.”

1. The kimfal, who-case or nominativ, is the simple form without any added vowel. It answers the question, “Who?” It is usually translated by the English nominativ.

2. The kimafal, or whose-case, ending in a, is the answer to the question, “Whose?” or “Of whom?” It is usually translated by the posessiv (——'s) or by “of.” Fat mana; the man's father, or the father of the man. The kimafal is sometimes called the genitiv.

3. The kimefal, or to-whom-case, ends in e and answers the question “To whom?” It is usually translated by to with the objectiv; but frequently we omit the to; thus we say “I gave an apple to the boy,” or “I gave the boy and apple.” “Boy” would be in the kimefal as expressing the indirect object of the action. The kimefal is sometimes called the dativ case.

4. The kimifal, or whom-case, ends in i, answers to the question “Whom?” and denotes the direct object. In the sentence just given “apple” would be in the kimifal. It corresponds nearly to the English objectiv. It is sometimes called the accusativ.

SUMMARY OF THE CASES.

As to endings:
1. —2. -a3. -e4. -i.
As to names:
1. Kimfal.2. Kimafal.3. Kimefal.4. Kimifal.
Or, after the classical style:
1. Nominativ.2. Genitiv.3. Dativ.4. Accusativ.
Answering the questions
1. Who?2. Whose? Of whom?3. To whom?4. Whom?
Denoting usually
1. The Subject.2. The Possessor.3. The Indirect Object.4. The Direct Object.
Translated by
1. The Nominativ.2. The Possessiv or of.3. to.4. The Objectiv.

The kimfal, preceded by the interjection „o“ and followed by an exclamation point, is used in addressing a person: „o söl!“ “Sir.” This is sometimes considered as a separate case, called the kimofal or vocativ. It seems, however, better to consider it a nominativ independent, as in English.

„o“ is sometimes omitted in this case.

Prepositions regularly govern the kimfal. Thus, we express “near me” by „nilü ob,“ not „nilü obi“ nor „nilü obe;“ “out of the house,” „se dom,“ not „se doma“ nor „se domi.“

Occasionally, the kimifal will be found after a preposition instead of i at the end of the preposition itself, as will be explained hereafter.

A word used elliptically, like “good-morning,” “thanks,” “my compliments,” is usually in the kimifal, a verb being understood as, [I wish you] good-morning, [I return] thanks, [I present] my compliments.

Directions for translating into Volapük:

1. A word in the nominativ is put in the kimfal. If the nominativ is independent put o before the kimfal.

2. The possessiv is rendered by the kimafal.

3. A word preceded by “of” is generally put in the kimafal.

4. A word (other than a verb in the infinitiv) preceded by “to” is generally put in the kimefal, but not if “to” signifies motion. “I say to you,” „sagob oles“; “I go to you,” „golob al olis,“ or „ols.“

5. A word preceded by any other preposition is usually in the kimfal.

6. A word in the objectiv governed by a verb is put in the kimifal.

The adjectiv has ordinarily no case-ending; but occasionally it takes the case-endings of the noun which it qualifies. This is only done when the adjectiv, being out of its regular place, might be supposed to qualify some other word. Thus, dünan, meaning servant; blod, brother, and fiedik, faithful.

Dünane fiedik bloda; or,
fiedike dünane bloda; or,
dünane bloda fiedike; to the faithful servant of the brother.
Dünane bloda fiedik; or,
dünane fiedika bloda; to the servant of the faithful brother.

But it is better to leave the adjectiv in its usual place, which is after the noun.

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EXERCISE 2.

Declining.—To decline a noun is to give all its cases in regular order. Thus fat is declined:

fat fats

fata fatas

fate fates

fati fatis

Decline all the nouns in the vocabulary of Exercise 1. (Remember to accent the last syllable.)

Express the following in Volapük: Of the fathers, to the boys, of a man, to the dog, the geese.

Vocabulary.

Givom, gives. Blinom, brings.

Logom, sees. Labom, has.

(Why these words end in om will be understood hereafter)

Nam, hand. Düp, hour.

Fut, foot. Mon, money.

Fat, father. Log, eye.

Read in Volapük and translate into English:

Man labom dogi. Man labom dogis tel. Pul labom dogis tel e jipi bal. Dog logom gani. Pul logom dogi. Man givom dogi pule. Pul givom gani mane. Man givom doabis kil pule. Dog labom futis fol. Gan labom futis tel. Man labom futis tel e namis tel. Dog mana labom futis fol. Fat mana givom doabis fol pule. O fat! man givom doab bal pule. Kim blinom dogis mane? Pul blinom dogis mane. Kim labom moni? Fat labom moni.

Answer in Volapük the following questions:

Kim labom dogi?
Kim logom gani?
Kim givom dogi pule?
Kimi man givom pule?
Kime man givom dogi?

The last three questions may be answered by the same words differently emphasized.

Caution.—In translating into Volapük do not overlook the distinction between the subject and the object of the sentence. Put the subject in the kimfal and the object in the kimifal. In the above exercises there is one ERROR in this respect, purposely left uncorrected. Did you notice it?

Express the following sentences in Volapük In each sentence there is at least one word which ought to be put in the kimifal.

Who has the dog? The boy has two dogs [dogs 2]. The man has three dogs. The dog has four feet. The boy has two feet. Who has two hands? The man gives money. The man gives money to the boy (or, the man gives the boy some money; some would not be translated). The boy's father [father of boy] gives a dollar to the man. The year has twelve months. The month has thirty days. The week has seven days. The day has 24 hours. Who brings the goose? Who sees the dog? Who sees the two sheep? To whom does the man give money? (Literally, to whom man gives money? “Does” is untranslatable.) To whom does the boy bring money? The boy brings five dollars to the father.