Lative case
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The lative case is typical of the Uralic languages and it was one of the Proto-Uralic cases. It still exists in many Uralic languages, such as Finnish, Erzya, Moksha, and Meadow Mari.
It is also found in the Dido languages, such as Tsez, Bezhta, and Khwarshi, as well as in the South Caucasian languages, such as Laz or Lazuri (see Laz grammar).
Finnish
In Finnish, the lative case is largely obsolete. It still occurs in various adverbs: alas, alemmas, "down, further down", kauas, kauemmas "(moving) far away, farther away", pois "(going) away", and rannemmas "towards and closer to the shore" (derives from 'ranta' [shore]). The lative suffix is usually -s.
In modern Finnish, it has been superseded by a more complicated system of locative cases and enclitics, and the original -s has merged with another lative or locative suffix and turned into the modern inessive, elative, illative and translative suffixes.
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Meadow Mari
In Meadow Mari, the usage of the lative is restricted compared to that of the illative case. Whereas the illative can be used freely in connection with verbs indicating motion into/to/towards something, the lative occurs typically with only a smaller number of such verbs. Some examples of these are: кодаш kodaš "to remain, to stay", шинчаш šinčaš "to sit down", шочаш šočaš "to be born", сакаш sakaš "to hang up, to hang on", пышташ põštaš "to put, to place", кушкаш kuškaš "to grow (intransitive)". In many cases, both the illative and the lative cases can be used with a verb. Note that some of the verbs, such as шочаш or кушкаш, do not indicate motion towards a place.
Ковам
kova-m
grandmother-POSS.1SG
Тойметсола
Tojmetsola
Toymetsola
ялеш
jal-eš
village-LAT
кресаньык
kresan’õk
peasant
ешеш
ješ-eš
family-LAT
шочын.
šoč-õn
be.born-PST
"My grandmother was born in the village of Toymetsola into a peasant family."
Сумкатым
sumka-t-õm
пӱкенеш
püken-eš
chair-LAT
пыште
põšte
put.IMP
да
da
and
диванеш
divan-eš
couch-LAT
шич.
šič
sit.IMP
"Put your bag on the chair and sit down on the couch."
The lative case in Meadow Mari can also fulfill a few auxiliary functions. It can indicate the cause for an action or under what circumstances the action takes place:
Йоча-влак
joča-vlak
child-PL
йӱреш
jür-eš
rain-LAT
нӧреныт.
nör-en-õt
soak-PST-3PL
"The children got soaked in the rain."
A noun in the lative can express a period of time in which something (repeatedly) takes place:
Тый
tõj
you.SG
кечеш
keč-eš
day-LAT
мыняр
mõn’ar
how.many
гана
gana
time
кочкат?
kočk-at?
eat-2SG
"How many times a day do you eat?"
A noun in the lative can be used to indicate how someone or something is regarded, for what they are held:
Ивук
Ivuk
Ivuk
пийжым
pij-ž-õm
эн
en
most
сай
saj
good
йолташеш
joltaš-eš
friend-LAT
шотла.
šotl-a
consider-3SG
"Ivuk considers his dog his best friend."
A noun in the lative can express by what means something is transferred, relocated, or undergoes a change.
Йошкар-Олашке
Joškar-Ola-ške
Yoshkar-Ola-ILL
автобусеш
avtobus-eš
bus-LAT
толынна.
tol-õn-na
come-PST-1PL
"We came to Yoshkar-Ola by bus."
Тулеш
tul-eš
fire-LAT
кӱктымӧ
kükt-õmö
bake-PASS
пареҥге
pareŋge
potato
пеш
peš
very
тамле.
tamle
tasty
"Potatoes cooked in fire are very tasty."
Tsez
In the Northeast Caucasian languages, such as Tsez, the lative also takes up the functions of the dative case in marking the recipient or beneficent of an action. By some linguists, they are still regarded as two separate cases in those languages although the suffixes are exactly the same for both cases. Other linguists list them separately only for the purpose of separating syntactic cases from locative cases. An example with the ditransitive verb "show" (literally: "make see") is given below:
Кидбā
kidb-ā
girl:OBL-ERG
ужихъор
uži-qo-r
кIетIу
kʼetʼu
биквархо.
b-ikʷa-r-xo
"The girl shows the cat to the boy."
The dative/lative is also used to indicate possession, as in the example below; there is no such verb for "to have":
Кидбехъор
kidbe-qo-r
кIетIу
kʼetʼu
cat:ABS
зовси.
zow-si
"The girl had a cat."
The dative/lative case usually occurs, as in the examples above, in combination with another suffix as poss-lative case; it should not be regarded as a separate case, as many of the locative cases in Tsez are constructed analytically. They are actually a combination of two case suffixes. See Tsez language#Locative case suffixes for further details.
Verbs of perception or emotion (like "see", "know", "love", "want") also require the logical subject to stand in the dative/lative case, note that in this example the "pure" dative/lative without its POSS-suffix is used.
ГIалир
ʻAli-r
Ali-DAT/LAT
ПатIи
Patʼi
йетих.
y-eti-x
"Ali loves Fatima."