11: The Accusative Case

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”:

ሐነጸ፡ንጉሥ፡ሀገረ። ḥanaşa nəguš hagara. The king built the city.	ሐነጹ፡ነገሥት፡አህጉረ። ḥanaşu nagašt ahgura. The kings built the cities.
ረከበት፡በእሲት፡ካህነ። rakabat baʾsit kahəna. The woman found the priest.	ረከባ፡አንስት፡ካህናተ። rakabat anəst kahənata. The women found the priests.
ቦአክሙ፡ቤተ። boʾakəmu béta. You all entered into the house.	ሖረ፡ነቢይ፡ድባረ። ḥora nabiy dəbra. The prophet went to the mountain.

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:

Masculine				Feminine
ዘንተ	zantā	This1		ዛተ	zāta	This1
ዛ	zā-	This2		ዛ	zā-	This2
እሎንተ	əllonta	These		እላንተ	əllānta	These
ውእተ	wəʾəta	That		ይእተ	yəʾəta	That