Cases: what they are and when to use which
A case is a form of a word that shows its role in the sentence. Albanian has five cases. But a definite singular noun usually has only three different endings: the genitive, dative and ablative look the same.
The five cases
| case | question | example | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative (emërore) | who? what? | Libri është këtu. | The book is here. |
| accusative (kallëzore) | whom? what? | Lexoj librin. | I am reading the book. |
| genitive (gjinore) | whose? | faqja e librit | the page of the book |
| dative (dhanore) | to whom? | I jap librin Anës. | I give the book to Ana. |
| ablative (rrjedhore) | from where? near what? | afër shtëpisë | near the house |
When to use which case
Nominative — the subject, and the form after nga "from" and te "to, at": nga qyteti, te shoku. Accusative — the direct object, and the form after me, në, për, pa, mbi, nën: me shokun, për ty. Genitive — possession, with a linking article i/e/të/së in front: libri i shokut. Dative — to whom; it is almost always repeated by a short pronoun form before the verb: I jap librin Anës. Ablative — after prej, afër, larg, pas, para, gjatë, rreth and other prepositions.
Fewer forms than cases
The genitive is the dative form with an article in front: librit (dat.) → e librit in faqja e librit. The ablative singular is the same as the dative: afër librit. So libri has three singular forms: libri (nom.), librin (acc.), librit (gen., dat., abl.). Feminine nouns work the same way: vajza, vajzën, vajzës.