Indo-Semitic

Indo-Semitic preserves the PSem dual and cases, unlike other Semitic languages. Notably, it shifted the head-initial grammar of Proto-Semitic to a more agglutinative and head-final grammar.

Nouns

Nouns have two genders, three numbers (the dual was retained from Proto-Semitic), and 8 to 10 cases depending on the dialect. The nominative, accusative and genitive were inherited from Proto-Semitic, and additional cases were formed by suffixing inflected pronouns (for example, beetilu 'the house (dative)' from *bayti-lahu 'the house (gen), for it').

The construct state was lost.

The cases are:

• nominative
• accusative
• genitive
• dative
• lative~instrumental
• locative
• ablative
• superessive

Masculine nouns: beet 'house'

• nom beet, beetaam, beetuum
• acc beeta, beetama, beetima
• gen beeti, beetami, beetiimi
• dat beetilu, beetallan, beetillen
• lat/ins beetinu, beetannan, beetinnun
• loc beetibu, beetabban, beetibbun
• abl beetiminu, beetamminan, beetimminun
• sup beetileu, beetallehan, beetillehun

Feminine nouns: šarrat 'queen'

• nom šarrat, šarrataam, šarraat
• acc šarrata, šarratama, šarraata
• gen šarrati, šarratami, šarraati
• dat šarratila, šarratallan, šarraatillun
• lat/ins šarratina, šarratannan, šarraatinnun
• loc šarratiba, šarratabban, šarraatibbun
• abl šarratimina, šarratamminan, šarraatimminun
• sup šarratilia, šarratallehan, šarraatillehun

-naft = emphatic