Comitatiivvorm

Comitatiivvorm, or comitative form, is a grammatical form used to express accompaniment—the presence of another entity who accompanies the subject in an action or situation. It marks “with whom” or “together with whom” something is done, rather than the instrument or means by which an action is performed.

Realization of the comitative varies by language. Some languages have a dedicated comitative case that marks the accompanying noun or pronoun directly. Others use a postposition or a separate word meaning “with,” and still others realize accompaniment through a suffix attached to the noun or pronoun (for example, Estonian commonly uses a comitative form with the suffix -ga). In Estonian, examples include minuga (with me), sinuga (with you), temaga (with him/her), koeraga (with a dog). In many languages, the comitative can interact with other cases or grammatical categories, and in some cases may overlap with instrumental marking.

Usage and semantics of the comitative focus on co-presence rather than instrumental means. It is used when describing participants who accompany the subject in an action, or when characterizing social or pragmatic relationships (for example, accompanying a person on a trip). Distinctions can blur with instrumental expressions in some languages, but the comitative specifically conveys accompaniment or association rather than merely the tool used to perform an action.

Typologically, the comitative form is variable: it may be a case, a suffix, or a separate word, and its exact form and usage differ across language families. It is often discussed together with the instrumental and the genitive, as part of the broader system encoding relations between participants in events.

See also: instrumental case, genitive, postpositional phrase, comitative case.