Kafshësh

Kafshësh is an Albanian grammatical form derived from kafshë, the word for animal. It is used to express a relationship to animals, most often functioning as a genitive form within noun phrases. In standard Albanian, kafshë inflects to kafshës in the singular genitive, while the form kafshësh appears in plural genitive or related contexts where a possessive or relational meaning is intended. The form commonly occurs in formal, literary, or historical texts and serves to indicate possession, association, or specification tied to animals.

Etymology and morphology: kafshësh results from kafshë plus a possessive/genitive suffix and exemplifies how Albanian nouns ending in -ë form their genitive-type endings. It is part of a broader pattern in which feminine nouns with -ë develop specialized endings to mark grammatical relations such as possession or attribution.

Usage notes: Kafshësh is relatively rare in everyday speech, where speakers more often rely on kafshët (the animals) for the definite plural or kafshëve (to/for animals) for case-marked constructions. For learners, the key distinction is that kafshësh signals a genitive-like relationship to animals, whereas kafshët serves as the definite plural subject.

See also: kafshë, kafshëve, kafshët.

References: none.