Substantivs

Substantivs is the term used in several Nordic languages to denote the lexical category known in English as nouns. A substantiv names a person, place, thing, or idea and typically functions as the central referent in a clause, appearing as a subject, direct or indirect object, or predicative noun.

In languages that have gender and number marking, substantivs are inflected for grammatical gender and number. They may also show possession and definiteness. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish often mark definiteness on the noun itself through suffixes or articles, as in Swedish katten "the cat" and en katt "a cat." In languages with case systems, noun inflection also signals syntactic roles, such as nominative, accusative, or genitive.

Substantivs can be classified more specifically as common nouns and proper nouns, concrete and abstract nouns, countable and uncountable (mass) nouns, and collective nouns. They can form plurals and derive diminutives or other related forms. Some nouns also participate in derivational processes, giving rise to adjectives or verbs via affixes in certain languages.

The term substantiv is used in several non-English grammars; in English, the corresponding term is noun. The word originates from Latin substantivus, meaning "relating to substance," though in modern grammar it typically denotes a word that names a substance or entity.