acusatif

The accusatif, or accusative case, is a grammatical category used in many languages to mark the direct object of transitive verbs. It contrasts with the nominative, which marks the subject, and with other cases that encode different grammatical functions such as possession or indirect object.

In languages with explicit case systems, the accusative appears as an inflected form or a distinct determiner on nouns, pronouns, or adjectives. It serves to identify what or whom the action of the verb affects. The accusative can interact with prepositions, adjectives, or the surrounding word order to clarify sentence structure, and its specific form often depends on number, gender, or animacy.

Examples illustrate its role across languages. In Latin, puella puerum amat means “the girl loves the boy,” with puerum in the accusative. In German, Ich sehe den Mann “I see the man” uses den Mann as the accusative masculine form. In Russian, Ya vizhu mal’chikha, I see the boy, shows mal’chika in the accusative with animate nouns. Some languages mark the accusative on prepositional phrases or use it for certain direct-object-like arguments beyond everyday transitive verbs.

English largely relies on word order and prepositions rather than noun inflection, but retains accusative pronouns such as him, her, us, and them. Typologically, the accusative is discussed in contrast to ergative-absolutive systems, highlighting how languages encode object relations differently. The term originates in Latin grammar and is used widely across language families.