acuzatif

Acuzatif, or the accusative case, is a grammatical category used in many languages to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The name derives from Latin accusativus. It forms part of a larger system of cases that encode the syntactic roles of noun phrases, such as the subject and indirect object.

How acuzatif is realized varies by language. In highly inflected languages, the direct object may receive a distinct form of the noun, pronoun, or determiner, often shown through endings or clitics. In analytic languages, the direct object is typically indicated by word order or by a preposition rather than by inflection. Some languages combine both strategies. Language groups that employ an accusative system include Turkish, German, Russian, Romanian, and others; the exact marking differs with gender, number, and other grammatical features.

Function and behavior: The primary role of the acuzatif is to mark the direct object of a verb, but its realization can differ across languages. In some languages, the accusative interacts with definite articles or pronoun systems; in others, factors such as animacy or definiteness influence the form of the object. Some languages distinguish a separate accusative only for animate direct objects, while others treat all direct objects with a single form.

See also: Accusative case.