Editing Hittite language (section)

===Nouns===
Hittite [[inflection|inflects]] for nine [[grammatical case|cases]]: [[Nominative case|nominative]], [[Vocative case|vocative]], [[Accusative case|accusative]], [[Genitive case|genitive]], [[Dative case|dative]]-[[Locative case|locative]], [[Ablative case|ablative]], [[Ergative case|ergative]], [[Allative case|allative]], and [[Instrumental case|instrumental]]; two [[grammatical number|numbers]]: singular, and plural; and two [[animacy]] classes: animate (common), and inanimate (neuter).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/hittite/hittite_grammar.pdf |title=Hittite Grammar |website=Assyrianlanguages.org |access-date=2017-01-17}}</ref> Adjectives and pronouns agree with nouns for [[animacy]], [[grammatical number|number]], and [[grammatical case|case]].

The distinction in [[animacy]] is rudimentary and generally occurs in the [[nominative case]], and the same noun is sometimes attested in both animacy classes. There is a trend towards distinguishing fewer cases in the plural than in the singular. The [[ergative case]] is used when an inanimate noun is the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] of a [[transitive verb]]. Early Hittite texts have a [[vocative case]] for a few nouns with ''-u'', but it ceased to be productive by the time of the earliest discovered sources and was subsumed by the nominative in most documents. The [[allative case|allative]] was subsumed in the later stages of the language by the [[dative case|dative]]-[[locative case|locative]]. An archaic [[genitive case|genitive]] plural ''-an'' is found irregularly in earlier texts, as is an [[instrumental case|instrumental]] plural in ''-it''. A few nouns also form a distinct [[locative case|locative]], which had no case ending at all.

The examples of ''pišna-'' ("man") for animate and ''pēda-'' ("place") for inanimate are used here to show the Hittite noun declension's most basic form:

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
! rowspan="2" | &nbsp;
! colspan="2" | Animate
| rowspan="11" | &nbsp;
! colspan="2" | Inanimate
|-
! Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural
|-
! Nominative
| pišnaš || pišnēš || rowspan="2" | pēdan || rowspan="2" | pēda
|-
! Accusative
| pišnan || pišnuš
|-
! Ergative
| pišnanza || pišnantēš || pēdanza || pēdantēš
|-
! Vocative
| colspan="2" | pišne || – || –
|-
! Genitive
| colspan="2" | pišnaš || colspan="2" | pēdaš
|-
! Dative/Locative
| pišni || pišnaš || pēdi || pēdaš
|-
! Ablative
| colspan="2" | pišnaz || colspan="2" | pēdaz
|-
! Allative
| pišna || – || pēda || –
|-
! Instrumental
| colspan="2" | pišnit || colspan="2" | pēdit
|}