Editing Instrumental case (section)

==Indo-European languages==
[[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] has been reconstructed as having eight cases, one of which was the instrumental.<ref name=":0">R. D. Fulk, ''A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages'', Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 3 (Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2018), {{doi|10.1075/sigl.3}}.</ref>{{rp|§7.1}}

===Sanskrit===
The instrumental case in [[Classical Sanskrit]] can have several meanings:<ref>DESHPANDE, Madhav; "Samskrita-Subodhini", 2007. Michigan Papers on South and Southwest Asia, No. 47. CENTERS FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST ASIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. {{ISBN|0-89148-079-X}}.</ref>
* It can indicate the instrument (of an action):
{{fs interlinear|lang=sa|indent=4
|रामो लेखन्या लिखति।
|Rāmo ''lekhanyā'' likhati.
|"Rāma writes ''with a pen''."}}
* It can be used to indicate someone or something accompanying an action. In this case, the sense of "company" is indicated by postpositions like सह ''saha'' ("with") (may be optionally omitted):
{{fs interlinear|lang=sa|indent=4
|दासेन सह देवदत्तोऽगच्छत्।
|''Dāsena'' ''saha'' devadatto'gacchat.
|"Devadatta went ''accompanied by the servant''."}}
* It can indicate the agent of a passive verb:
{{fs interlinear|lang=sa|indent=4
|देवदत्तेन यवं खाद्यते।
|''Devadattena'' yavaṁ khādyate.
|"Barley is eaten ''by Devadatta''."}}
* It can indicate the cause, reason or circumstance of an action. In this case, it can be translated as "because of", "out of", etc.:
{{fs interlinear|lang=sa|indent=4
|दुःखेन ग्रामम् अत्यजत्।
|''duḥkhena'' grāmam atyajat.
|"He abandoned the village ''out of misery''."}}
* It is used with the preposition विना ''vinā'' ("without"):
{{fs interlinear|lang=sa|indent=4
|जलेन विना पद्मं नश्यति।
|''jalena'' ''vinā'' padmaṁ naśyati.
|"A lotus dies ''without water''."}}
* It can also be used with the particles अलम् ''alam'' and कृतम् ''kṛtam'', both meaning "enough".
{{fs interlinear|lang=sa|indent=4
|कृतं कोलाहलेन।
|kṛtaṁ ''kolāhalena''.
|"Enough with ''noise''."}}

===Assamese===
In [[Assamese language|Standard Assamese]] (এ)ৰে ''(e)re'' indicates the instrumental case. (এ)দি ''(e)di'' does the job in some dialects.

{{fs interlinear|lang=as|number=1)
|চিমিয়ে কলমেৰে লিখে।
|simie ''kolom'''ere''''' likhe.
|"Simi writes '''''with''' pens/a pen''."}}
{{fs interlinear|lang=as|number=2)
|আমি হাবিৰে গৈ আছোঁ।
|ami ''habi'''re''''' goi asü.
|"We are going '''''through''' a forest''."}}
{{fs interlinear|lang=as|number=3)
|বাটিটো মাটিৰে বনোৱা।
|batitü ''mati'''re''''' bonüa.
|"The bowl is made '''''of''' soil''."}}

===Ancient Greek===
The functions of the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] instrumental case were taken over by the [[dative case|dative]], so that the Greek dative has functions belonging to the Proto-Indo-European dative, instrumental, and [[locative case|locative]].<ref>[[Herbert Weir Smyth]]. ''Greek Grammar''. par. 1279: composite or mixed cases.</ref> This is the case with the bare dative, and the dative with the preposition [[wikt:σύν#Ancient Greek|σύν]] ''sýn'' "with". It is possible, however, that Mycenean Greek had the instrumental case, which was later replaced by dative in all the [[Ancient Greek dialects|Greek dialects]].<ref>[[Andrew Garrett (linguist)|Andrew Garett]], "Convergence in the formation of Indo-European subgroups: Phylogeny and chronology", in Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages, ed. Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew (Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research), 2006, p. 140, citing Ivo Hajnal, Studien zum mykenischen Kasussystem. Berlin, 1995, with the proviso that "the Mycenaean case system is still controversial in part".</ref>

===Germanic===
[[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] inherited the Indo-European instrumental case, but in nouns, the case was almost entirely lost in [[Gothic language|Gothic]], [[Old Norse]] and [[Old Frisian]], which indicated the instrumental case with the dative inflection in all but a few relic forms.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|§7.3}} Early [[Old High German]] and [[Old Saxon]] nouns do exhibit an instrumental case, for example Old High German ''wortu'' 'word' and Old Saxon ''hoƀu'' 'court', where the -''u'' ending derives from a Proto-Indo-European instrumental inflection *-''ō''.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|§7.8}} In adjectives, no instrumental plural inflection can be reconstructed for Common Germanic, but the early [[West Germanic]] dialects did retain a distinctive instrumental singular strong adjective ending.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|§9.2}} Similarly, in demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, there is no evidence for distinctive instrumental plural inflections, but the West Germanic dialects and, less often, Old Norse and Gothic, retained distinctive instrumental singular forms.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||pages=|location=§8.10-13}}

====Old English====
The instrumental case is found in certain usages in [[Old English]]. It has left a legacy in Modern English, in the words "why" and "thus": 'why' is from '''hwy''', the instrumental case of 'hwa / hwæt' (who / what) and 'thus' apparently from '''þys''', the instrumental case of 'þes / þis' (this).

Adjectives and the demonstrative and interrogative pronouns all have instrumental forms. Adverbs are commonly formed in Old English by adding ''-e'' to the adjective, which is the adjective's instrumental case.<ref name=sweet/>

In Old English, the instrumental case denotes means or manner, in such phrases as "'''oþre  naman''' Iulius" ('by other name called Julius') or expressions of time: "'''þy ilcan dæge'''"; 'on the same day'.<ref name=sweet>'Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer' (9th edition) (Clarendon Press, Oxford)</ref> (In these examples, the whole expression is in the instrumental case, but only the ''oþre'' or ''þy'' is distinctive in form from the dative.)

====Development into Middle High German====
In nouns, the Old German instrumental was replaced with the dative in [[Middle High German]], comparable with English and Ancient Greek, with a construction of ''mit'' (with) + dative clause (in English, the objective case is used). For example:

"Hans schrieb '''mit einem''' Stifte*."<br/>
(John [nominative] wrote with a [dative] pencil [dative].)

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>the German dative -e is not used in most common conversation; it is only used here for a better demonstration.''

*ein = a, nominative case masculine/neuter → einem = a, dative case masculine/neuter
*(der) Stift = (the) pencil, masculine, nominative
*(dem) Stifte = (the) pencil, masculine, dative

===Czech===
Just as above, the object with which the action is done or completed is declined. For example:
* ''Píšu perem''.
** psát = to write; píšu = I write
** pero = a pen → per''em'' = ''with'' a pen
* ''Jedu do školy autobusem''.
** jet = to go via transport (× jít = to go on foot); jedu = I go (using any kind of vehicle)
** škola = school, do školy = to school ([[dative case|dative]])
** autobus = a bus → autobus''em'' = ''by'' bus

===Armenian===
The instrumental in [[Armenian language|Armenian]] is denoted by the -ով (-ov) suffix to say that an action is done by, with or through an agent.
* մատիտ (''matit'', pencil) → մատիտ''ով'' (''matit'''ov''''', with/by a pencil)
** մատիտով գրիր (''matitov grir'') Write with a pencil.

While the instrumental case is the form most commonly used for this purpose, when coupled with the [[passive voice]] in Armenian the instrumental case can be replaced with the [[ablative|ablative case]].

===Serbo-Croatian===

[[Image:Serbian Car bicycle.svg|thumb|400px|Use of instrumental case without or with "sa".]]

Instrumental in the [[Serbo-Croatian]] language group is usually used to denote a noun with which the action is done, e.g. "Idem ''autom''" - "I'm going by means of a car", "Jedem ''vilicom/viljuškom''" - "I eat with a fork", "Prenosi se ''zrakom/vazduhom''" - "It's transferred through air", "Prožeta je ''bijesom''" - "She's consumed by anger". The instrumental preposition "s(a)", meaning "with", is supposed to be dropped in this usage, but it is often kept in casual speech when talking about objects in use, such as a pen, a hammer, etc.

Instrumental can also denote company, in which case "s(a)" is mandatory, e.g. "Pričali smo ''sa svima''" - "We talked with everyone", "Došao je ''s roditeljima''" - "He came with his parents", "Šetala se ''sa psom''" - "She was taking a walk with her dog". Dropping "s(a)" in this case would either make the sentences incorrect, or change their meaning entirely because dative, locative and instrumental share the same form in the plural, so the examples "Pričali smo ''svima''" i "Došao je ''roditeljima''" would come to mean "We told everyone" and "He came to his parents".

Instrumental is also used with certain spatial prepositions like "među" (between), "nad" (above), "pod" (underneath), "pred" (in front of) and "za" (after). Note the difference between these prepositions and similar ones used for genitive with an -i suffix: "između", "iznad", "ispod", "ispred" and "iza".

Instrumental is used without proposition to denote travelling through an area: "Putujem ''zemljom''" - "I'm travelling the country", "Hodam ''plažom''" - "I'm walking along a beach", etc.

It can also be used to show how long or when in a larger scope of time something happened: "Nema ih ''godinama''" - "They haven't come in years", "''S vremenom'' će proći" - "It will pass in time", "Jednom ''tjednom''" - "Once a week", etc.

===Latvian===
The instrumental case in [[Latvian declension]] (one of the three [[Baltic languages]], alongside [[Lithuanian_declension|Lithuanian]] and [[Old Prussian language|Old Prussian]]) can have several meanings:
* It can indicate the instrument (of an action):
:{{IAST|Viņš raksta ar spalvu}}
:"He writes ''with a pen''".
* It can be used to indicate someone or something accompanying an action. In this case, :
:{{IAST|Viņa dziedāja ar meitu}}
:"She sang with a girl".