Editing Instrumental case

{{Short description|Grammatical case}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2019}}
{{Grammatical categories|Subfields1}}
In [[grammar]], the '''instrumental case''' ([[list of glossing abbreviations|abbreviated]] {{sc|'''ins'''}} or {{sc|'''instr'''}}) is a [[grammatical case]] used to indicate that a noun is the ''instrument'' or means by or with which the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] achieves or accomplishes an action. The noun may be either a physical object or an abstract concept.

==General discussion==
The instrumental case appears in this [[Russian grammar|Russian]] sentence:
{{fs interlinear|indent=3|lang = ru
|Я написал письмо пером.
|Ya napisal pis'mo perom.
|I wrote {(the) letter} {[with] (a) quill pen.}|}}

Here, the [[inflection]] of the noun indicates its instrumental role: the [[nominative case|nominative]] ''перо'' changes its ending to become ''пером''.

Modern English expresses the instrumental meaning by use of adverbial phrases that begin with the words ''with'', ''by'', or ''using'', followed by the noun indicating the ''instrument'':

:''I wrote the note with a pen.''
:''I wrote the note (by) using a pen.''

Technical descriptions often use the phrase "by means of", which is similar to "by use of", as in:

:''I wrote the note by means of a pen.''
:''I wrote the note by use of a pen.''

This can be replaced by "via", which is a Latin [[ablative case|ablative]] of the nominative (viā) ''via'', meaning road, route, or way. In the ablative it means ''by way of''.

The instrumental case appears in [[Old English language|Old English]], [[Old Saxon language|Old Saxon]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Sanskrit]], and the [[Balto-Slavic languages]]. An instrumental/[[comitative case]] is arguably present in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] as well as in [[Tamil language|Tamil]]. Also, Uralic languages reuse the [[adessive case]] where available, [[locative case]] if not, to mark the same category, or [[comitative case]] ([[Estonian language|Estonian]]). For example, the [[Finnish language|Finnish]] ''kirjoitan kynällä'' does not mean "I write on a pen", but "I write using a pen", even if the adessive ''-llä'' is used. In Ob-Ugric languages, the same category may also mark agents with verbs that use an [[Ergative–absolutive alignment|ergative alignment]], for instance, "I give you, using a pen".

The instrumental case is notably used in Russian, where the case is called ''творительный падеж (tvoritel'nyj padež)'' though similar usages also can be found in other [[Balto-Slavic languages]]. In most declension paradigms, the instrumental case in Russian can generally be distinguished by the -ом ("-om") suffix for most masculine and neuter nouns, the -ою/-oй ("-oju"/"-oj") suffix for most feminine nouns and -ами ("-ami") for any of the three genders in the plural.

Just as in English the preposition "with" can express instrumental ("using, by means of"), comitative ("in the company of"), and a number of other semantic relations, the instrumental case in Russian is not limited to its instrumental thematic role. It is also used to denote:

* the agent in a passive voice construction. E.g.: "Книга написана Марком Твеном" ("The book was written by Mark Twain"). Here, "Марком Твеном" ("by Mark Twain") is "Марк Твен" ("Mark Twain") in the instrumental case.
* a predicate with infinitive, future tense, imperative, conditional and gerund of the verbs "быть" and "являться" (both meaning 'to be') (for example, "я хочу быть врачом", "не будь трусом" translate as "I want to be a doctor" and "don't be a coward", with the nouns in the instrumental case).
* a predicate with a number of other verbs, denoting state, appearance, manner, consideration, etc.
* parts of the day, seasons of the year, and some other temporal relations.  For example, the sentence "я работаю утром" (ja rabotaju utrom) means "I work in the morning". The word утро (utro, "morning") in its instrumental case denotes the time in which the action (in the case of this example, "working") takes place ("in the morning").
* similarity. For example, the phrases "выть волком," "умереть героем," "лететь стрелой" (to howl like a wolf, to die like a hero, to fly like an arrow) use nouns in the instrumental case.
* location, when used with prepositions "behind", "in front of", "under", "above", "next to", and "between"

The Russian instrumental case is also used with verbs of use and control (to own, to manage, to abuse, to rule, to possess, etc.), attitude (to be proud of, to threaten (with), to value, to be interested (in), to admire, to be obsessed (with), etc.), reciprocal action (to share, to exchange), and some other verbs.

Though the instrumental case does not exist in many languages, some languages use other cases to denote the means, or instrument, of an action.  In [[Ancient Greek language|Classical Greek]], for example, the [[dative case]] is used as the instrumental case. This can be seen in the sentence "{{lang|grc|..με κτείνει δόλῳ}}," or "..me ktenei dolôi" (Book IX, line 407 of the [[Odyssey]]), which means "he kills me with a bait".  Here, "{{lang|grc|δόλῳ}}," the dative of "δόλος" ("dolos" – a bait) is used as the instrumental case (the means or instrument here is, obviously, the bait). In Latin the instrumental case has merged with the [[ablative case|ablative]], thus the ablative case has the same functions. For example, ''ipso facto'' can be translated as "by the fact itself", while ''oculīs vidēre'' means "to see with one's eyes".

In Modern [[English language|English]], the word ''why'' is one instance of an etymologically instrumental [[declension]]. Though not commonly known to be of [[Interrogative pronoun|pronominal]] origin, it was, in fact, inherited from [[Old English]] ''hwȳ'', which was the declension of ''hwæt'' (now ''what'') in the Old English instrumental case{{spaced ndash}}a grammatical feature rare even in Old English. The modern instrumental case (as present in ''why'') does not bear the meaning of instrument, but of purpose, cause, or reason: rather, the closely related form ''how'' is used to express instrument, way, or means. In phrases such as "The more, the merrier", the word ''the'' derives from the instrumental case of the demonstrative pronoun related to the modern English word ''that''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Instrumental Case {{!}} Department of Classics |url=https://classics.osu.edu/Undergraduate-Studies/Latin-Program/Grammar/Cases/English-Case/instrumental-case |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=classics.osu.edu}}</ref>

==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".

==Uralic==
===Hungarian===
The instrumental case is present in the [[Hungarian language]], where it serves several purposes. The main purpose is the same as the above, i.e. the means with which an action occurs. It has a role in the ''-(t)at-'' [[causative]] form of verbs, that is, the form of a verb that shows the subject caused someone else to action the verb. In this sense, the instrumental case is used to mark the person that was caused to execute the action expressed by the verb. It is also used to quantify or qualify words such as 'better' or 'ago', such as ''sokkal jobban'' 'much better' (literally 'with-much better'); ''hét évvel ezelőtt'' 'seven years ago' (literally 'seven with-years before this').

In Hungarian the instrumental and [[comitative case]] look the same, see [[Instrumental-comitative case]].

See the links section below for a more detailed article.

===Finnish===
[[Finnish language|Finnish]] has a historic, marginal [[instructive case]] (''-n''), but in practice the [[adessive case]] (''-lla/-llä'') is used instead outside lexicalised fixed expressions, even though the adessive literally means 'on top', e.g. ''vasaralla'' 'using a hammer' (instrumental meaning) or 'on a hammer' (locative meaning). (''Vasaroin'' 'using hammers' is plausible and understandable, but not common in use.)

==Uto-Aztecan==
===Nahuatl===
[[Nahuatl language|Nahuatl]] uses the suffix ''-tica'' to indicate the instrumental case.
For example, in the sentence ''ātlān ācaltica in huāllahqueh'' 'they came on the water by boat', ''ācalli'' means 'boat' and ''ācaltica'' means 'by (use of a) boat'.

==Turkic==

===Turkish===
[[Turkish language|Turkish]] uses the conjunction ''ile'' ("with"), and its suffixed form ''-(y)lA'' (realised as ''-(y)la'' or ''-(y)le'', depending on the dominant vowel of the noun—see [[vowel harmony]]) to indicate the instrumental case. For example, in the sentence ''Arabayla geldi'' 'he came by (the use of a) car', ''araba'' means 'car' and ''arabayla'' means 'by (the use of a) car, with a car'.

The original [[Proto-Turkic]] instrumental case suffix was ''-n'', which is less [[productivity (linguistics)|productive]] today but is preserved in common words like ''yazın'' ("during the summer"), ''kışın'' ("during the winter"), ''öğlen'' ("at noon"), and ''yayan'' ("by foot", "on foot"). It became less productive in most [[Oghuz Turkic]] languages. The conjunction ''ile'' ("with") in Turkish has semantically expanded to fill the gap (''kürek ile'' or ''kürekle'', meaning "with the shovel" > "using the shovel"), being used as an instrumental marker, and the suffix ''-(y)lA'' (''-le'', ''-la'', ''-yle'', ''-yla'') is a form of ''ile'' which has been grammaticalized into an agglutinative suffix as a result of quick speech, becoming an [[enclitic]].

==Japanese==
In [[Japanese language|Japanese]], the post-positional [[Japanese particles|particle]] で ''de'' indicates the instrumental case.

{{fs interlinear|indent=4| lang = ja
|刀で 敵を 斬る。
|katana-de teki-wo kiru.
|katana-INSTR foe-DO slay.NPAST
|'(I) slay (my) foe with a katana.'}}

==Northeast Caucasian==
===Vainakh===
The instrumental in the [[Vainakh languages]] of the [[North Caucasus]], comprising [[Chechen language|Chechen]] and [[Ingush language|Ingush]], is denoted by the -ца / -аца / -ица (-tsa / -atsa / -itsa) suffix to describe an action which is done with an object:
{{interlinear|indent=3|
| Аса Бахьамица Кехатт йазздир.
| Asa Bahamitsa Kekhatt yazzdir.
| "I {with (a) quill pen} {(the) letter} wrote.|}}

The [[nominative case|nominative]] ''Baham'' changes its ending to become ''Bahamitsa'':
*Бахьам = pen → Бахьам''ица'' = ''with'' a pen
**Бахьамица йазздир (''bahamitsa yazzdir'') Wrote with a pen.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsInstrumentalCase.htm Definition]
* [http://www.hungarianreference.com/Nouns/val-vel-instrumental.aspx Hungarian]
* [http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/prepins.html Russian]
* [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/book/chapter2/node24.html Tamil]

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[[Category:Grammatical cases]]