{"history":[],"article":{"id":"3decacfb-b59b-4d2d-aaac-94d7bb2d9fc7","title":"Gothic declension","slug":"gothic-declension","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \n[Gothic](https://bliptext.com/articles/gothic-[language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language)) is an [inflected](https://bliptext.com/articles/inflection) [language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language), and as such its nouns, pronouns, and adjectives must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function.\nA set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a [declension](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension).\nThere are five [grammatical cases](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-cases) in Gothic with a few traces of an old sixth [instrumental case](https://bliptext.com/articles/instrumental-case).\n\n# Grammatical cases\nA complete declension consists of five [grammatical cases](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-cases).\n\n## Description of cases\n\n## Order of cases\nGothic language grammars often follow the common NOM-ACC-GEN-DAT order used for the Germanic languages.\nVOC is usually attached to the same line as ACC as a combined VOC-ACC, but if not, it may be placed between NOM and ACC (as in Wright's \"Grammar of the Gothic Language\").\n\n## Short vs. long stems\nAn important distinction in many of the declension classes below is the difference between \"short\" and \"long\" stems.\nFrequently declension classes are divided into two subclasses, one for short-stemmed nouns and one for long-stemmed nouns.\nA short stem contains:\nA long stem is all other types of stems:\n\n# Strong noun declensions\n\n## The -a declension\nThis declension has as counterparts the second declension (us/um) of Latin, and the omicron declension (os/on) of Greek.\nIt contains masculine and neuter nouns.\nA varied set of nouns have two stems, one occurring with endings that are null or begin with a consonant (the nominative, accusative and vocative singular) and another that occurs with endings beginning with a vowel (all but the previously listed forms).\nOne common situation leading to two-stem nouns is the automatic devoicing of voiced fricatives at (or near) the end of a word, e.g.:\n''More information about the exceptions in the -a declension can be found at page 82, §175 of Grammar of the Gothic Language written by Joseph Wright.\n(Link can be found at the bottom.)''\nOther nouns with two stems are:\n\n## The -ja declension\nThis declension is really **j**ust the **-a** declension with a **j** immediately preceding.\nHowever, due to various sound laws, a new declension subcategory has arisen that does not exactly follow the form of the plain **-a** declension.\nSimilar developments occurred in Greek and the Slavic languages, among others.\nThis declension has as counterparts the second declension nouns in (-ius/-ium) of Latin.\nThe counterparts in Greek are some second declension nouns in (-ios/-ion), as well as many that show effects of palatalization (e.g., -zdos < *-gyos or *-dyos; -llos < *-lyos; -ptos < -*pyos; -ssos or -ttos < -*tyos; -airos/-eiros/-oiros < *-aryos/-eryos/-oryos; -ainos/-einos/-oinos < *-anyos/enyos/onyos; etc., and similarly for neuter nouns in -ion or *-yon).\nIt contains masculine and neuter nouns.\nThe masculine nouns have a distinction between short- and long-stemmed nouns, as described above.\nharjis \"army\" is a prototypical short-stem noun, and haírdeis is a prototypical long-stem noun.\nNeuters, however, have merged the two types in favor of the short-stem endings.\nProperly, there should be a distinction in the genitive singular between short-stem ****-jis**** and long-stem **-eis**, as for the masculine nouns, but ****-jis**** has mostly taken over.\nFor a few nouns, however, both forms can be used, as in genitive andbahteis or andbahtjis \"of service\", gawaírþeis or gawaírþjis \"of peace\", from neuter nouns andbahti \"service\" and gawaírþi \"peace\", respectively.\nNote th**a**t the neuters in this declension c**a**n be s**a**id to follow the two-stem p**a**ttern (e.g. **kuni** vs. **kunj-**) described **a**bove for **a**-stems.\nA few neuters in this declension follow the same overall pattern but have additional vowel changes between the stems:\n\n## The -ō declension\nThis declension counterparts the first declension (a) of Latin, and the alpha declension (a/as) of Greek.\nIt contains feminine nouns.\n\n## The -jō declension\nNouns ending in **-jō** that have a short stem (see discussion above) behave identically to normal **-ō** stems, e.g. brakja \"strife\", sibja \"relationship\", sunja \"truth\".\nHowever, long-stemmed nouns in **-jō** have a different nominative singular ending in **-i**:\nNote that in this particular case the \"long-stem\" declension includes nouns with a long vowel or diphthong and no following consonant.\nIn addition, these nouns have a different stem in the nominative singular from all other cases:\n\n## The -i declension\nThis declension counterparts the vowel stems of the third declension (is) of Latin, and the third declension of Greek.\nIt contains masculine and feminine nouns.\nNote that masculine nouns have become identical to -a stem nouns in the singular, while feminine nouns have preserved the original declension.\nSimilar to the situation with **-a** stems, some nouns have a different stem in the nominative and accusative singular than in other cases:\nSome additional complications:\n\n## The -u declension\nThis declension counterparts the fourth declension (us) of Latin and parts of the third declension of Greek (cf. πῆχυς).\nIt contains nouns of all genders.\nfaíh**u** \"property\" is a ne**u**ter **-**u**** stem, and like all ne**u**ters from the **u** stem it lacks a pl**u**ral.\nOther remnants are the invariant neuter adjective filu \"much\" (with an adverbial genitive filáus), and qaíru or gáiru \"spike, goad\", occurring once in a gloss.\nleiþu \"cider, fruit wine\" is attested only in the accusative singular and without any context to infer its gender, so it may have been masculine or neuter.\n\n# Weak noun declensions (n-stems)\nThe **an**, **on** **an**d **in** declensi**on**s c**on**stitute a Germ**an**ic word derivati**on**, which is also used for [adjectives](https://bliptext.com/articles/adjectives) **in** the weak form mark**in**g def**in**iteness.\nThe declension loosely parallels the Latin nouns in -ō, genitive -ōnis/-inis, which shares the same Indo-European declensional origin (the Greek descendant being the more regularized -ōn, -onos class).\n\n## The -an declension\nMasculines and neuters belong to this declension.\nThere are a few neuter irregularities:\n\n## The -ōn declension\nThis declension is the feminine counterpart of the **an** declension.\nNote: the first **g** in tu**g****g**ō is pronounced [Velar nasal](https://bliptext.com/articles/velar-nasal).\nThe Gothic language borrowed the practice of denoting by **gg** and by **gk** from the [Koine Greek](https://bliptext.com/articles/koine-greek) in which the New Testament was originally written.\n\n## The -ein declension\nThis declension contains abstract feminines only.\n\n# Minor noun declensions\n\n## The -r declension\nA few family nouns inherited from [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) have a very archaic declension.\nFeminines and masculines have identical forms.\nInflected thus are also brōþar m., \"brother\", fadar m., \"father\", daúhtar f., \"daughter\".\n\n## The -nd declension\nThese nouns are old present participles, corresponding to nouns in -nt in Latin and Greek.\n\n## The root nouns\nThese nouns correspond to the consonant declensions in Latin and Greek (in both cases, part of the third declension).\nOnly traces of masculines are extant, but feminines are fairly well attested.\nThe only masculine nouns extant are mēnōþs \"month\" (gen. sg. mēnōþs or ?mēnōþis, dat. pl. mēnōþum); reiks \"ruler\" (gen. sg. reikis, dat. pl. reikam); and weitwōds \"witness\" (gen. sg., dat. pl. not attested).\nThere are nine feminine nouns attested.\nNote the following irregularities:\nThe other five feminine nouns are alhs \"temple\", baúrgs \"city\", brusts \"breast\", miluks \"milk\", and spaúrds \"racecourse\".\n\n# Adjectives\nAdjectives in Gothic, as in the other Germanic languages, can be declined according to two different paradigms, commonly called \"strong\" and \"weak\".\nThis represents a significant innovation in Germanic, although a similar development has taken place in the [Baltic](https://bliptext.com/articles/baltic-languages) and [Slavic](https://bliptext.com/articles/slavic-languages) languages.\nAdjectives in [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) -- as is still the case in [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-language), [Greek](https://bliptext.com/articles/greek-language), and most other daughters—are declined in exactly the same way as nouns.\nGermanic \"strong\" adjectives, however, take many of their endings from the declension of pronouns.\nThese pronominal endings are likely to have entered the adjective inflection in the Germanic proto-language, via the inflection of possessive adjectives and other \"pronominal\" word classes, as evidenced by the variation between the bare stem and -ata in the neuter nominative and accusative singular of Gothic adjectives and possessive pronouns.\n\"Weak\" adjectives take the endings of **-n** stem nouns, regardless of the underlying stem class of the adjective.\nIn general, weak adjectival endings are used when the adjective is accompanied by a definite article, and strong endings are used in other situations.\nHowever, weak endings are occasionally used in the absence of a definite article, and cause the associated noun to have the same semantics as if a definite article were present.\nWeak adjectives are also used when the associated noun is in the vocative case.\nIn addition, some adjectives are always declined weak or strong, regardless of any accompanying articles.\n\n## The strong -a declension\n\n## The strong -ja declension\nSimilar to the situation with nouns, the ja-stem adjectives are divided into two subtypes, depending on whether the stem is short or long.\n\n### Short-stemmed -ja declension\nThis declension has only the following extant adjectives: aljis \"other\", freis \"free\" (stem frij-, see below), fullatōjis \"perfect\", gawiljis \"willing\", midjis \"middle\", niujis \"new\", sunjis \"true\", ubiltōjis \"evil-doing\", and unsibjis \"lawless\".\nNotes about the above adjectives:\n\n### Long-stemmed –ja declension\nThis declension is built out of long-stemmed **-ja** masculine and neuter nouns and long-stemmed **-jō** feminine nouns.\nThis declension has only five extant adjectives: aírzeis \"astray\", alþeis \"old\", faírneis \"old\", wilþeis \"wild\", and wōþeis \"sweet\".\nNone of these adjectives are extent in any genitive singular forms, and hence the forms given above are reconstructions based on the behavior of the corresponding nouns.\nThe hesitation between wilþeis or wilþjis as the neuter genitive singular form stems from the following facts:\n\n## The strong -i declension\nAdjectives of this class have replaced most forms with forms taken from the **-ja** declension.\nOnly the nominative singular, the neuter accusative singular and the masculine and neuter genitive singular have genuine **-i** stem forms.\nThe following adjectives of this type are extant (along with a few others): analáugns \"hidden\", anasiuns \"visible\", andanēms \"pleasant\", áuþs \"desert\", brūks \"useful\", gafáurs \"well-behaved\", gamáins \"common\", hráins \"clean\", sēls \"kind\", skáuns \"beautiful\", skeirs \"clear\", suts (?sūts) \"sweet\".\n\n## The strong -u declension\nSimilarly to **-i** stem adjectives, **-u** stem adjectives have replaced most forms with those taken from the **-ja** declension.\nThe following adjectives of this type are extant: aggwus \"narrow\", aglus \"difficult\", hardus \"hard\", hnasqus \"soft\", kaúrus \"heavy\", manwus \"ready\", qaírrus \"gentle\", seiþus \"late\", tulgus \"steadfast\", twalibwintrus \"twelve years old\", þaúrsus \"withered\", þlaqus \"soft\".\n\n## The weak declension\nWeak adjectival endings are taken from the corresponding endings of masculine, feminine and neuter **n-**stems, e.g. masculine guma \"man\", feminine tuggō \"tongue\", neuter haírtō \"heart\".\nAll adjectives have the same endings, regardless of the underlying stem class of the adjective.\nThe only difference is that ******ja-******stems, ****i-****stems and ****u-****stems have a **-j-** at the end of the stem, e.g. masculine singular nominative weak niuja \"new\", wilþja \"wild\", hráinja \"clean\", hardja \"hard\", corresponding to the strong forms niujis (short ******ja-******stem), wilþeis (long ******ja-******stem), hráins (****i-****stem), hardus (****u-****stem).\n\n# Pronouns\n\n## Personal pronouns\n\n## Possessive pronouns\nGothic possessive pronouns are formed by adding the above shown suffixes to the genitive (\"possessor\") form of the given personal pronoun.\nReflexive pronouns are inflected similarly.\nThe form used outside of possession is derived from the nominative feminine singular.\nThe possessor suffixes are the same in the possessee plural.\nMeina \"my, mine\" and unsara \"our, ours\" are shown here for example, but others can apply.\n\n## Demonstrative pronouns\nCompound forms with the suffix -(u)h meaning \"this, these; that/ those\" and with -ei creating relative pronouns also exist.\nThe suffix -ei can also be added to first and second person pronouns to create first and second person relatives.\nAll compound forms drop the \"u\" in -uh after a vowel and change word-final -s to a -z if the next letter is a vowel.\n\n## Interrogative pronouns\nThe plural form *ƕans (masculine accusative) occurs once as part of the indefinite pronoun ƕanzuh \"each, every\"; the other plurals are reconstructed.\nHwas is declined irregular, but shares similar forms with sa, the others are declined mostly like strong (j)a-stem adjectives.\nHwaþar is only extant in the nominative masculine singular and neuter singular nominative/ accusative; the other forms are reconstructed.\nThe following additional pronouns exist, all declined strong as a-stems:\n\n## Indefinite pronouns\nThree indefinite pronouns are formed by appending **-uh** \"and\" to the interrogative pronouns ƕas \"who, what\", ƕarjis \"which (of many)\", and ƕaþar \"which of two\"; compare the analogously formed [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-language) pronoun quisque \"each\", formed from quis \"who\" and -que \"and\".\nBoth ƕazuh and ƕarjizuh mean \"each, every\"; *ƕaþaruh means \"each of two\".\nBefore **-**u**h**, **-s** appears in the original form of **-z-**, and after long vowels and stressed short vowels, the **u** of **-**u**h** is elided.\nUnstressed short vowels are dropped before **-**u**h** in the declension of ƕaz**u**h; however, in the other two prono**u**ns, long vowels appear in place of **u**nstressed short vowels, preserving an older state of affairs, and the **u** of **-**u**h** is elided.\nDeclension tables of ƕazuh and ƕarjizuh are presented below.\nOf *ƕaþaruh, only a single form is extant, the dative singular *ƕaþarammēh, occurring in the compound form áinƕaþarammēh \"to each one of two\".\nThe plural form ƕanzuh (masculine accusative) occurs once, in the expression insandida ins twans ƕanzuh \"he sent them forth two and two\".\nAdditional pronominal forms are\n\n# Numbers\n**Hund** and **þūsundi** can mean either \"100\" and \"1000\" or \"120\" and \"1200\", depending on scale.\n**Táihuntēhund** always means \"100\".\n**Áins** has two different ordinals.\nNumbers below 20 behave as adjectives, whereas those starting at 20 behave as nouns and govern the genitive case of an associated object, e.g. **dagē fidwōr tiguns** \"for forty days\", **fimf þūsundjōs waírē** \"five thousand men\", **miþ twáim tigum þūsundjō mannē** \"with twenty thousand men\".\nOrdinal numbers are always adjectives.\nPlural forms of **áins** meaning \"some\" also occur, otherwise the numbers are always declined as plural.\nHigher numbers from **fidwōr** \"four\" through **niuntaíhun** \"nineteen\" are normally undeclined, but can be declined as **-i** stems, e.g. dative **fidwōr**im, genitive ***fidwōr**ē.\nDecades **sibuntēhund** \"seventy\", **ahtáutēhund** \"eighty\", **niuntēhund** \"ninety\" and **taíhuntēhund/taíhuntaíhund** \"one hundred\" are normally undeclined, but genitive **niuntēhund**is \"of ninety\" occurs.\nA handful of numerals are declined irregularly, shown below:\n\n## Other numerals\n\"Both\" is **bái** or **bajōþs**, of which the following forms are extant:\nThe extant forms of bái match the corresponding forms of twái \"two\", and evidence from other Germanic languages, e.g. [Old English](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-english), indicates that all forms are constructed in this fashion.\nDistributive numerals answer the question \"how many at a time?\".\nThe isolated form tweihnái \"two each\" exists, declined as a plural strong adjective.\nOtherwise, distributive numerals are expressed using prepositional phrases, e.g. bi twans aíþþáu máist þrins \"by twos or at most by threes\"; ana ƕarjanōh fimftiguns \"by fifties in each (company)\"; insandida ins twans ƕanzuh \"he sent them forth two and two\".\nMultiplicative numerals answer the question \"how many times more?\"\nand are formed by adding the adjectival stem -falþs to the stem of the corresponding cardinal.\nExtant are áinfalþs \"onefold, simple\"; fidurfalþs \"fourfold\" (note, not *fidwōrfalþs); taíhuntaíhundfalþs \"hundredfold\"; managfalþs \"manifold\".\nNumeral adverbs answer the question \"how often?\"\nor \"how many times?\".\nThey are formed by combining the cardinal or ordinal with the noun *sinþs \"time\" (lit. \"a going\"), and placing the result in the dative case: áinamma sinþa \"once\"; anþaramma sinþa \"a second time\"; twáim sinþam \"twice\"; þrim sinþam \"thrice\"; fimf sinþam \"five times\"; sibun sinþam \"seven times\".\nCompare [Old English](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-english) ǣne sīða \"once\", fīf sīða \"five times\".","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T10:19:49.288Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T10:19:49.288Z","search_vector":"'declens':2 'gothic':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \n[Gothic](https://bliptext.com/articles/gothic-[language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language)) is an [inflected](https://bliptext.com/articles/inflection) [language](https://bliptext.com/articles/language), and as such its nouns, pronouns, and adjectives must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function.\nA set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a [declension](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension).\nThere are five [grammatical cases](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-cases) in Gothic with a few traces of an old sixth [instrumental case](https://bliptext.com/articles/instrumental-case).\n\n# Grammatical cases\nA complete declension consists of five [grammatical cases](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-cases).\n\n## Description of cases\n\n## Order of cases\nGothic language grammars often follow the common NOM-ACC-GEN-DAT order used for the Germanic languages.\nVOC is usually attached to the same line as ACC as a combined VOC-ACC, but if not, it may be placed between NOM and ACC (as in Wright's \"Grammar of the Gothic Language\").\n\n## Short vs. long stems\nAn important distinction in many of the declension classes below is the difference between \"short\" and \"long\" stems.\nFrequently declension classes are divided into two subclasses, one for short-stemmed nouns and one for long-stemmed nouns.\nA short stem contains:\nA long stem is all other types of stems:\n\n# Strong noun declensions\n\n## The -a declension\nThis declension has as counterparts the second declension (us/um) of Latin, and the omicron declension (os/on) of Greek.\nIt contains masculine and neuter nouns.\nA varied set of nouns have two stems, one occurring with endings that are null or begin with a consonant (the nominative, accusative and vocative singular) and another that occurs with endings beginning with a vowel (all but the previously listed forms).\nOne common situation leading to two-stem nouns is the automatic devoicing of voiced fricatives at (or near) the end of a word, e.g.:\n''More information about the exceptions in the -a declension can be found at page 82, §175 of Grammar of the Gothic Language written by Joseph Wright.\n(Link can be found at the bottom.)''\nOther nouns with two stems are:\n\n## The -ja declension\nThis declension is really **j**ust the **-a** declension with a **j** immediately preceding.\nHowever, due to various sound laws, a new declension subcategory has arisen that does not exactly follow the form of the plain **-a** declension.\nSimilar developments occurred in Greek and the Slavic languages, among others.\nThis declension has as counterparts the second declension nouns in (-ius/-ium) of Latin.\nThe counterparts in Greek are some second declension nouns in (-ios/-ion), as well as many that show effects of palatalization (e.g., -zdos < *-gyos or *-dyos; -llos < *-lyos; -ptos < -*pyos; -ssos or -ttos < -*tyos; -airos/-eiros/-oiros < *-aryos/-eryos/-oryos; -ainos/-einos/-oinos < *-anyos/enyos/onyos; etc., and similarly for neuter nouns in -ion or *-yon).\nIt contains masculine and neuter nouns.\nThe masculine nouns have a distinction between short- and long-stemmed nouns, as described above.\nharjis \"army\" is a prototypical short-stem noun, and haírdeis is a prototypical long-stem noun.\nNeuters, however, have merged the two types in favor of the short-stem endings.\nProperly, there should be a distinction in the genitive singular between short-stem ****-jis**** and long-stem **-eis**, as for the masculine nouns, but ****-jis**** has mostly taken over.\nFor a few nouns, however, both forms can be used, as in genitive andbahteis or andbahtjis \"of service\", gawaírþeis or gawaírþjis \"of peace\", from neuter nouns andbahti \"service\" and gawaírþi \"peace\", respectively.\nNote th**a**t the neuters in this declension c**a**n be s**a**id to follow the two-stem p**a**ttern (e.g. **kuni** vs. **kunj-**) described **a**bove for **a**-stems.\nA few neuters in this declension follow the same overall pattern but have additional vowel changes between the stems:\n\n## The -ō declension\nThis declension counterparts the first declension (a) of Latin, and the alpha declension (a/as) of Greek.\nIt contains feminine nouns.\n\n## The -jō declension\nNouns ending in **-jō** that have a short stem (see discussion above) behave identically to normal **-ō** stems, e.g. brakja \"strife\", sibja \"relationship\", sunja \"truth\".\nHowever, long-stemmed nouns in **-jō** have a different nominative singular ending in **-i**:\nNote that in this particular case the \"long-stem\" declension includes nouns with a long vowel or diphthong and no following consonant.\nIn addition, these nouns have a different stem in the nominative singular from all other cases:\n\n## The -i declension\nThis declension counterparts the vowel stems of the third declension (is) of Latin, and the third declension of Greek.\nIt contains masculine and feminine nouns.\nNote that masculine nouns have become identical to -a stem nouns in the singular, while feminine nouns have preserved the original declension.\nSimilar to the situation with **-a** stems, some nouns have a different stem in the nominative and accusative singular than in other cases:\nSome additional complications:\n\n## The -u declension\nThis declension counterparts the fourth declension (us) of Latin and parts of the third declension of Greek (cf. πῆχυς).\nIt contains nouns of all genders.\nfaíh**u** \"property\" is a ne**u**ter **-**u**** stem, and like all ne**u**ters from the **u** stem it lacks a pl**u**ral.\nOther remnants are the invariant neuter adjective filu \"much\" (with an adverbial genitive filáus), and qaíru or gáiru \"spike, goad\", occurring once in a gloss.\nleiþu \"cider, fruit wine\" is attested only in the accusative singular and without any context to infer its gender, so it may have been masculine or neuter.\n\n# Weak noun declensions (n-stems)\nThe **an**, **on** **an**d **in** declensi**on**s c**on**stitute a Germ**an**ic word derivati**on**, which is also used for [adjectives](https://bliptext.com/articles/adjectives) **in** the weak form mark**in**g def**in**iteness.\nThe declension loosely parallels the Latin nouns in -ō, genitive -ōnis/-inis, which shares the same Indo-European declensional origin (the Greek descendant being the more regularized -ōn, -onos class).\n\n## The -an declension\nMasculines and neuters belong to this declension.\nThere are a few neuter irregularities:\n\n## The -ōn declension\nThis declension is the feminine counterpart of the **an** declension.\nNote: the first **g** in tu**g****g**ō is pronounced [Velar nasal](https://bliptext.com/articles/velar-nasal).\nThe Gothic language borrowed the practice of denoting by **gg** and by **gk** from the [Koine Greek](https://bliptext.com/articles/koine-greek) in which the New Testament was originally written.\n\n## The -ein declension\nThis declension contains abstract feminines only.\n\n# Minor noun declensions\n\n## The -r declension\nA few family nouns inherited from [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) have a very archaic declension.\nFeminines and masculines have identical forms.\nInflected thus are also brōþar m., \"brother\", fadar m., \"father\", daúhtar f., \"daughter\".\n\n## The -nd declension\nThese nouns are old present participles, corresponding to nouns in -nt in Latin and Greek.\n\n## The root nouns\nThese nouns correspond to the consonant declensions in Latin and Greek (in both cases, part of the third declension).\nOnly traces of masculines are extant, but feminines are fairly well attested.\nThe only masculine nouns extant are mēnōþs \"month\" (gen. sg. mēnōþs or ?mēnōþis, dat. pl. mēnōþum); reiks \"ruler\" (gen. sg. reikis, dat. pl. reikam); and weitwōds \"witness\" (gen. sg., dat. pl. not attested).\nThere are nine feminine nouns attested.\nNote the following irregularities:\nThe other five feminine nouns are alhs \"temple\", baúrgs \"city\", brusts \"breast\", miluks \"milk\", and spaúrds \"racecourse\".\n\n# Adjectives\nAdjectives in Gothic, as in the other Germanic languages, can be declined according to two different paradigms, commonly called \"strong\" and \"weak\".\nThis represents a significant innovation in Germanic, although a similar development has taken place in the [Baltic](https://bliptext.com/articles/baltic-languages) and [Slavic](https://bliptext.com/articles/slavic-languages) languages.\nAdjectives in [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) -- as is still the case in [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-language), [Greek](https://bliptext.com/articles/greek-language), and most other daughters—are declined in exactly the same way as nouns.\nGermanic \"strong\" adjectives, however, take many of their endings from the declension of pronouns.\nThese pronominal endings are likely to have entered the adjective inflection in the Germanic proto-language, via the inflection of possessive adjectives and other \"pronominal\" word classes, as evidenced by the variation between the bare stem and -ata in the neuter nominative and accusative singular of Gothic adjectives and possessive pronouns.\n\"Weak\" adjectives take the endings of **-n** stem nouns, regardless of the underlying stem class of the adjective.\nIn general, weak adjectival endings are used when the adjective is accompanied by a definite article, and strong endings are used in other situations.\nHowever, weak endings are occasionally used in the absence of a definite article, and cause the associated noun to have the same semantics as if a definite article were present.\nWeak adjectives are also used when the associated noun is in the vocative case.\nIn addition, some adjectives are always declined weak or strong, regardless of any accompanying articles.\n\n## The strong -a declension\n\n## The strong -ja declension\nSimilar to the situation with nouns, the ja-stem adjectives are divided into two subtypes, depending on whether the stem is short or long.\n\n### Short-stemmed -ja declension\nThis declension has only the following extant adjectives: aljis \"other\", freis \"free\" (stem frij-, see below), fullatōjis \"perfect\", gawiljis \"willing\", midjis \"middle\", niujis \"new\", sunjis \"true\", ubiltōjis \"evil-doing\", and unsibjis \"lawless\".\nNotes about the above adjectives:\n\n### Long-stemmed –ja declension\nThis declension is built out of long-stemmed **-ja** masculine and neuter nouns and long-stemmed **-jō** feminine nouns.\nThis declension has only five extant adjectives: aírzeis \"astray\", alþeis \"old\", faírneis \"old\", wilþeis \"wild\", and wōþeis \"sweet\".\nNone of these adjectives are extent in any genitive singular forms, and hence the forms given above are reconstructions based on the behavior of the corresponding nouns.\nThe hesitation between wilþeis or wilþjis as the neuter genitive singular form stems from the following facts:\n\n## The strong -i declension\nAdjectives of this class have replaced most forms with forms taken from the **-ja** declension.\nOnly the nominative singular, the neuter accusative singular and the masculine and neuter genitive singular have genuine **-i** stem forms.\nThe following adjectives of this type are extant (along with a few others): analáugns \"hidden\", anasiuns \"visible\", andanēms \"pleasant\", áuþs \"desert\", brūks \"useful\", gafáurs \"well-behaved\", gamáins \"common\", hráins \"clean\", sēls \"kind\", skáuns \"beautiful\", skeirs \"clear\", suts (?sūts) \"sweet\".\n\n## The strong -u declension\nSimilarly to **-i** stem adjectives, **-u** stem adjectives have replaced most forms with those taken from the **-ja** declension.\nThe following adjectives of this type are extant: aggwus \"narrow\", aglus \"difficult\", hardus \"hard\", hnasqus \"soft\", kaúrus \"heavy\", manwus \"ready\", qaírrus \"gentle\", seiþus \"late\", tulgus \"steadfast\", twalibwintrus \"twelve years old\", þaúrsus \"withered\", þlaqus \"soft\".\n\n## The weak declension\nWeak adjectival endings are taken from the corresponding endings of masculine, feminine and neuter **n-**stems, e.g. masculine guma \"man\", feminine tuggō \"tongue\", neuter haírtō \"heart\".\nAll adjectives have the same endings, regardless of the underlying stem class of the adjective.\nThe only difference is that ******ja-******stems, ****i-****stems and ****u-****stems have a **-j-** at the end of the stem, e.g. masculine singular nominative weak niuja \"new\", wilþja \"wild\", hráinja \"clean\", hardja \"hard\", corresponding to the strong forms niujis (short ******ja-******stem), wilþeis (long ******ja-******stem), hráins (****i-****stem), hardus (****u-****stem).\n\n# Pronouns\n\n## Personal pronouns\n\n## Possessive pronouns\nGothic possessive pronouns are formed by adding the above shown suffixes to the genitive (\"possessor\") form of the given personal pronoun.\nReflexive pronouns are inflected similarly.\nThe form used outside of possession is derived from the nominative feminine singular.\nThe possessor suffixes are the same in the possessee plural.\nMeina \"my, mine\" and unsara \"our, ours\" are shown here for example, but others can apply.\n\n## Demonstrative pronouns\nCompound forms with the suffix -(u)h meaning \"this, these; that/ those\" and with -ei creating relative pronouns also exist.\nThe suffix -ei can also be added to first and second person pronouns to create first and second person relatives.\nAll compound forms drop the \"u\" in -uh after a vowel and change word-final -s to a -z if the next letter is a vowel.\n\n## Interrogative pronouns\nThe plural form *ƕans (masculine accusative) occurs once as part of the indefinite pronoun ƕanzuh \"each, every\"; the other plurals are reconstructed.\nHwas is declined irregular, but shares similar forms with sa, the others are declined mostly like strong (j)a-stem adjectives.\nHwaþar is only extant in the nominative masculine singular and neuter singular nominative/ accusative; the other forms are reconstructed.\nThe following additional pronouns exist, all declined strong as a-stems:\n\n## Indefinite pronouns\nThree indefinite pronouns are formed by appending **-uh** \"and\" to the interrogative pronouns ƕas \"who, what\", ƕarjis \"which (of many)\", and ƕaþar \"which of two\"; compare the analogously formed [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-language) pronoun quisque \"each\", formed from quis \"who\" and -que \"and\".\nBoth ƕazuh and ƕarjizuh mean \"each, every\"; *ƕaþaruh means \"each of two\".\nBefore **-**u**h**, **-s** appears in the original form of **-z-**, and after long vowels and stressed short vowels, the **u** of **-**u**h** is elided.\nUnstressed short vowels are dropped before **-**u**h** in the declension of ƕaz**u**h; however, in the other two prono**u**ns, long vowels appear in place of **u**nstressed short vowels, preserving an older state of affairs, and the **u** of **-**u**h** is elided.\nDeclension tables of ƕazuh and ƕarjizuh are presented below.\nOf *ƕaþaruh, only a single form is extant, the dative singular *ƕaþarammēh, occurring in the compound form áinƕaþarammēh \"to each one of two\".\nThe plural form ƕanzuh (masculine accusative) occurs once, in the expression insandida ins twans ƕanzuh \"he sent them forth two and two\".\nAdditional pronominal forms are\n\n# Numbers\n**Hund** and **þūsundi** can mean either \"100\" and \"1000\" or \"120\" and \"1200\", depending on scale.\n**Táihuntēhund** always means \"100\".\n**Áins** has two different ordinals.\nNumbers below 20 behave as adjectives, whereas those starting at 20 behave as nouns and govern the genitive case of an associated object, e.g. **dagē fidwōr tiguns** \"for forty days\", **fimf þūsundjōs waírē** \"five thousand men\", **miþ twáim tigum þūsundjō mannē** \"with twenty thousand men\".\nOrdinal numbers are always adjectives.\nPlural forms of **áins** meaning \"some\" also occur, otherwise the numbers are always declined as plural.\nHigher numbers from **fidwōr** \"four\" through **niuntaíhun** \"nineteen\" are normally undeclined, but can be declined as **-i** stems, e.g. dative **fidwōr**im, genitive ***fidwōr**ē.\nDecades **sibuntēhund** \"seventy\", **ahtáutēhund** \"eighty\", **niuntēhund** \"ninety\" and **taíhuntēhund/taíhuntaíhund** \"one hundred\" are normally undeclined, but genitive **niuntēhund**is \"of ninety\" occurs.\nA handful of numerals are declined irregularly, shown below:\n\n## Other numerals\n\"Both\" is **bái** or **bajōþs**, of which the following forms are extant:\nThe extant forms of bái match the corresponding forms of twái \"two\", and evidence from other Germanic languages, e.g. [Old English](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-english), indicates that all forms are constructed in this fashion.\nDistributive numerals answer the question \"how many at a time?\".\nThe isolated form tweihnái \"two each\" exists, declined as a plural strong adjective.\nOtherwise, distributive numerals are expressed using prepositional phrases, e.g. bi twans aíþþáu máist þrins \"by twos or at most by threes\"; ana ƕarjanōh fimftiguns \"by fifties in each (company)\"; insandida ins twans ƕanzuh \"he sent them forth two and two\".\nMultiplicative numerals answer the question \"how many times more?\"\nand are formed by adding the adjectival stem -falþs to the stem of the corresponding cardinal.\nExtant are áinfalþs \"onefold, simple\"; fidurfalþs \"fourfold\" (note, not *fidwōrfalþs); taíhuntaíhundfalþs \"hundredfold\"; managfalþs \"manifold\".\nNumeral adverbs answer the question \"how often?\"\nor \"how many times?\".\nThey are formed by combining the cardinal or ordinal with the noun *sinþs \"time\" (lit. \"a going\"), and placing the result in the dative case: áinamma sinþa \"once\"; anþaramma sinþa \"a second time\"; twáim sinþam \"twice\"; þrim sinþam \"thrice\"; fimf sinþam \"five times\"; sibun sinþam \"seven times\".\nCompare [Old English](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-english) ǣne sīða \"once\", fīf sīða \"five times\".","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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