Endings: Singular. a. In the nominative, the usual masc. and fem. ending is s—which, however, is wanting in derivative ā and ī-stems; it is also euphonically lost (150) by consonant-stems. Neuters in general have no ending, but show in this case the bare stem; a-stems alone add m (as in the accus. masc.). Among the pronouns, am is a frequent masc. and fem. nom. ending (and is found even in du. and pl.); and neuters show a form in d.
b. In the accusative, m or am is the masc. and fem. ending—am being added after a consonant and ṛ, and after ī and ū in the radical division, and m elsewhere after vowels. The neuter accusative is like the nominative.
c. The instrumental ending for all genders alike is ā. With final i- and u-vowels, the ā is variously combined, and in the older language it is sometimes lost by contraction with them. Stems in a make the case end in ena (sometimes enā in V.), and those in ā make it end in ayā; but instances occur, in the early language, of immediate addition of ā to both a and ā.
d. The dative ending is in general e; and with it likewise the modes of combination of i and u final are various (and disappearance by contraction not unknown in the oldest language). The a-stems are quite irregular in this case, making it end in āya—excepted is the pronominal element -sma, which combines (apparently) with e to -smāi. In the personal pronouns is found bhyam (or hyam).
e. A fuller ending āi (like gen.-abl. ās and loc. ām: see below) belongs to feminine stems only. It is taken (with interposed y) by the great class of those in derivative ā; also by those in derivative ī, and (as reckoned in the later language) in derivative ū. And later it is allowed to be taken by feminine stems in radical ī and ū, and even by those ini and u: these last have it in the earliest language in only exceptional instances. For the substitution of āi for abl.-gen. ās, see below, h.
f. The ablative has a special ending, d (or t), only in a-stems, masc. and neut., the a being lengthened before it (except in the personal pronouns of 1st and 2d person, which have the same ending at in the pl., and even, in in the old language, in the dual). Everywhere else, the ablative is identical with the genitive.
g. The genitive of a-stems (and of one pronominal u-stem, amu) adds sya. Elsewhere, the usual abl.-gen. ending is as; but its irregularities of treatment in combination with a stem-final are considerable. With i and u, it is either directly added (only in the old language), added with interposed n, or fused to es and os respectively. With ṛ (or ar) it yields ur (or us: 169 b).
h. The fuller ās is taken by feminine stems precisely as āi is taken in the dative: see above. But in the language of the Brāhmaṇas and Sūtras, the dative-ending āi is regularly and commonly used instead of ās, both of ablative and of genitive. See 365 d.
i. The locative ending is i in consonant- and ṛ and a-stems (fusing with a to e in the latter). The i- and u-stems (unless the final vowel is saved by an interposed n) make the case end in āu; but the Veda has some relics or traces of the older forms (ay-i [?] and av-i) out of which this appears to have sprung. Vedic locatives from i-stems end also in ā and ī. The pronominal element -sma makes the locative -smin. Stems in an in the older language often lose the i, and use the bare stem as locative.
j. The ending ām is the locative corerspondent to dat. āi and abl.-gen. ās, and is taken under the same circumstances: see above.
k. The vocative (unless by accent: 314) is distinguished from the nominative only in the singular, and not quite always there. In a-stems, it is the unaltered stem, and so also in most consonant-stems; but neuters in an and in may drop the n; and the oldest language has sometimes a vocative in s from stems in nt and ṅs. Stems in ṛ change this to ar. In masc. and fem. i- and u-stems, the case ends respectively in e and o; in neuters, in the same or in i or u. Stems in ā change ā to e; derivative ī and ū are shortened; radical stems in long vowels use the nominative form.