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intransitive clauses. In (19), zelam, ‘man,’ is the subject of a past-tense transitive
sentence, and is correctly marked with a masculine oblique marker -î. The object sêv,
‘apple,’ is in the direct case and left unmarked.
(17) medîr kurk-î di-bîn-it
owner boy-OBL.M IPFV-see-PRS-3SG
‘The owner sees the boy.’
(18) medîr hat-Ø
Şivan come.PST-3SG
‘Şivan came.’
(19) zelam-î sêv xwar-Ø
man-OBL.M apple eat.PST-3SG
‘The man ate the apple.’
In exception to these rules are the few irregular verbs wherein the object is always in the
direct case.
Nouns also take the oblique case when they are in a prepositional phrase or a
GOAL (as per the discussion on this subject in § 4.4.1.2 on basic constituent order). In (20),
the subject Bêbîn, a woman’s name, is marked with the feminine oblique marker, -ê.
Rezbar is also a woman’s name. As the object of the preposition bu, it is correctly marked
with a feminine oblique marker. In (21), sîk is a GOAL, a post-verbal argument. It, too, is
correctly marked as an oblique.
(20) Bêbîn-ê ew kirrî-Ø bu Rezbar-ê
Beybeen-OBL.F 3D buy.PAST-3SG for Rezbar-OBL.F
‘Beybeen bought it for Rezbar.’
(21) Şivan çu-Ø sîk-ê
Shivan go.PST-1SG market-OBL.F
‘Shivan went to the market.’
Some exceptions to these rules for oblique case are presented in § 4.4.2.3 on personal
pronouns and § 4.4.2.4 on noun modification.
So, in review of the above, the direct case is never marked, while the oblique case
is marked with a suffix that matches the number and gender of the noun: -î for masculine,
-ê for feminine. If a noun in the oblique case is plural, it is marked with the non-gender