declinable
Definition
- Adjective:
- (Linguistics) Capable of being inflected for case, number, and gender; said especially of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles in languages that have grammatical declension.
- In a broader sense, subject to a regular pattern of grammatical change according to syntactic function.
Usage Examples
- (They can change form to show case, such as "I" vs. "me".)
- (It remains the same regardless of grammatical role.)
- (They take different forms like "der", "den", "dem".)
Advanced Usage
"declinable word class": a category of words that undergo declension.
- Nouns and adjectives are typically declinable word classes in inflected languages. (These words change endings to indicate grammatical relationships.)
"declinable vs. indeclinable": a fundamental distinction in grammar textbooks.
- The textbook explains which prepositions are declinable and which are indeclinable in Ancient Greek. (Some prepositions can be declined like adjectives, while others cannot.)
Variants and Related Words
Declension (n): the process or system of inflecting nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.
- The declension of Latin nouns follows five main patterns. (The set of forms for case, number, and gender.)
Decline (v): to state the forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective according to case, number, and gender.
- Students must learn to decline the noun "puella" in Latin. (To recite or write its case forms.)
Indeclinable (adj): not capable of being declined; having the same form in all cases.
- The word "yesterday" is indeclinable in English; it never changes. (It does not have case endings.)
Synonyms
- Inflectable: able to undergo inflection (a broader term that includes both declension and conjugation).
- Case-marked: showing grammatical case through changes in form.
Related Idioms