Northian grammar

Northian grammar is highly synthetic.

Overview

Ablaut

Ablaut is a system of vowel apophony, altering the quality or quantity of vowels but not their meaning, that is inherited from Proto-Nordic-Northian and ultimately Proto-Erani-Eracuran. It affects most classes of words in Northian. Though ablaut was a regular process closely tied to accent in the reconstructed proto-language, by Galic times new ablaut formulae are no longer being made, and only a few remained productive. Moreover, existing formulae have been disrupted by sound change and both general and sporadic analogical replacement. The result that surfaces in Galic Northian is a rich yet unpredictable set of alternate morphologies that confuses modern readers and, often, even ancient Northians themselves.

In nouns, there are four main ablaut patterns that Northian inherited from its ancestors, in the scholarly discourse of PEE called acrostatic, proterokinetic, amphikinetic, and hysterokinetic. The medieval Northian grammarians astutely observed that the position of the accent in the genitive singular form was diagnostic of the declensional pattern: where it was on the final syllable (oxytone or OX), a full-grade ending was used in the oblique cases, and where it was not on the final syllable (paroxytone or PX), the zero-grade set of endings were used. The former situation developed mostly from PEE amphikinetic and hysterokinetic patterns, and the latter from the acrostatic and proterokinetic ones.

	PP (IVb)	PX (IVa)	OX (IIIa)	OX (IIIb)
nom. sg.	*wósu > vóhu	*wósu > vóhu	*léi̯mōn > lēmą̄	*ph₂tḗr > pitṓ
gen. sg.	*wósu-s > wóhuš	*uséu̯s > ušaóš	*limnós > limnṓḫ	*ph₂trós > piθrṓḫ

Nominals

Athematic

The following chart recapitulates the ordinary endings of athematic nouns in Galic Northian. Because the ablative is syncretized in the singular with the genitive in all athematic declensions and with the dative, with or without the instrumental, in the dual and plural, it is usually not listed separately in grammatical tables for athematic nouns.

Forms are often unpredictable and variable under the influence of ablaut, laryngeals reflexes, analogy, vowel contraction, and compensatory lengthening for illegal consonant clusters in coda position. All endings are subject to modification according to the suffix. OX stands for the oxytone group of patterns, and PX for the paroxytone group. Certain neuter nouns do not take plural endings but collective endings with a lengthened stem; these nouns are not formally predictable. Because neuter nouns always have the same nominative and accusative forms, only their nominative endings will be listed, and in grey.

	Athematic endings
	Singular		Dual		Plural	Collective
	OX	PX + PP	OX	PX + PP	Plural	Collective
Nominative	-s, -š, -ā̊, -ō -Ø		-ōi̯, -ā̊, -āḥ, -ōḥ, -ī	-a, -āu̯, -ī̆ḥ, -åḥ, -V̄R-Ø, -īḥ	-āḫ, -iš, -ōḫ, -a, -V̄R-Ø	-ā̊
Vocative	-Ø				-āḫ, -iš, -ōḫ, -a, -V̄R-Ø
Accusative	-m, -ā̆m, -in				-V̄n, -ā̆ṇġ, -ā̆ŋhiš
Locative	-i, -eC-Ø	-eC-Ø	-ō	-ū, -u̯-a	-hū, -šū	-eC-Ø
Genitive	-ōḫ, -ā̊	-š, -V̄s, -V̄n, -ā̆ṇġ, -ā̊, -Ø	-ōš	-uš, -u̯-ōḫ	-õ, -ą̄
Ablative	-ōḫ, -ā̊	-š, -V̄s, -V̄n, -ā̆ṇġ, -ā̊, -Ø	-mō	-V̄-m, -VC-ma	-muš
Dative	-ei̯, -ai̯, -oi̯	-Vi̯R-i, -Vi̯			-muš
Instrumental	-C-a, -V̄R-Ø				-mi̯āḫ

Nom. sing. A general discussion of the athematic declension cannot omit to mention that many of these divergent forms are conditioned on phonetic change, but so too there are divergences because proto-forms were likely divergent. In no other place is this statement truer than in the nominative singular. Animate (= masculine and feminine) nouns may have been in the proto-language sigmatic in the nominative singular, that is ending in *-s, or asigmatic, that is without final *-s and taking the zero garde or in some instances a long grade stem vowel. The source of this lengthening is disputed: some authorities regard it as a vestige of a final *-s dropping after a resonant, but others hold there was no *-s originally and attribute the long vowel to ablaut variation sensitive to the case.

Final *-s has been suffixed to animate nouns quite broadly but haphazardly in prehistory, so there is no obvious pattern to its distribution. We may distinguish three situations in Northian as to the nom. sing., stems ending in vowel, in resonant, and in non-resonants. -s is always present and surfaces as -š after *i- and *u- in animate nouns, and its absence indicates neuter gender, both instance without regard to ablaut pattern. Final *-s was absent in resonant-stems, whose nom. sing. is signified by lengthened grade in OX and PX. After plosives the distribution of *-s is not predictable: nepōt "grandchild" was asigmatic, but nōi̯ṯ "night", ponθāu̯ "path", and nouns ending in -tāi̯ṯ certainly had *-s, which is altered after most stems.

In OX resonant stems the lengthened grade is altered prehistorically by the opening of closed long syllables ending in a resonant. For those terminating in nasals, the nom. sing. ending is -ą̄. This alteration occurs regardless whether the ending originally had *o or *e. For those ending in liquids, an original *o vowel will surface as -å, while and original *e will surface as -ō. In PX and PP resonant stems, i.e. mātar, θāmān, etc., the nominative was also endingless but is affected by the vocalization of the zero-grade suffix, which is sensitive to the length of the preceding syllable. If short, the vocalized suffix will be long, and vice versa.

Voc. sing. The vocative consists of the bare strong stem in all cases. Where the stem had *-s it is dropped, and without *-s the stem is in the full grade or short-vowel grade.

Acc. sing. In the proto-language, the accusative ended in *-m. In stems ending in consonants, the ending is vocalized as -m̥ > PNN *-um. The same form occurs for stems ending in -u. In Galic *-um in auslaut is always altered to -ā̆m, varying according to the length of the preceding syllable. If the ending followed -i, long or short, it becomes -in. If the stem ended in a long vowel, such as with gunā- and ponθō-, the final syllable with -m is opened and becomes -ą̄ as with the nom. sing. Where the stem ended in -m itself, the sequence -m-m̥ was syncopated into the stem and surfaces as a long vowel at the PNN level, but likewise it is opened in Galic as -ą̄, as in θegą̄ "earth" and kīi̯ą̄ "winter".

Loc. sing. The locative generally took the accusative stem and either added final -i or was endingless. For the effects of -i on the preceding vowel, see dat. sing. entry.

Gen. sing. In OX the gen. singular always ended in -ōḫ < PNN *-os; its consistency led grammarians to consider it the feature of the OX declension. Where the stem ended in a open long vowel, the ending can become -ā̊ḫ, but this is merely orthographic—this ending is always disyllabic.

In PX and PP, the ending *-s when attached to the stem surfaces with a motley of forms, and this (compared to OX) irregularity in turn is the feature of the PPX declension. In stems ending in a short vowel plus nasal, *-s is dropped, and the preceding vowel is lengthened, as in pau̯ēn < PNN *pawen-s. Where the stem ended in a liquid, as in abel-, -s survives at the expense of the stem consonant and also causes the vowel to lengthen, here as abēs. In PX forms, final *-s is attached to a zero-grade suffix, as in mātūš < PEE *meh₂tr̥s and nomaṇġ < *Hnomn̥s. Conversely, if the stem ended in -ā or -ē, the result is -ā̊ < *-ās, e.g. gāna̯tri̯ā̊ and pālθvā̊. In s-stems, the ending generally disappears, e.g. māṇġ < *mn̥s-s. The ending is only neatly preserved after -i and -u and their respective allophones.

Abl. sing. For all athematic nouns, the ablative singular was syncretized wtih the genitive singular.

Dat. sing. In OX the dat. sigular ending was -ei̯. This ending susceptible to colouring by a preceding *h₂-, as well as the influence of -i̯, to become -ai̯. If the preceding consonant was u̯, the result was -oi̯, as *e following *u̯ always became o. In PX and PP, the dat. ending was -i. For all resonant stems, the ending -i caused the preceding vowel to mutate; an original *a became ae̯, and *e became i. For stems ending in -n, the -n sandwiched between i became ñ. In all cases the dat. singular ending following a vowel was a separate syllable.

Ins. sing. The OX ending -ōi̯ for the ins. singular originated as *-eh₁ in the proto-language. This ending is rarely problematic by phonological processes, but it is liable to be replaced in some instances. The PX ending evolved from *-h₁. This ending was preserved only after plosives as -a. Following resonants, the preceding vowel was lengthened. If the preceding vowel was long, -ā̊ was the general outcome.

Nom. / voc. / acc. du. For animate nouns, the du. ending for all direct cases in OX was generally -ōi̯ < *-ē. After i, the ending became -ā, and after u, -ō. After stems ending in laryngeals, the outcome was -å. In PX, the ending -a is visible after only after plosives, as it had the proto-form of *-h₁. After resonant and vowel stems, the ending was dropped causing the preceding vowel to lengthen, e.g. dorāu̯. After laryngeals, -å could also appear, since the intervening laryngeal caused ending to become vocalized. For all neuter nouns, the ending was -ī.

Loc. du. In OX the dual loc. ending was -ō < *-ou̯. In PX, the ending was -ū, which developed from original *-u lengthened in final position; the ending is only altered after stems ending in -u̯-, where prehistorically the ending dissimilated to *-o and then became -a in an unaccented position.

Gen. du. The proto-form of the dual genitive is usually considered the same as the locative, with added *-s at the end. Thus in OX the ending that surfaced was -ōš for *-ou̯s. In PX, the ending was -uš, which like the locative dissimilated to *-os if there was a preceding u. In this case, the ending was -ōḫ.

Abl. / dat. / ins. du. These three forms were syncretized in Northian as -mō in OX and -ma in PX.

Nom. / voc. pl. The proto-form here was *-es. If this ending followed i, it became -āḫ, or if it followed u, -ōḫ. Otherwise, since this ending was never accented, it became -iš. For neuter nouns, the nom. and acc. ending was from *-h₂, which appears as -a following stops and causes preceding vowels to lengthen if adjacent to one or separated by a resonant.

Acc. pl. This ending was derived from PEE *-n̥s following consonants or *-ns following vowels. *-n̥s generally gave rise by way of PNN *-uns to -ā̆ṇġ and -ā̆ŋhiš, both sensitive to the length of the preceding vowel. -ā̆ŋhiš is an allomorph that probably represents the nom. pl. ending appended to the acc. pl. ending, which had become rather opaque. In the case of *-i-ns, such as with the i-stems, the resulting ending was -īš.

Gen. pl. The ending was consistently -õm, or -ą̄m after vowel stems.

Abl. / dat. pl. The ending was consistently -muš.

Ins. pl. The ending was consistently -bi̯āḫ.

Thematic

There are two thematic declensions of nouns in Northian, the one ending in -ā (I declension) and -o (II declension). Neither declension displays visible ablaut, and accents of various forms are all lexically fixed on the same syllable.

The pattern ending in -ā was a prolific class in all branches of Northian. These nouns were all feminine in gender.

	Basic ā-stem endings
	sing	du	pl
nom	-āḥ	-ā	-aŋhā̊
voc	-āḥ		-aŋhā̊
acc	-ą̄̊m		-ā̊
loc	-aịi		-āụu	-āhu
gen	-ā̊	-āụuš	-amą̄̊m
abl	-āṯ	-āmi̯ā	-āmi̯ā̊
dat	-ai̯ai̯		-āmi̯ā̊
ins	-ā		-āi̯š

The chart below illustrates the o-stem declension of Galic. Animate nouns took an -ōḫ ending, while inanimate (neuter) nouns had the -õ ending in the nom. sing.

	Basic o-stem endings
	sing	du	pl
nom	-ōḫ, -õ	-ō, -oịī	-ā̊ḫ, -ohā̊ḫ, -āḥ
voc	-i		-ā̊ḫ, -ohā̊ḫ, -āḥ
acc	-õm		-amą̄̊
loc	-ōi̯		-ā̊	-ohu
gen	-oi̯ō		-ā̊š	-ā̊m
abl	-ōṯ	-omi̯ā	-omi̯ā̊
dat	-ōi̯		-omi̯ā̊
ins	-ō		-ōi̯š

Verbs

Stems

Unlike nouns, verbs may form more than one stem and be still considered the same lexical item. It is thus necessary to discuss the relationship between the various stem-formations as they are attached to the root. The relationship between verb-stems and endings they receive are as follows in the Galic language:

	Present stem	Aorist stem	Perfect stem	Bare root	Future stem
Primary endings	Present indicative				Future indicative
Thematic endings				Root subjunctive
-e ~ o- + thematic endings	Present subjunctive	Aorist subjunctive	Perfect subjunctive
e- + secondary endings	Imperfect	Aorist	Pluperfect
-i̯ā ~ ī- + secondary endings	Optative	Aorist optative	Perfect optative		Future optative
Secondary endings	Injunctive	Aorist injunctive	Perfect injunctive		Future injunctive
Imperative endings	Imperative	Aorist imperative	Perfect imperative	Root imperative	Future imperative
Future imperative endings	Future imperative		Future perfect imperative
Perfect endings			Perfect indicative

From each root, which is agnostic as to part of speech in the proto-language, can arise multiple stems classified as present, aorist, or perfect, differentiated by their affixes. To these stems are attached endings to constitute the finite verb, which conveys tense/aspect, mood, voice, person, and number.

Primary and secondary athematic

The athematic verb endings, like their noun counterparts, are directly attached to the verbal stem without an intervening theme vowel. The primary endings are used for the athematic present, and the secondary endings for the athematic present injunctive, the imperfect, and (with the suffix) the optative, as well as the aorist indicative, injunctive, and optative.

There are two sets of (phonologically conditioned) parallel endings called the long and short endings. The long endings (noted below in grey) arise from a laryngeal between the stem and ending, whose effects are determined by neighbouring sounds. Where it precedes a guttural consonant, it becomes a, and a coronal consonant, i. If it preceded e, as in the case of the act. 3 pl., the e is coloured according to the laryngeal's identity. Otherwise, all laryngeals in this position behave alike and are indistinguishable. If the laryngeal was separated from a following consonant by another laryngeal, as in the case in the mid. 1 and 3 sing. and 2 and 3 du., the two adjacent vowels resulting are liable to be contracted in orthography, but this is merely a writing convention.

Primary active endings				Primary middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing		du		pl
	sing	du	pl		trans	intrans	trans	intrans	trans	intrans
1p	-aēmi	-iu̯iñi	-amiñi	1p	-aai̯		-iu̯ozθa		-amozθa
2p	-i[s]i	-itāḫ	-ite/ti/ta	2p	-itai̯		-aātaθai		-i[s]θvo
3p	-iti	-ites/tiš	-(e)nθi	3p	-itoi̯	-o	-aātāi̯ī	-aā	-inθro	-ir/ro/ūš

Secondary active endings				Secondary middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing		du		pl
	sing	du	pl		trans	intrans	trans	intrans	trans	intrans
1p	-(ā̆)m/n	-iu̯ōḫ	-amōḫ	1p	-aa		-iu̯oθa		-ameθa
2p	-i(s)	-itam	-ité	2p	-ita		-ii̯(a)tāθi		-iθō
3p	-it	-itim	-(ā̆)t	3p	-ito	-o	-ii̯ātā	-aā	-(a)r

1 sing. The primary and secondary active endings differ with the hic et nunc particle *-i in the proro-language, for the singular active. The element m is accepted in mainstream reconstructions of Proto-Erani-Eracuran to signify the first person. As m is a sonant, the ending -i in the primary conjugation can trigger mutation in the preceding syllable in the usual manner, e.g. diθēi̯mi < *didʰeh₁mi. In the secondary conjugation, final -m can vocalize to -ā̆m if following a stop.

In the middle voice, the ending evolves from *-h₂ey > -ai̯.

2 sing. In the primary conjugation, the signifying element of the active second singular *s can become h or z depending on the phonetic context. In the secondary is usually dropped after stems ending in a plosive or sonant, but it does regularly appear in the optative where it obligatorily follows a vowel.

The middle ending here is *-th₂ey > -tai̯.

3 sing. This -ti ending is usually retained in the primary conjugation. If the stem ended in a dental, the ending was liable to mutate in several ways. In the secondary, -t can displace preceding stops or be dropped in some contexts.

The middle ending of the third singular depends on the meaning of the word and the stem used, which is not quite predictable and must be learned in some cases. In many stem-classes, an middle verb with intransitive menaing will take the ending -o, and those with transitive meaning, -toi̯. In other cases, the ending -toi̯ is always used, regardless of meaning.

1 du. The active ending is from *-weni; mutation inevitably occurs in the first syllable, giving -u̯iñi.

In the middle, the form -u̯ozθa < *-wesdʰh₂ is found.

2 du. Here the active ending -tāḫ is for *-th₂es. An epenthentic -s- is sometimes found if the stem ended in a dental to avoid a sequence of two dentals together, and the resulting combination is sometimes resolved to prehistoric *-ss-. But this was not a universal phenomenon, and sometimes the geminate dental either drops or evne surfaces. Such examples are often interpreted by analogical restoration.

-tõ is found in the middle for *-tom.

3 du. The active allomorphs -tes ~ -tiš reflect *-tes, in accented and unaccented positions, respectively. For most athematic verbs the accent is mobile, consistently on the ending, so the former will be more common; the latter is seen on verbs with recessive accent like déθitiš and éstiš "you (pl.) give" and "sit". As with all endings which begin with t, it is liable to following another dental.

As in the case of the third singular, the middle ending here is sensitive to the stem-class of the verb and its general meaning. The transitive ending is -tą̄ < *teh₂m, and the intransitive ending is usually -ā. This latter ending is unique in the Erani-Eracuran family and has no known comparanda, and so it is possibly an innovation, though it is also argued to be an unique archaicism. But it is phonologically rather opaque, which hampers restoration of its proto-form.

1 pl. In the active one finds -miñi < *-meni, which is usually retained without complication.

In the middle, the ending -mozθa is encountered, for *-mesdʰh₂.

2 pl. Here, much akin to the 3 du., the allomorphs are either -te or -ti. -ti is clearly from *-te and is seen on verbs of recessive accent. However, a deviant form -ta also exists for some verbs, but the origin of -ta is unexplained.

The middle ending -θvo < *-dʰwe is found for the second plural. An -s- may be attached to the beginning of this ending for some verbs, and this augmentation is not restricted to those stems ending in a dental.

3 pl. In the third active plural, the ending -enθi is used. This ending is susceptible to laryngeal colouring if the verb stem ended in a laryngeal. Furthermore, this ending is the only one that regularly shows ablaut: where the accent was in the stem, the ending is *-n̥t > -at.

For the third plural middle, there are also endings which change according to the stem-class and meaning of the verb. Verbs with transitive meanings will generally have -nθro, while those with intransitive meanings may have either -ro or -ūš < *-r̥s.

Primary and secondary thematic

The primary and secondary thematic endings include a theme vowel between the stem and the ending-proper, varying between *e ~ o. The thematic endings formally differ in the active singular and third plural from the athematic ones but are transparently the same, with the addition of the theme vowel, in others. It is still a matter of active debate what the contrast between athematic and thematic endings was in the proto-language. The primary and secondary thematic endings are used in present and aorist stems in the same manner as the athematic ones.

Thematic active endings				Thematic middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	-ō	-ou̯ōḫ	-omōḫ	1p	-ā̊i̯	-ou̯ōzθa	-omozθa
2p	-ei̯	-etāḫ	-eti	2p	-etai̯i	-etõ	-eθō
3p	-ei̯i	-etiš	-onθi	3p	-etoi̯i	-etą̄	-ō

1 sg. The first singular active ending is -ō. The middle ending is -ā̊i̯ for *o-h₂e-i—the ending is disyllabic in Northian.

2 sg. The ending for the second active singular is -ei̯ The middle ending is the same as the athematic one, with the theme vowel e inserted.

3 sg. In the third singular one finds the ending -ei̯i; note that this ending is disyllabic, unlike that of the second singular. Ditto for the middle.

1 - 3 du. and 1 and 2 pl. For all these items the thematic forms are the same as the athematic ones, with thematic o or e added.

3 pl. The endings here are active -o and middle -ō.

Thematic secondary endings, active or middle, are all the same as athematic ones, with thematic vowel inserted in like manner as the primary.

Imperative athematic and thematic

The imperative in Northian does not have opposition between primary and secondary. It is observed that the imperative usually implies immediacy, while the stem has aspectual value regarding the action required. The first person imperative is always defective: a speaker expressing a requirement for oneself would use the future tense. For all dual forms, the imperative is the same as the indicative, there being no sign that these ever had distinct imperative endings in Northian.

Imperative active endings				Imperative middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	—	—	—	1p	—	—	—
2p	-θi	-tāḫ	-ti	2p	-svo	-ātaθa	-θvo
3p	-tū	-tiš	-nθū	3p	-to	-ātā	-nθō

The imperative forms for thematic verbs are as follows:

Imperative active endings				Imperative middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	—	—	—	1p	—	—	—
2p	-Ø	-etāḫ	-eti	2p	-esvo	-ātaθa	-esθvo
3p	-etū	-etiš	-enθū	3p	-eto	-ā̊tā	-onθō

Perfect

The perfect was an athematic formation, irrespective of the thematicity of the present or aorist stems.

Perfect active endings				Perfect middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	-a	-u̯o	-me	1p	If the perfect active is transitive, the middle is formed from the perfect subjunctive
2p	-ta	-āta	-e	2p
3p	-e	-ātā	-ā̆r	3p

Evolution

Northian is one of the relatively few Erani-Eracuran languages to retain multiple productive ablaut patterns in all classes of words, though OX endings have gained ground in many stem-classes at the expense of proterokientic and acrostatic formations. This tendency is attributed to surface consistency in hysterokinetic endings, which are regularly accented sing. gen. -ōḫ < *-os and dat. -ei̯ < *-ei̯. The proterokinetic and acrostatic endings were easily eroded and disfigured by comparison. Despite morphological alterations, the grammar of nouns did not have considerable tendency to evolve.

The most dramatic change from the Galic to the Epic language must be found in verbs rather than nouns. The Galic verb formed multiple stems with aspectual value, to which suffixes and personal endings were added to specify mood and tense. This system is cognate to those found in sister languages acorss the Erani-Eracuran family, particularly in Tennai and Syara. Even in the Didaskalic material, this system was very much intact, yet early in Epic literature, around 650 BCE, a less diverse and less inflected verbal system was already dominant. Particularly, the opposition between present and aorist forms had been lost, and the perfect became a generalized past tense stem.

Nouns classes

Overview

The principal classes of nouns are discussed first. The following chart lists the stems and accent patterns that are attested in Galic Northian, as well as the genders of attested nouns. A green cell indicates that the attestation of a stem-accent paradigm is solid (five lemmas or more and paradigm more or less complete); a yellow cell indicates a marginal attestation (one to four lemmas or paradigm incomplete); a red cell indicates no or only dubious attestations.

	-C	-m	-ns	-n	-r	-l	-s	-i	-u	-h₁	-h₂	-ī	-ū	-r/n	-t	-nt
OX	M/F	F	M/F	M/F	M/F	M/F	M/F	M/F	M/F	M	No	M/F	F	N	M/F	M/F
PX	F/N	No	No	N	No	No	N	All	All	No	F	F	F	N	No	No
PP	F/N	Yes	No	N	Yes	No	N	All	All	N	No	No	No	N	F	Yes

As will appear from this schematic, there are few noun classes that exhibit all three patterns that continue the ablaut patterns of the proto-language; rather, there was a strong tendency for noun classes to coalesce on one pattern identified with the stem, or for masculine and feminine nouns to coalesce on one pattern and neuter nouns on another.

In the latter case, neuter nouns are almost always identified with the paroxytone pattern, and masculine and feminine nouns with the oxytone. The exception is for i-stems and u-stems, where a considerable portion of masculine and feminine nouns inherit acrostatic patterns from the proto-language. In other cases, the skewed distribution of gender is inherited from the proto-language, as in the case of ī- and ū-stems, which historically are combinations of *i-h₂- and *u-h₂- and therefore take their feminine gender and proterokinetic pattern from the h₂-stems in PEE. Some nouns of this class have been further elaborated with an -s ending, which brings about the oxytone pattern and can be masculine in gender.

Obstruent stems

The category of consonant-stems consist only of those that end in -p and -k, while resonant- and vowel-stem root nouns are discussed in their own categories, whether suffixed or not, as the phonological processes that apply to them generate similar results.

The noun āfš < PEE *h₂ēp-s "river" is often the poster-boy of the Northian nouns due to its straightforward stem and clear ablaut alteration between ā ~ a. ap "force" is used for neuter nouns, displaying PEE e ~ Ø ablaut > Galic o ~ Ø. Both these nouns are of the OX type, displaying an accented genitive ending in -ō < PNN *-os.

	sā āfš, "river"			taṯ ap, "force"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	āfš	āpōi̯	āpiš	ap	apī	apa
voc	ap		āpiš
acc	āpam		āpaṇġ
gen	apōḫ	apōš	apõ	bōḫ	bōš	bõ
loc	api	apō	apšo	api	bō	fšu
dat	apei̯	apmō	apmuš	bei̯	bmō	bmuš
ins	apōi̯	apmō	apmuš	bōi̯	bmō	bmuš

There is also a class of nouns with PX inflection in this group.

	taṯ osta, "bone"
	sing	du	coll
nom	osta	ostī	ostō
voc
acc
gen	stēs	steuš	ostō
loc	stēi̯	steo	ostēi̯
dat	stēi̯	stēma	ostēi̯i
ins	stōi̯	stēma	ostēi̯i

osta "bone" is from PEE *h₃esth₁ and behaves somewhat like a -h₁ stem somewhat similar to ponθōs. In the sing. nom. the accented syllable is in e-grade which, under the influence of the initial laryngeal, becomes Galic o-. In the oblique cases, the root is in zero grade, the suffix being accented, and surfaces as stē < *h₃steh₁-. In the du. gen. and dat., the laryngeal ending of the stem scans as part of the ending syllable beginning in vowel and thus does not lengthen the stem vowel, creating the stem of ste-; in the dat. the ending does begin with a consonant, which then causes the laryngeal to be part of the suffix syllable and lengthens it. The plural is a collective and shows e-grade in the root and vr̩ddhied o-grade in the nom. ending < *h₃estōh₁ "bones (of a skeleton)". The oblique stem of the collective is from *h₃esth₁-, the full-grade root having spread from the nom., replacing *h₃sth₁-. Gen. ostō reflects *h₃esth₁-os. The collective loc. has *h₃esteh₁ > ostē-.

t-stems

The stems ending in -t comprise both of root nouns and suffixed nouns of all ablaut patterns. They are underlyingly the same as other obstruent stems but are distinguished in that final -s is preserved in the nominative case, at the expense of the -t-.

nēpōs "grandchild" has the stem nep-ot-, where the suffix undergoes ablaut to zero grade in the oblique cases as nep-t- > nef-t-.

	ha nēpōs, "grandchild"
	sing	du	pl
nom	nēpōs	nepotōi̯	nepotiš
voc	nēpōs		nepotiš
acc	nepotam		nefθaṇġ
gen	nefθōḫ	nefθōš	nefθõm
loc	nepoti	nefθō	nefšu
dat	nefθei̯	nefθmō	nefšmuš
ins	nefθa	nefθmō	nefšmuš

The very well-attested word nōxš "evening, night" is usually thought to be a root noun with persistent accent on the initial syllable at the Proto-Erani-Eracuran level, but some authorities consider the root to be *(d)negʷ and extended by the suffix -t-. Whatever the case in the parent language, the -t- never becomes an independent syllable even in the plural nominative, which does not support its potential identification as a suffix. But a small group of other words with proparoxytone inflection exhibit the same behaviour.

	hā nōxš, "evening, night"
	sing	du	pl
nom	nōxš	noxta	noxtiš
voc	nōxš		noxtiš
acc	noxtam		noxtaṇġ
gen	noxtōḫ	noxtuš	noxtõm
loc	nakti	noxtū	nošθū
dat	nakti	noxtōi̯	noxśmuš
ins	noxta	noxtōi̯	noxśmuš

The PEE suffix *-teh₂ts created nouns of states of being; the suffix is non-ablauting and takex oxytone endings. The following example has many cognates in EE languages and is from a common root *n̥-mr̥teh₂ts > PNN *ummurtāts > Galic āmmərətās.

	hā āmmərətās, "immortality"
	sing	du	pl
nom	āmmərətās	āmmərətātōi̯	āmmərətātiš
voc	āmmərətāṯ		āmmərətātiš
acc	āmmərətātam		āmmərətātaṇġ
gen	āmmərətātōḫ	āmmərətātōš	āmmərətātõ
loc	āmmərətāti	āmmərətātō	āmmərətāššu
dat	āmmərətātei̯	āmmərətāsmō	āmmərətāθmuš
ins	āmmərətāta	āmmərətāsmō	āmmərətāθmuš

nt-stems

The nt-stems are very closely associated with the formation of the present active participle in -nt-. But while participles have distinct masculine, feminine, and neuter forms, nt-stem nouns have the form of the masculine participle and a lexical gender (that is, the noun can have feminine gender but will always have the same inflectional endings as the masculine participle).

	ha dōs, "tooth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	dōs	dónδōi̯	dónδiš
voc	doṇṯ		dónδiš
acc	donδəm		dónδaṇġ
gen	dātōḫ	dātōš	dātõm
loc	dónδi	dātō	dāśū
dat	dātei̯	dāśmō	dāśmuš
ins	dāta	dāśmō	dāśmuš

m-stems

This class is known from only a few but important nouns, e.g. θáɣam "earth", jii̯ā̊ "winter", and dā̊ "house". All m-stem nouns in Northian are feminine in gender, though with only a few examples, this may not be an actual rule in the proto-language.

	hā hīi̯ā̊, "winter"
	sing	du	pl
nom	jīi̯ā̊	jīi̯amōi̯	jīi̯aēmiš
voc	jīi̯õm		jīi̯aēmiš
acc	jīi̯ą̄m		jīi̯amāṇġ
gen	jimōḫ	jimōš	jimõm
loc	hīi̯ai̯mi	jimō	jimhū
dat	jimāi̯	jimmō	jimmuš
ins	jīm	jimmō	jimmuš

Most suffixed nouns with OX inflection will have a full-grade suffix, e.g. jii̯ā̊, but the archaic noun θáɣam has a full-grade root and zero-grade suffix reflecting *dʰéǵʰm̥. The zero-grade suffix in the nominative, for an OX noun, indicates a full-grade suffix in the accusative, i.e. *dʰǵʰem-m̥. However, the sequence *-em-m̥ in the proto-language resolves prehistorically to *-ēm via Stang's law and appears in Northian as -ā̊. As a result, the nominative ending appears like an accusative one (which usually ended in -am < *-um), and the accusative ending, like a nominative one (*-V̄R usually > -ā̊). This is often called the inverted declension (from Acrean declinatio inversa) due to the counterintuitive nominative and accusative surface forms.

Note that the full grade in the accusative plural θágmaṇġ reverts to the root syllable; the suffix is in zero grade. I-mutation affects the locative singular and nominative plural in the usual manner.

	hā θáɣam, "ground, earth" = χθών
	sing	du	pl
nom	θáɣam	θxamōi̯	θximiš
voc	θáɣam		θximiš
acc	θxā̊		θágmaṇġ
gen	θxmōḫ	θxą̄mōš	θxmõm
loc	θximi	θxą̄mō	θxāhū
dat	θxmāi̯	θxą̄mmō	θxą̄muš
ins	θxma	θxą̄mmō	θxą̄muš

To this table above must be subjoined that θxā̊ is only found in very archaic texts, and the more intuitive form θáɣamām can more usually be found in later texts.

ns-stems

mā̊aṇġ "moon" has one of the less transparent paradigms in Galic.

	hā mā̊aṇġ, "moon, month"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mā̊aṇġ	māŋhə̄i̯	māŋhāḫ
voc	mā̊ṇġ		māŋhāḫ
acc	māŋhəm		māŋhaṇġ
gen	māŋhə̄	māṇśmōš	māŋhą̄m
loc	māṇġ	māŋhə̄u̯	māŋhu
dat	māŋhai̯	māṇśmō	māṇśmuš
ins	māŋha	māṇśmō	māṇśmuš

n-stems

A type of n-stem is found in the suffix *-mn, which are prolific in Northian in both the Galic and Epic languages, and they exhibit three ablaut patterns. In this case, the oxytone pattern was normal in animate nouns, and the paroxytone in neuter nouns. The acrostatic ablaut pattern is restricted to a few inherited terms.

In akmå "stone", the nom. singular ending is due to the opening of original final long syllables ending in nasals. The short stem is visible in the voc. and acc. The weak stem is from PEE *h₂kmn- > PNN *kumn- > Galic kāšm-. The nom. dual and acc. singular and plural have the stem influenced by the nom. singular. The original weak stem is visible in the sing. locative and pl. nominative, where it has shifted from *e to ai̯ under the influence of the ending containing i. This change would thus date the replacement of e-grade suffixes with o-grade to after the i-epenthesis has occurred.

	hā asmā̊, "stone"
	sing	du	pl
nom	asmā̊	asmonōi̯	asmiñiš
voc	asmon		asmiñiš
acc	asmonam		asmonaṇġ
gen	xāšmōḫ	xāšmōš	xāšmõ
loc	xāmiñi	xāmnō	xāmāhu
dat	xāšmai̯	xāšmō	xāšmuš
ins	xāšma	xāšmō	xāšmuš

θēman "temple" has the variable ending -ā̆n after PNN *-un, resolving as short -an due to the long vowel preceding. The stem shows ablaut reflecting PEE *dʰéh₁-mn̥ ~ dʰh₁-mén-s.

	θaṯ θēman, "house of a god, temple"
	sing	du	pl
nom	θēman	θēmnī	θēmēn
voc
acc
gen	šmēn	šmenuš	šmenõm
loc	šmēn	šmenu	šmai̯ni
dat	šmai̯ñi	šmāŋma	šmeŋmuš
ins	šmēn	šmāŋma	šmeŋmuš

The word nomān takes the proparoxytone pattern. The nom. sing. represents PEE *h₃nomn̥, where PNN final *-ā̆n was resolved long due to the short syllable preceding. The gen. is for PNN *nomā̆ns, with zero-grade gen. ending *-s. This noun in particular does not form a plural bur a collective. In the nom. the collective probably had PNN *nomōn, but *nomēn is also possible. The collective has an invariant stem throughout the paradigm.

	taṯ nomān, "name"
	sing	du	coll
nom	nomān	nomnī	nomā̊
voc
acc
gen	nomaṇġ	nomnuš	nomnõm
loc	nomaṇġ	nomunhu	noŋhu
dat	nomni	nomāma	nomnei̯
ins	nomna	nomāma	nomnei̯

There are also n-stems not as part of a suffix of *-mVn. As they are considerably rarer than the latter type, they are sometimes emphasized as "bare" n-stems. They are of two types, distinguished in the nom. sing., those with -ō and those with -ēn. Though uncommon, they are typical of family names in the Epic age.

In woi̯ą̄ "wine", of the type ending in -ō, PNN stems are ablauting *wei̯-on- < *wei̯-Hon and *wī-n- < *wiH-n-. In the nom. sing. the root vowel is lengthened and opened prehistorically. In the oblique cases, stem *-n is altered before endings beginning in -m and becomes -ŋ-.

	sā woi̯ą̄, "wine"
	sing	du	pl
nom	woi̯ą̄	woi̯onōi̯	woi̯oniš
voc	woi̯õ		woi̯oniš
acc	wīi̯onam		woi̯onāṇġ
gen	wīnōḫ	wīnōš	wīnõ
loc	wīi̯an	wīnō	wīŋhu
dat	wīi̯ei̯	wīŋmō	wīŋmuš
ins	wīn	wīŋmō	wīŋmuš

ōrēn "lamb, ram" exemplifes the stems ending in -en-. The direct stem reflects PEE *wr̥h₁-en- > Galic wor-en, by way of PNN *wur-en, and the oblique *wr̥h₁-n- > PNN *wurə-n-. In both cases, PNN *wu dissimilates to *wo, and in Galic gives ō. This ablaut pattern contrasts with those in -on- in that the root is never accented and always shows zero-grade.

	sa worą, "ram"
	sing	du	pl
nom	worą̄	worenōi̯	woriñiš
voc	woren		woriñiš
acc	worą̄		worenaṇġ
gen	wōra̯nōḫ	wōra̯nōš	wōra̯nõ
loc	woriñi	wōra̯nō	wōra̯hu
dat	wōra̯nei̯	wōra̯mō	wōra̯muš
ins	wōra̯nōi̯	wōra̯mō	wōra̯muš

r-stems

r-stem nouns contain members from all three accentual patterns.

mātar "mother" represents the group with inherited acrostatic pattner, whose accent persists on the root syllable and always takes suffix and ending in zero-grade. frātar "brother" is declined in like manner. This is a small group of nouns recognized by their unaccented endings in -ā̆.

	hā mātā̆r, "mother"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mātā̆r	mātēr	mātiriš
voc	mātā̆r		mātiriš
acc	māδrąm		māδraṇġ
gen	mātūš	māturuš	māδrõm
loc	māδri	māturo	mātuššu
dat	māδri	māturụma	māturmuš
ins	māδra	māturụma	māturmuš

Gen. mātūš < PNN *māturs < PEE *meh₂tr̥s. In the du. the stem ending in resonant causes final *-ə to drop and lengthen the preceding *u. The acc. pl. seems to reflect PEE *meh₂trn̥s (for expected *meh₂tern̥s), while other Nordic languages point to *meh₂tern̥s.

In Galic, māδra "two mothers" is often an ellipsis for "mother and father".

Many derived nouns as well as agent nouns in -tor take PX inflection, such as dōtar "giver".

	ha dōtar, "giver"
	sing	du	pl
nom	dōtar	ditō	dōteriš
voc	dōtar		dōteriš
acc	dōδram		dōtərəṇġ
gen	ditōḫ	diteruš	diterõm
loc	ditiri	diteru	diteršu
dat	ditiri	diterma	ditermuš
ins	ditō	diterma	ditermuš

sōhitār "daughter" represents the oxytone group of the r-stems, which includes many agentive nouns that terminate in -er and -or. They are recognizable by their zero-grade nom. endings and full-grade -ō endings in gen. The behaviour of the word ɣehār < PEE *ǵʰésr̥ "arm" is underlyingly identical. In the nom. sing. the strong stem reflects PNN *dʰwegə- < PEE *dʰwegh₁-; the weak stem from PNN *dʰugə- The initial *dʰwe > Galic sō-. The weak stem should expect to surface as *δuɣaδr-, but the initial aspirate is simply de-aspirated probably in avoidance of three consecutive fricatives to give attested *duɣaδr-, to which regular OX endings are appended.

	hā sōhitār, "daughter"
	sing	du	pl
nom	sōhitār	duhiterōi̯	duhitiriš
voc	sōhitār		duhitiriš
acc	duhiteram		duhitərəṇġ
gen	duhiδrōḫ	duhiturōš	duhiδrõ
loc	duhiδrei̯	duhiturō	duhituššu
dat	duhiδrei̯	duhiturmō	duhiturmō
ins	duhiδrōi̯	duhiturmō	duhiturmō

pitō "father" is at a small variance from the pattern of "daughter", where in the nom. the accent is on the ending instead of the stem; otherwise, it follows the pattern of "daughter" nearly exactly. Only the gen. form paδrūš is aberrant and is influenced by "mother"; this genitive ending is common to all two-syllable nouns ending in -r, with the exception of "hand". The suppletive vocative atta is reserved for a biological father, whereas the general term pitō can have a broader application as a term of respect for any elderly male member of the community.

	ha pitō, "father"
	sing	du	pl
nom	pitō	piterōi̯	pitiriš
voc	piter / átta		pitiriš
acc	piteram		pitərəṇġ
gen	piδrūš	piδrōš	piδrõ
loc	patíri	piterō	piδruššu
dat	patíri	piturmō	piturmuš
ins	pitār	piturmō	piturmuš

An r-stem noun not within the formation -tr is nō "man", gen. drūš < PNN *nr̥s. As it is seen this noun originally has hysterokinetic accent, but acc. sing. drum and pl. drāṇġ reflect PEE zero-grade stem *nr-. Nom. pl. niriš is the only place where the full-grade stem appears in the paradigm.

	ha nō, "man, male person"
	sing	du	pl
nom	nō	drōi̯	niriš
voc	nō		niriš
acc	drām		drāṇġ
gen	drōḫ	dārōš	drõ
loc	níri	dārō	dāršu
dat	drei̯	dārmō	dārmuš
ins	drōi̯	dārmō	dārmuš

s-stems

The s-stem nouns can be divided into two general types: nouns like xratōḫ and aōšā̊ terminates in an ablauting suffix containing -s, and those like mūš have a root that terminates in -s. The former suffix exhibits ablaut from *-os- ~ -es-, while the second class may or may not display ablaut.

The os/es-stems are a class of very common neuter nouns in Northian and are directly cognate to those found in Nordic languages. Together they have both PX and PPX patterns. Though in Galic times and later only the PX pattern is productive, there are four or five very common PPX os/es-stem nouns constituting a complete paradigm. Let the common phrase xratišōḫ māṇġ-ša "by mind and by power" therefore provide examples of this declension.

In PX the nom. sing. ended in -ō, regularly < PNN and PEE *-os; this *-os is not to be confused for the thematic nom. sing. ending or the athematic OX gen. sing. ending and instead is a bare stem. The gen. ended in -iš-ōḫ < PNN and PEE *-es-os. Before endings beginning with consonant, s is preserved or altered in regular ways.

	θaṯ xratōḫ, "intellect, power"
	sing	du	pl
nom	xratōḫ	xratišta	xratištāḥ
voc
acc
gen	xratištōḫ	xratištuš	xratištõ
loc	xratišti	xratištū	xratiššū
dat	xratišti	xratišma	xratišmuš
ins	xratišta	xratišma	xratišmuš

The PPX version of this stem had a few differences to the PX version that enabled it to withstand the general tendency to substitute PPX with PX or OX forms; its preservation cannot be unrelated, according to authorities, with the prevalence and prominence of the noun mānōḫ "mind", a central idea in the Galic religion and often mentioned in the Gales. The nom. sing. was mānōḫ < PEE *mn̥-os, with ending -ōḫ undergoing the same changes as the PX counterpart. The gen. had māṇġ < PEE *mn̥-s-s.

	θaṯ mānōḫ, "mind"
	sing	du	coll
nom	mānōḫ	māŋhī	māŋhā̊
voc
acc
gen	māṇġ	māŋhuš	māŋhōḫ
loc	māŋhi	māŋhū	māŋhōḫ
dat	māŋhi	māŋhma	māŋhei̯
ins	māŋha	māŋhma	māŋhei̯

The noun aōšā̊ "dawn" also has the *-os- ~ -es- suffix but has feminine gender; as such, it has a distinct accusative. The noun has three basic stems: the strong stem which appears in the sing. nom. and voc. comes from PEE *h₂eu̯s-os-, with regular lengthening of the final syllable anticipating a zero nominative ending; the middle stem appears in the other direct cases and is from *h₂us-es-; the weak stem appears in all other cases and is from *h₂us-s-, with full-grade endings as expected in oxytone words. Note the singular voc. ended in *-os which became *-oh and then -ōḫ in Galic; the final *-h is lost except before enclitics and compounds, where it can condition phonetic changes. The effects of the former *-h is denoted orthographically as <ḫ> but is otherwise silent.

Also presented is viịā̊ "fear", from PEE *bʰeyh₂-os, of masculine gender. The nom. sing. stem has been replaced by zero-grade PNN *bihₐ-. The stem ending in laryngeal will have as its residual effect the colouring of the oblique alloform of the suffix *-es- to PNN *-as- > Galic *-ah-.

	hā aōštā̊, "dawn"			ha viịā̊, "fear"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	aōštā̊	uštištōi̯	uštahāḫ	viịā̊	vii̯ahōi̯	vii̯ahāḫ
voc	aōštōḫ		uštahāḫ	vii̯ōḫ		vii̯ahāḫ
acc	uštahām		uštahāṇġ	vi̯ahām		vi̯ahahāṇġ
gen	ušštōḫ	ušštōs	ušštõm	višštōḫ	višštōs	višštõm
loc	uštišti	ušštō	ūšštū	vištišti	višštō	višštū
dat	ušštei̯	uššmō	uššmuš	višštei̯	viššmō	viššmuš
ins	ušštōi̯	uššmō	uššmuš	višštōi̯	viššmō	viššmuš

The word mūš "mouse" is a non-ablauting s-stem noun.

	sā mūš, "mouse, small rodent"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mūš	mūštōi̯	mūštiš
voc	mūš		mūštiš
acc	mūštam		mūštaṇġ
gen	mūštōḫ	mūštōs	mūštõm
loc	mūšti	mūštō	mūšštū
dat	mūštei̯	mūšmō	mūšmuš
ins	mūštōi̯	mūšmō	mūšmuš

i-stems

The i-stems were a prolific class of nouns in Northian during the Galic period. In PEE, the i-stems were completely parallel to the u-stems in virtually all contexts, but due to sound changes their surface forms in Northian are quite different. Accordingly, they are considered separate classes in Northian tradition.

	hā menδiš, "thought"			θaṯ mori, "sea"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	coll
nom	menδiš	menδēi̯	menδai̯āḫ	mori	morēi̯	morōi̯
voc	menδi		menδai̯āḫ
acc	menδin		menδī
gen	māδēš	māδei̯uš	māδei̯õm	brēš	brei̯uš	meri̯õm
loc	menδei̯	māδei̯ū	māδēšū	brei̯ei̯	brei̯ū	merišū
dat	māδei̯ai̯	māδēma	māδēmuš	brei̯ei̯	brēma	brēmuš
ins	māδēi̯	māδēma	māδēmuš	brī	brēma	brēmuš

The OX pattern of the nouns ending in -iš are mostly inheritances from the protolanguage, with paucal verifiable examples of later creations in this pattern. In the nominative dual and plural, the suffix is in o-grade, and the i̯ is consonantal. The combination *i̯e regularly > i̯a prehistorically; the same change intervenes in the athematic optative in verbs. In the dual, -i̯ah₁ > -i̯ā, cp. in other cases where this change does not occur, the dual ending *-eh₁ > *-ē > -ōi̯. Perhaps owing to the phonetic similarity between the dual and plural nom. forms, the ending for when *-eh₁ does not follow *i- -ōi̯ often displaces the expected -āḥ. In the plural, the ending *oi̯-es > *oi̯-as > -oi̯-āḫ.

	ha hokai̯š, "ally"
	sing	du	pl
nom	hokai̯š	sokoi̯āḥ sokoi̯ōi̯	sokoi̯āḫ
voc	hoki		sokoi̯āḫ
acc	hokin		hokoi̯ām
gen	śxiịōḫ	śxiịōš	śxiịõm
loc	śxoi̯i	śxiō	śxišu
dat	śxịi̯ei̯	śximō	śximuš
ins	śxī	śximō	śximuš

The word *fotiš "lord, master" has PP inflection. As a word it is not seen alone but does serve as the second element in the terms dā̊ṃśfatiš "master of the house" and vixšfatiš "lord of the settlement". It has been questioned what ablaut pattern *fotiš actually has as an independent word, with some authorities dissenting it actually had PP inflection, on the grounds that the accent seems fixed in compounds like dā̊ṃśfatiš because it is drawn away by the first element.

	ha dā̊ṃśfatiš, "master of the house" = δεσπότης
	sing	du	pl
nom	dā̊ṃśfatiš	dā̊ṃśfatī	dā̊ṃśfatiịāḫ
voc	dā̊ṃśfati		dā̊ṃśfatiịāḫ
acc	dā̊ṃśfatim		dā̊ṃśfatīn
gen	dā̊ṃśfatiš	dā̊ṃśfatiịuš	dā̊ṃśfatiịõ
loc	dā̊ṃśfati	dā̊ṃśfatiịū	dā̊ṃśfatišū
dat	dā̊ṃśfati	dā̊ṃśfatiị	dā̊ṃśfatimuš
ins	dā̊ṃśfatī	dā̊ṃśfatiị	dā̊ṃśfatimuš

u-stems

The plain u-stems of Northian reflect three ablaut patterns, and excepting the acrostatic they are both attested abundantly in the Galic language. The acrostatic pattern provides only inherited nouns, with no sign that new terms with this pattern were made.

	hā jenōš, "chin"			θaṯ dānū, "dew, tears"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	jenōš	jenuụa	jenəu̯ōḫ	dānū	dāunnī	dānāu̯
voc	jenaō		jenəu̯ōḫ
acc	jenā		jenau̯õ
gen	gāu̯ōḫ	gānnōš	gānuõ	daunnōḫ	daunnōš	daunnõ
loc	jenaō	gānnō	gānuhu	?	daunnō	daunuhu
dat	gāu̯ōi̯	gānumō	gānumuš	daunōi̯	daunumō	daunumuš
ins	gāu̯a	gānumō	gānumuš	daunnū	daunumō	daunumuš

The OX pattern had a nom. sg. ending in PNN *-ou̯-s which regularly gave Galic -ō-š, the final -š being a regularly conditioned result of *-is and *-us. The gen. and dat. reflects PNN *-u-os and *-u-ei̯ as expected in a hysterokinetic pattern. The ins. may reflect PEE *gen-u-eh₁ or *gen-u-h₁, and the metre does not clarify. The dual behaves as expected. In the plural, final -eōs < *-eu̯-es, as though *-e-u̯es. The expected *-eu̯-iš anomalously does not occur with OX nouns but does with PX nouns, which may be a dialectal influence. The acc. shows -eõ which is from *-eu̯-ōn < *-eu̯-ons < *-eu̯-uns.

In contrast with common-gender u-stem OX nouns, neuter u-stem OX nouns are very rare, and only one item dāonū "dew, tear" is well-attested. The nom. sing. is from PEE *déh₂nu > PNN *dānu. The oblique stem is from PEE *dh₂n̥-u- > Galic daunn- because *-nu̯- is subject to assimilation to -nn-. The dual has *dāun-w- (effectively a mixture between direct and oblique stems) because the neuter dual ending is vocalic and causes the preceding *-w- to become a consonant, which then causes the *-n- preceding it to become *-n̥-. Interestingly, a person's tears is usually inflected as a dual, possibly itemizing tears as "streams of tears" coming from a person's eyes (which is by default inflected as dual).

	ha hui̯us, "child" = υἱύς			θaṯ ai̯ū, "lifetime"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	coll
nom	hui̯uš	hui̯āu̯	sui̯au̯ōḫ	ai̯ū	ai̯āu̯	ai̯ō
voc	hui̯aō		sui̯au̯ōḫ
acc	hui̯ām		hui̯āṇġ
gen	hui̯ōš	hui̯au̯ō	hui̯au̯õ	i̯ao̯š	i̯au̯ō	i̯au̯ō
loc	hui̯au̯i	hui̯au̯ū	hui̯au̯šū	i̯ai̯vi	i̯au̯a	i̯au̯
dat	hui̯au̯i	hui̯au̯ma	hui̯au̯muš	i̯ai̯vi	i̯au̯ma	i̯au̯oi̯
ins	hui̯āu̯	hui̯au̯ma	hui̯au̯muš	i̯āu̯	i̯au̯ma	i̯au̯oi̯

The PX pattern in u-stem nouns is very prolific in both the Galic and Epic languages. Many are abstract nouns with the ending -tuš. The nom. ended in -uš, but it is not uncommon in the Late Canon material to see -ō. While many nouns would show root ablaut, the example provided above does not and therefore has all components in zero grade in the nom; the hypothetical forms *seu̯i̯uš or *sou̯i̯uš would be expected based on the general ablaut tendencies, but it is in fact the proto-form of sui̯uš that is attested in all EE languages. The gen. ended in *-ou̯-s, whence -ō-š. All the other oblique cases show -eu̯- in the suffix, which does very early spread to the gen. as well, such that -eu̯-s actually outnumbers the older -ou̯-s by a factor of more than 40 to 1.

The ins. sing. and nom. du. have identical endings becuase their PEE forms were both *eu̯-h₁ > Galic -ēu̯. The gen. du. has -eu̯ō, which reflects *eu̯-us; here, the final *-us dissimilated from the preceding vowel and became *-os, which regularly > -ō. The loc. has -eu̯-a which is the reflex of *-eu̯-o dissimiliated from *-eu̯-u. The nom. pl. and acc. have the expected forms, with PNN *-uns > Galic -ə̄ṇġ. All other forms in the plural are straightforward.

The neuter version of the PX u-stems displays regular ablaut, which alternates strong and weak stems. The strong has o-grade from PEE *poh₂-i̯u > PNN *pōi̯u > Galic pōi̯o. The oblique stem is from PEE *ph₂-i̯ou̯-s > PNN *pə-i̯ou̯-s > Galic pii̯ōš, where PNN *ə regularly becomes Galic -i- before high vowels or their allophones. The du. and pl. nom. have the same form because their endings in PEE were *-h₁ and *-h₂ respectively, which were levelled and trigger Cammer's law lengthening the preceding vowel.

	θaṯ doru, "wood" = δόρυ
	sing	du	coll
nom	dorū	doruụīḥ	dorāu̯
voc
acc
gen	doruš	doruu̯ōḫ	druu̯ōḫ
loc	derū	doruu̯a	doruu̯i
dat	doruu̯i	doruma	druu̯ēi̯
ins	dorūḥ	doruma	druu̯ēi̯

Laryngeal stems

Certain PEE nouns terminated in -h₁ or -h₂, which may follow a preceding vowel and showed ablaut in various ways. The ones without a preceding stem vowel will be discussed first.

The word fonδā̊ "path" had a stem ending in PEE *póntoh₁- ~ pn̥th₁-, with dual ablauting syllables that always show the same grades. The nom. pl. stands for *póntoh₁-es: the i̯ is spurious and does not cause the ending to become *-āḫ, as it always does were it genuine.

	ha fonδā̊, "path, way"
	sing	du	pl
nom	fonδā̊	fonδōi̯	fónδoịiš
voc	fonδā̊		fónδoịiš
acc	fonδām		fāδoā̊ṇġ
gen	fāδōḫ	fānδōš	fānδõ
loc	fonδō	fāδō	fāδu
dat	fāδei̯	fāδmō	fāδmuš
ins	fāδā	fāδmō	fāδmuš

gą̄ "woman" continues the PEE proterodynamic declension ending in *-h₂. This suffix also underlies the ī- and ū-stem declensions in Northian but is otherwise rarely seen alone. The full-grade stem is from *gʷénh₂ > gą̄n, and the zero-grade *gʷnéh₂- > jnā-.

	hā gą̄n, "woman" = γυνή
	sing	du	pl
nom	gą̄n	jnå	gonāḫ
voc	gą̄n		gonāḫ
acc	gonām		gonāṇġ
gen	jnās	jnāuš	jnāõ
loc	jnāi̯	jnāo	jnāhu
dat	jnāi̯	jnāma	jnāmuš
ins	jnå	jnāma	jnāmuš

ī-stems

The ī-stems in paroxytone has remained productive down to the Epic period as a feminizing suffix for athematic nouns. This suffix showed ablaut from full grade *-ieh₂ ~ -ih₂ > Northian -i̯ā ~ ī. As these nouns typically had a root that participated in ablaut, the suffix was in zero-grade in the strong cases and in full-grade in the weak ones. In the example janiδrī "genitrix", the nom. is asigmatic. Notice that, in the gen. ganụiδri̯ā̊, the laryngeal is syllabified with the preceding vowel and causes it to lengthen, but in the dat. ganụiδri̯ai̯i it syllabifies with the following vowel and does not cause the preceding one to lengthen; in both cases, though, the preceding vowel is coloured. The regular syllabification is only attested in the earliest Galic texts; by the later Galic period, the dative was remade according to the genitive and has a long suffix.

In dat. ganụiδri̯ai̯i, the first yod <i̯> is genuine, and the second is spurious or merely orthographic. It is inserted by certain Runic writers to remind the reader that the following <i> is a separate syllable and not an offglide. The dat. ending *-i does not become an offglide because it was preceded by a laryngeal, which drops but is phonetically retained as a hiatus in many positions. The same is ture in the nom. dual janiδrīi̯a < PNN *jenəδrīə < PEE *ǵénh₁trih₂h₁, and in the gen. and loc. dual forms, where the <ụ> serves to demark the following short <u> as a syllable.

	hā janiδrīḥ, "genitrix" = genitrix
	sing	du	pl
nom	janiδrīḥ	janiδrīịa	janiδriịāḫ
voc	janiδrīḥ		janiδriịāḫ
acc	janiδrīm		janiδrīịaṇġ
gen	ganụiδri̯ā̊	ganụiδri̯aụuš	ganụiδri̯aõm
loc	ganụiδri̯aịi	ganụδri̯aụū	ganụiδri̯āhū
dat	ganụiδri̯aịi	ganụiδri̯āma	ganụiδri̯āmuš
ins	ganụiδri̯å	ganụiδri̯āma	ganụiδri̯āmuš

The main points of contrast to those in PX are that the nom. singular is sigmatic and that the nom. dual ends in -ii̯āḥ, rather than PX -īi̯a; for the same reason why in PX the gen. and dat. sing suffix vary in quantity, in this ending in OX the laryngeal scans as part of the following syllable, with the pre-forms *stérih₂eh₁ > *stériā, and thus leaves the preceding *-i- short. In the dat. singular the ending becomes an offglide because it was not separated from the suffix by a laryngeal, with the preform *stérih₂e-i.

	hā šterīš, "heifer"
	sing	du	pl
nom	šterīš	šterii̯āḥ	šteriịāḫ
voc	šterī		šteriịāḫ
acc	šterīịam		šteriịaṇġ
loc	šterī	štrii̯ō	štrīštū
gen	štrii̯ōḫ	štrii̯ōš	štrīi̯õm
dat	štrii̯ai̯	štrīmō	štrīmuš
ins	štrī	štrīmō	štrīmuš

ū-stems

The ū-stems were exactly parallel to the ī-stems at the PEE and PNN levels, but due to phonetic changes have become quite different. The nom. sing. of hysterokinetic stems had accented root syllable and an ending in PEE *-uh₂-s > *PNN *-ūs > Galic *-ūš. The acc. requires a proto-form *-ueh₂-m, but already has simplified to *-u̯ām > PNN *-u̯ą̄m. In the oblique cases, the stem ended in -ū-, to which full-grade endings were added. The zero-grade stem has replaced the original full-grade one in the dual nom. such that it projects the (implausible) PEE form *tn̥-uh₂-h₁.

	hā tenūš, "body"
	sing	du	pl
nom	tenūš	tenāu̯	tenuu̯āḫ
voc	tenāu̯		tenuu̯āḫ
acc	tenu̯ą̄m		tānu̯aā̊ṇġ
gen	tānuu̯ōḫ	tānuu̯ōs	tānuõ
loc	tānuu̯āi̯	tānuu̯ō	tānūhu
dat	tānuu̯āi̯	tānumō	tānūmuš
ins	tānāu̯	tānumō	tānūmuš

The ū-stems also includes one member with paroxytone accent, namely hōxrū "mother-in-law".

	hā hōxrū, "mother-in-law" = socrus
	sing	du	pl
nom	hōxrū	hōxrāu̯a	hōxruu̯āḫ
voc	hōxrū		hōxruu̯āḫ
acc	hōxrūm		hōxrāṇġ
gen	hōxru̯āu̯	hōxru̯āu̯uš	hōxru̯aõ
loc	hōxru̯ā	hōxru̯āu̯u	hōxru̯āhu
dat	hōxru̯āi̯i	hōxru̯āma	hōxru̯āmuš
ins	hōxrūu̯a	hōxru̯āma	hōxru̯āmuš

Heteroclitics

The r/n-stems, or heteroclitics, continue a class of (mostly agreed to be) archaic EE nouns that had different suffixes depending on case even at the level of the proto-language. They are special in that they are all neuter nouns with fundamental meanings and show acrostatic > PPX or proterokinetic > PX ablaut in the singular and dual. These nouns do not take plural endings in Galic times but rather form a "collective" which take OX singular endings. In this respect they are similar to mn-stems and dissimilar to es/os-stems, which are both reserved to neuter nouns. In the Epic language, many heteroclitics also formed ordinary plurals from the zero-grade stem, which agree with singular verbs and have meanings different to their collective brethren.

In the Galic language, many heteroclitic nouns have opaque forms owing to their (generally) short stem and susceptibility to ablaut, vocalization, and internal sandhi. From a historical angle, there are three heteroclitic stems that give rise to differing forms in Northian—those in *-wr̥/wn-, *-Hr̥/Hn-, and *-rr̥/rn-. The type of på "dwelling" ended in PEE *-r-r̥ in the nominative, but the second *r is syncopated into the first in its evolution to Northian; the oblique stem assimilates to -nn-. The type with nom. ending in -ō such as perå "mountain" ended in *-wr̥ in the proto-language. This ending would first become PNN *-wur, then Northian *-wor; in Galic, *-wo- following a vowel regularly becomes -å. For the stems ending in laryngeal, the effect is most noticeable before the PX ending *-ens; this ending surfaces as -āš after *h₂- and -ōḥ after *h₃-.

PP i̯å "year", is from *yoh₁-r̥ > *yō-ur, gen. *yeh₁-n̥-s > *yē-uns. In Galic, unaccented final -ur regularly drops and lengthens preceding syllable. The strong stem with *-r- is visible in the dual nom. In the gen., *uns > *ə̄ṇġ. In the dat. the long vowel resists mutation caused by final short *-i. The ins. ending has dropped, but the preceding long vowel cannot be further lengthened to *å because it is closed. The rest of the du. behaves as expected. In the collective, the stems are from the e-grade and zero grade (as opposed to o-grade and e-grade of the PPX singular and dual). The nom. has a vṛddhied ending. The zero-grade stem is from *ih₁-n- > Galic īn-, and OX endings follow as usual.

i̯å is famously found in G.Nr. 59/2, using the similarity between the word for a single year and a group of years, i.e. an age or epoch, to contemplate the relationship between a single revolution of the annual cycle and the cycle of annual cycles, i̯ā̊ toi̯ i̯ə̄ṇġ, īnō i̯å "ages from year, year of ages".

	θaṯ i̯å, "year" = ὥρα
	sing	du	coll
nom	i̯ā̊	i̯ōrī	i̯ā̊r
voc
acc
gen	i̯āṇġ	i̯ānuš	īnōḫ
loc	i̯āi̯ni	i̯ānū	i̯anei̯
dat	i̯āi̯ni	i̯āŋma	īnē
ins	i̯ān	i̯āŋma	īnā

pāu̯ar "fire" represents the heteroclitic nouns with proterokinetic pattern, with accented stem in the oblique cases. The PNN form is *pāwur and gen. *pəwens, from PEE *peh₂-wr̥ and gen. *ph₂wen-s. In the nom., the sequence *-wu- differentiates to *-wo- prehistorically. In the gen. *ə before -e- regularly becomes -a-. Final *-s drops and causes the preceding *-e- to lengthen. Mutation occurs in the dat. with *-e- > -ei̯-.

	θaṯ pāu̯ar, "fire" = πῦρ
	sing	du	coll
nom	pāu̯arạ	pāu̯orī	pāu̯ā̊
voc
acc
gen	pau̯ōn	pau̯onuš	fūnōḫ
loc	pau̯oni	pau̯onū	fūni
dat	pau̯oni	pau̯onma	fūnei̯
ins	pau̯ōn	pau̯onma	pūn

Other common heteroclitic nouns include:

PX aɣar ɣēn "day"
PX petar ptå "feather"
PPX woθar woθə̄ṇġ "water" < PEE *wodr̥ *wodn̥s
PPX perå perō "mountain"
PPX på perə̄ṇġ "house"

sā̊l, phonologically probably sāōl, "the Sun" continues the PEE heteroclitic stem in *-l/n-. The strong stem descends from PEE *seh₂w- > sāw-; the weak stem from *sh₂ew- > saw-. The nominative is due to the regular sound change of *wu > wo. Genitive has hu̯ə̄ṇġ, for expected *hwēn < *swens < *sh₂wens; this possibly suggests the proterokinetic ending *-ens was replaced by acrostatic ending *-n̥s prehistorically, as from from PNN *swuns < PEE *sh₂wn̥s. However, because other Nordic languages show a reflex of *sh₂wens, the insertion of the acrostatic ending must have occurred only after Northian diverged from PNN.

The word sā̊l signifies a heavenly body that is considered a god in early Northian religion and is usually found in the singular in the Galic language. There in in the dual, "the two Suns" is an ellipsis for "the Sun and the Moon". After the Late Canon period, the genitive dual sunuš < PEE **sh₂wn-us displaced the singular hu̯ə̄ṇġ in all but ritualistic contexts as the normal word for "Sun's". During the imperial period, the stem from the dual was re-interpreted as an o-stem and formed the neologism sunō for the nom. sing., which also replaced sā̊l in non-ritualistic contexts.

	hā hāu̯al, "the Sun"
	sing	du
nom	hāu̯al	hāwa
voc
acc
gen	hūvaṇġ	sānuš
loc	hvíni	sānui̯
dat	hvíni	sāŋma
ins	hūva	sāŋma

ā-stems

	sā mihrā, "mist"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mihrā	mihrāi̯ī	mihråḫ
voc	mihrā		mihråḫ
acc	mihrām		mihrāṇġ
gen	mihrāu̯	mihrā̊s	mihrą̄̊
loc	mihrā	mihrā̊	mihrāhu
dat	mihråi̯	mihrāmō	mihrāmuš
ins	mihrå	mihrāmō	mihrāmuš

o-stems

	sa θūmōḫ, "smoke"			taṯ i̯uɣõ, "yoke"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	θūmōḫ	θūmō	θūmōi̯is	i̯uɣõ	i̯uɣōi̯ī	i̯uɣō
voc	θūmi		θūmōi̯is
acc	θūmõ		θūmōn
gen	θūmōi̯o	θūmōu̯uš	θūmą̊	i̯uɣōi̯o	i̯uɣōu̯uš	i̯uɣą̊
loc	θūmēi̯	θūmōu̯u	θūmōi̯o	i̯uɣēi̯	i̯uɣōu̯u	i̯uɣōi̯o
dat	θūmōi̯	θūmōma	θūmōmuš	i̯uɣōi̯	i̯uɣōma	i̯uɣōmuš
ins	θūmō	θūmōma	θūmōmuš	i̯uɣō	i̯uɣōma	i̯uɣōmuš

Acrean declensions

Many words in later Northian are ELder Old Nordic loanwords from speakers of Acrean, which was used as a lingua franca in western Eracura for centuries under the influence of the Acrean Empire. These words were so numerous that many were not nativized but declined according to an approximation of the thematic declension in ELder Old Nordic. Naturally, Old Nordic vocabulary would not occur within the Galic and Epic corpora, but as the Epic language survived in literary and liturgical usages, later material did incorporate a considerable number of Acrean words.

Hybridized paradigms

The displacement of native vocabulary in favour of Acrean words was widespread and penetrating to a basic level, unlike previous assumptions that it was only introduced for topics of exotic political and commercial interest. Baker notes that the Old Nordic word sōwulą sōwulas "Sun" has hybridized with native Northian sāwula huvə̄ṇġ and displaced the latter's oblique forms. Displacement concentrated in Epic forms made opaque by regular sound change, e.g. the forms of PEE *séh₂wl̥ had become hāvula, hau̯ą̄m, and huvə̄ṇġ. While all these forms were regular outcomes of Erani-Eracuran ablaut, at least in this noun they were no longer so understood after the Epic age.

	hā hāvula, "Sun"
	sing	du & pl
nom	hāvula	sōwulōs
voc
acc
gen	sōwulas	sōwulōm
dat	sōwulai̯	sōwulamas
ins	sōwulō	sōwulamiš

a-stems

For the most part, these endings are cognates with the o-stems (2nd declension) ones in Northian, but because of intervening sound changes, they are taught separately. Where there was a distinct vocative, the nominative form has displaced it. There are also no dual forms for these nouns, for which neologisms have sometimes been suggested, to no general acceptance. Since Elder Nordic had no locative case, this form is always identical to the dative where Northian syntax demands the locative.

	ha wulfas, "lupine" = lupus		θaṯ ētą̄, "food"
	sing	du & pl	sing	du & pl
nom	wulfas	wulfōs	ētą̄	ētō
voc	wulfas	wulfōs
acc	wulfą̄	wulfāŋš
gen	wulfas	wulfõm	ētas	ētõm
dat	wulfai̯	wulfamas	ētai̯	ētamas
ins	wulfō	wulfamis	ētō	ētamis

ō-stems

These are cognates of the ā-stems in Northian.

	sā erδō, "Earth"
	sing	du & pl
nom	erδō	erδōs
voc	erδō	erδōs
acc	erδōm	erδōs
gen	erδōs	erδōm
dat	erδōi̯	erδōmas
ins	erδō	erδōmiš

Irregular nouns

Country names

All country-names in Northian are feminine in gender, though the declensions may not reflect this readily. Nevertheless they agree with feminine adjectives and participles in all cases.

"Æþurheim", the name of the country to the southwest of Shalum, has an invariant stem with full grade throughout and initial persistent accent in Aí̯θrō-, which takes oxytone endings. The vocative form is identical to the nominative, showing full grade. Because the accent is in its expected position in the nom. and voc. forms, the acute accent on the i is not necessary there, while it is found in all other forms to denote the irregular accent.

"Shalum" behaves in a manner more reminiscent of a regular n-stem noun in oxytone and has the expected endings and accentual positions, but the stem does not display apophony as is usual in this class of nouns.

"Acrea" is named Aṇhrōs, which is a compound from aṇh- "lord" and rōs "realm, power", gen. Aṇhurō.

	sā Ai̯θrō, "Æþurheim"	sā Halō, "Shalum"	sā Aṇhrōs, "Acrea"	sā Silū, "Silua"	sā Hu̯inī, "Svinia"	sā Ossorī, "Ossoria"
	sing	sing	sing	sing	sing	sing
nom	Ai̯θrō	Halō
voc	Ai̯θrō	Halō
acc	Aí̯θrōnum	Halomnum
gen	Aí̯θrōnō	Halomnō
loc	Aí̯θrōni	Halomei̯ne
dat	Aí̯θrōnē	Halomnē
ins	Aí̯θrōn	Halomna

Adjective classes

Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case, within their lexical paradigms. Inasmuch as nouns have differing endings that convey the same number and case, so too do adjectives have lexical paradigms; adjectives do not agree with the paradigms of nouns that they modify.

Classes

	-k	-n	-s	-i	-u	-h₂	-r/n	-t	-nt	-wos	-ā	-o
OX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Few	Few	Yes	Few	Yes	Yes	Yes	I	II
PX	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Few	Few	No	No	No
PP	No	No	No	No	poluš	No	No	No	No	No

Adjectives need to agree with the nouns they modify not only in number and case but also in gender, but forms for each gender may not necessarily be distinct from each other. Synchronically, many adjectives have a single form for animate (both masculine and feminine) referents, and a handful have the same forms for all three grammatical genders. Whether an adjective has distinct forms for each gender is lexical, and there is no obvious semantic difference which appears to condition their presence or absence. The usual historical explanation is that the feminine gender was a late grammatical development and did not always correspond to semantics of biological gender, though the mechanisms of the grammaticalization of the feminine gender is uncertain.

For o-stem adjectives with a masculine nom. sing. terminating in -ōḫ, there is always a separate neuter form ending in -õ. Those which have a distinct, obligatory feminine form will have one ending in -ā. Thus these adjectives are called "three-ending" o-stem adjectives. Those without a distinct, obligatory feminine ending terminate in -ōḫ for both masculine and feminine referents. These are "two-ending" o-stem adjectives. It should be noted that feminine forms of o-stems add the -ā directly to the stem, not after the -o theme vowel; this is in contrast to the *-h₂ stems (see below) which is usually added following an existing suffix.

Adjectives terminating in -k, -n, -s, and -t generally do not have distinct forms for masculine and feminine referents, but a handful will have a -ī suffix following the existing suffix to create a distinct feminine form. The netuer form is distinguished from the animate form in one of two manners. It may be by ablaut, taking a short vowel grade when the animate has long grade or a zero grade when the animate has short. Or it may be by the absence of final -s in the nominative, where the animate nom. has -s.

Adjectives in -i and -u often have distinct feminine forms ending in -ī, but there are also adjectives which have just one form for animate refernets or even one form for referents of all genders. Furthermore, there are feminine forms which have a long vowel where the masculine has a short vowel, e.g. fem. nom. sing. -ī and -ū, contra masc. nom. sing. -iš and -uš. The long vowel is conditioned by final *-h₂, which is the same as in *-ih₂ > the usual feminizing suffix -ī.

Adjectives in -nt and -wos, mostly participles, create their feminine forms by adding -ī.

There is also a class of heteroclitic adjectives based on heteroclitic nouns, which are all neuter except Sā̊l "the Sun", a feminine term. Those heteroclitic items which have PP inflection take the PX inflection for their primary adjectival forms, which are also neuter and have zero grade in the suffix. The masculine form is produced by adding OX n-stem endings, and the feminine by the -ī suffix to the neuter form. In the feminine, the heteroclitic suffix has full grade and the suffix zero grade in the strong cases, and vice versa in the oblique cases.

It has been noted that adjectives often show a different ablaut pattern compared to nouns derived from the same stems. That is to say, a noun with proparoxytone or paroxytone accent can often respectively form an adjective of similar meaning with a paroxytone or oxytone accent or oxytone accent. The source of this derivation is academically debated but remained visible and productive in Northian.

All Nordic languages have an extant distinction or some vestige of it between strong and weak declensions for the same adjective, where the "strong" represents the adjective's inherited declension and the "weak" its declension as an n-stem. This is not true of Northian, which lacks a weak declension. This would suggest in historical terms that the weak declension developed after the Nordic-Northian split in the Middle Bronze Age, and all the Northian adjectives are thus "strong" in Nordic terms.

u-stem

As mentioned above, there are three types of u-stem adjectives: some are sensitive only to animacy, having a two-way contrast between masculine and feminine referents together with neuter ones, and others have a three-way contrast. Further, the ones with a three-way contrast are divided by their feminine forms, which could take the feminizing suffix *-h₂ directly after their stems ending in -u, or added *-i- to create the compound suffix *-w-ih₂ ~ -w-i̯eh₂ instead. Note it is only the root and *-h₂- ~ -eh₂- suffix that participates in ablaut in feminine forms, and never *-u- ~ -eu̯- there.

Only the last type was productive in the Northian family, but there are many examples of inherited items in the former patterns.

Two-ending

In the case of meδuš "sweet", the masculine and feminine forms have PX inflection, while the neuter has PP inflection. This is usually held to be an archaicism as the word is related to the neuter noun meδū "honey", and it appears it is the animate descriptors that are derived from the neuter noun, which retains its original inflection pattern.

	m. and f. meδuš, "sweet"			n. meδū, "sweet" = μέθυ
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	meδuš	meδēu̯	meδeu̯ōḫ	meδū	meδuu̯īḥ	meδūḥ
voc	meδū		meδeu̯ōḫ
acc	meδām		meδāṇġ
gen	ādōš	ādeu̯ōḫ	ādeu̯õ	meδuš	meδuu̯ōḫ	meδuu̯õ
loc	ādeu̯	ādeu̯a	ādeu̯šu	meδū	meδuu̯a	meδušu
dat	ādeu̯i	ādeu̯u̯a	ādeu̯mus	meδuu̯i	meδuma	meδumus
ins	ādēu̯	ādeu̯u̯a	ādeu̯mus	meδūḥ	meδuma	meδumus

Three-ending

The type of u-stem adjective differs from the following type only in that the feminizing suffix was a bare *-h₂ ~ -eh₂, rather than the more common *-ih₂. The strong feminine stem was thus from *tenuh₂, and the weak *tn̥weh₂-.

	m. θenuš, "thin" = thin			n. θenū, "thin"			f. θenūḥ, "thin"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	θenuš	θenēu̯	θeneu̯ōḫ	θenū	θeneu̯ī	θenēu̯	θenūḥ	θenūu̯a	θenuu̯ōḫ
voc	θenū		θeneu̯ōḫ				θenūḥ		θenuu̯ōḫ
acc	θenām		θenāṇġ				θenu̯ą̊		θenu̯åṇġ
gen	θānaoš	θāneu̯ōḫ	θāneu̯õ	= m.			θānu̯āu̯	θānu̯āu̯uš	θānu̯ą̄̊
loc	θāneu̯	θāneu̯a	θāneu̯šu				θenūḥ	θānu̯āu̯u	θānu̯āhu
dat	θāneu̯i	θāneu̯ma	θāneu̯mus				θānu̯ai̯i	θānu̯āma	θānu̯āmus
ins	θānēu̯	θāneu̯ma	θāneu̯mus				θānu̯å	θānu̯āma	θānu̯āmus

The feminine forms of hvāsvīḥ "sweet, gentle" < PEE *swéh₂dwih₂ are provided by way of illustration of the u-stem adjectives with feminine forms in -īḥ.

	f. hvāsvīḥ, "sweet, gentle"
	sing	du	pl
nom	hvāsvīḥ	hu̯āsu̯īi̯a	hu̯āsu̯ii̯āḫ
voc	hvāsvīḥ		hu̯āsu̯ii̯āḫ
acc	hu̯āsu̯īəm		hu̯āsu̯īi̯aṇġ
gen	hūšu̯i̯āu̯	hūšu̯i̯āu̯us	hūšu̯i̯ą̄̊
loc	hūšu̯i̯āi	hūšu̯i̯āu̯u	hūšu̯i̯āšu
dat	hūšu̯i̯āi̯i	hūšu̯i̯āma	hūšu̯i̯āmuš
ins	hūšu̯i̯å	hūšu̯i̯āma	hūšu̯i̯āmuš

i-stem

	m. θrēštiš, "sad"			n. θrēšti, "sad"			f. θrištei̯īḥ, "sad"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	θrēštiš	θrēštī	θrēštai̯āḫ	θrēšti	θrištei̯īḥ	θrištēi̯	θrištei̯īḥ	θrištei̯īi̯a	θrištei̯īš
voc	θrēšti		θrēštai̯āḫ				θrištei̯īḥ		θrištei̯īš
acc	θrēštin		θrēstei̯āṇġ				θrištei̯īi̯am		θrištei̯īi̯aṇġ
gen	θrištēš	θrištei̯uš	θrištei̯õm	= m.			θrištii̯āu̯	θrištii̯āu̯uš	θrištii̯ą̄̊
loc	θrēšti	θrištei̯u	θrištēšu				θrištii̯āḥ	θrištii̯āu̯u	θrištii̯āhu
dat	θrištei̯ei̯	θrištēma	θrištēmuš				θrištii̯āi̯i	θrištii̯āma	θrištii̯āmuš
ins	θrištēi̯	θrištēma	θrištēmuš				θrištii̯å	θrištii̯āma	θrištii̯āmuš

nt-stem (adjectives)

From PEE *rh₁-wénts, "rich in possessions", from *reh₁s, "possession". This word takes the OX inflection.

	m. and n. rvūṯ, "wealthy"			f. rawonθī, "wealthy"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	rvūt	rawonθōi̯	rawonθiš	rawonθī	rawonθii̯ōi̯	rawonθii̯āḫ
voc	rawōt		rawonθiš	rawonθī		rawonθii̯āḫ
acc	rawonθam		rawonθāṇġ	rawonθii̯ām		rawonθii̯āṇġ
loc	rawonθi	ranθō	rawontšu	ranθi̯ā	ranθi̯aō	ranθi̯āhu
gen	ranθōḫ	ranθtōš	ranθõ	ranθi̯ā̊ḫ	ranθi̯aōš	ranθi̯aõ
abl	ranθōḫ	ranθmō	ranθmi̯āu̯	ranθi̯ā̊ḫ	ranθi̯amo	ranθi̯āmi̯āu̯
dat	ranθei̯	ranθmō	ranθmus	ranθi̯åi̯	ranθi̯amo	ranθi̯āmuš
ins	ranθa	ranθmi̯ā	ranθmi̯āu̯	ranθi̯ā̊i	ranθi̯āmi̯ā	ranθi̯āmi̯āu̯

Present and aorist active participles in -nt-

Present and aorist verb-stems form an active participle with the suffix -nt. For thematic verbs, the suffix is -ont. The weak stem of the verb is used where it is present, so from the copula es the active participle is hą̄s from PNN *hants < PEE *h₁(e)sn̥ts. The vowel is nasalized in the masculine nominative singular but not in the neuter or feminine, suggesting that the cluster *-nt-s had probably been resolved first as *-ns-s prehistorically.

Many state the full-grade stem would have been used originally in all direct forms, since their endings are uniformly in zero grade. But the zero-grade stem is found in the oldest received texts, and metrical restoration does not reveal any additional syllables that diagnose the strong (syllabic) stem. Thus if the strong stem was once used, it was replaced in a remote time. On the other hand, the full-grade stem *-ent- is visible in the nominative dual and plural, and it has been argued its selective replacement in the nominative singular and accusative would be rather bizarre. Thus, the forms with zero-grade suffix may also be old.

The feminine participle takes the like stem and adds the feminizing suffix -ī(ị)- ~ -i̯ā-. The neuter direct dual and plural forms fail to trigger the full-grade suffix and are in zero grade, contrary to the forms of the masculine and feminine duals and plurals. The nominative dual feminine form hātīịāḥ shows an unexpected long vowel in the suffix where a short vowel is expected. Possibly the long vowel was borrowed from the singular to differentiate the dual from the plural, which had become identical (in at least some dialects that did not distinguish front and back a in final position).

Verbs which have mobile accent in the weak forms also have mobile accent in the participle. The ending is in full grade in the oblique cases (in all genders).

	m. hą̄s, "being"			n. hāt, "being"			f. hātī, "being"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hą̄s	hanδōi̯	haą̄nδiš	hāt	hātī	hātā	hātī	hātīịāḥ	hātiịāḫ
voc	hāt		haą̄nδiš				hātī		hātiịāḫ
acc	hātam		hātaṇġ				hātiịām		hātiịāṇġ
loc	haą̄nδi	hātō	hą̄tšu	= masc.			hą̄či̯ā	hą̄či̯aō	hą̄či̯āhu
gen	hātōḫ	hātōš	hātõm				hą̄či̯ā̊ḫ	hą̄či̯aōš	hą̄či̯aõm
abl	hātōḫ	hāsmō	hāšmi̯āu̯				hą̄či̯ā̊ḫ	hą̄či̯amo	hą̄či̯āmi̯āu̯
dat	hātei̯	hāsmō	hāšmus				hą̄či̯åi̯	hą̄či̯amo	hą̄či̯āmuš
ins	hāta	hāšmi̯ā	hāšmi̯āu̯				hą̄či̯ā̊i	hą̄či̯āmi̯ā	hą̄či̯āmi̯āu̯

Verbs which take a persistent accent, such as the s-stem aorist and present and some reduplicated present verbs, also form a participle with persistent accent. Despite appearances, the feminine forms of the PP participle is formed with the same feminizing suffix as the OX participles, except it remains in zero-grade throughout the entire paradigm, e.g. gen. sing. deδātīš < *de-dh₃-n̥t-ih₁-s. As is the usual case with this suffix, if the ending began with a vowel the final laryngeal scanned with the following syllable and does not lengthen the preceding vowel in the suffix; otherwise, the suffix appears as long -ī. In late Galic texts, this participle could also appear with a -ū̆ suffix in the dative singular, such as G. 4435, deδāδuu̯i, "to the giveress".

	m. deδāt, "giving"			n. deδāt, "giving"			f. dedātī, "giving"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	deδāt	deδāta	deδātiš	deδāt	deδātī	deδāta	deδātī	deδātīịa	deδātiịāḫ
voc	deδāt		deδātiš				deδātī		deδātiịāḫ
acc	deδātam		deδātaṇġ				deδātiịām		deδātiịāṇġ
loc	deδaą̄δi	deδātū	deδāššū	= masc.			deδātī	deδātiịū	deδātīšu
gen	deδą̄s	deδātuš	deδātõm				deδātīš	deδātiịuš	deδātiịõm
abl	deδą̄s	deδāšma	deδāšmi̯āu̯				deδātīš	deδātīma	deδātīmi̯āu̯
dat	deδāti	deδāšma	deδāšmus				deδātiịi	deδātīma	deδātīmuš
ins	deδāta	deδāšmi̯ā	deδāšmi̯āu̯				deδātīịa	deδātīmi̯ā	deδātīmi̯āu̯

es-stems

	m. and f. hāmenōḫ, "well-intended"			n. hāminiš, "well-intended"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hāmenōḫ	hāmenezōi̯	hāmenišiš	hāminiš	hāmenezī	hāmeneza
voc	hāméniš		hāmenišiš
acc	hāmenehām		hāmenezāṇġ
gen	hāmenezōḫ	hāmenehōš	hāmenehõ	= m. and f.
loc	hāminiš	hāmenehō	hāmenešu
dat	hāmenezei̯	hāmenehmō	hāmenehmus
ins	hāmenezōi̯	hāmenehmō	hāmenehmus

Perfect active participle in -u̯os-

The perfect active participle, which was very productive in Galic down to Epic times, was formed by an ablauting suffix -u̯ōs- ~ -u̯os- ~ -uš- to the zero grade of the perfect stem. The nom. sing. of the masculine has the lengthened-grade ending -u̯ōs-, and full-grade -u̯os- appears in other direct forms. The zero-grade ending -uš- manifests elsewhere in the masculine and neuter. The feminine participle added the -īḥ- ~ -i̯ā- suffix to the zero grade -uš- of the perfect active participle suffix. Thus, all the suffixes would be in zero-grade in the nominative singular of the feminine and neuter, and so the accent retracts to stand on the reduplication syllable; that retraction usually prevents initial *e- from weakening to i- (as seen below).

There is a possible form of the nom. pl. of the feminine participle in the shape of bíβiθušiịā from the Gellar Manuscript, which could suggest *be-bidʰ-us-ih₂-es. This would echo the zero-grade in the feminizing suffix seen in the dual béβiθuštīịa, but the interpretation of the solitary exmaple has not been uncontroversial. Those who oppose the identification of an alloform have pointed out that Gellar is not a particularly old or fruitful manuscript and that the feminizing suffix is always in the full grade in the nominative plural elsewhere. Additionally, Grover notes that if the suffix had been in the zero grade, the sound after the perfect participle suffix would have been a vowel, and a t would have been inserted as is done usually; she suggests that the manuscript's <iia> was a simple error for <iaa>.

	m. biβišvā̊, "sympathetic" = πεποιθώς			n. béβiθuš, "sympathetic" = πεποιθός			f. béβiθušīḥ, "sympathetic" = πεποιθυῖα
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	biβišvā̊	biβišvóhōi̯	biβišvóhiš	béβiθuš	biβišvóhī	biβišvóha	béβiθuštīḥ	béβiθuštīịa	béβiθuši̯a·ā̊
voc	béβišvōḫ		biβišvóhiš				béβiθuštīḥ		béβiθuši̯a·ā̊
acc	biβišvohām		vevišvohāṇġ				veviθušīi̯am		veviθušīi̯aṇġ
gen	biβiθuštōḫ	veviθušōš	veviθušõ	= m.			veviθuši̯āu̯	veviθuši̯āi̯uš	veviθuši̯ą̄̊
loc	veviθuši	veviθušō	veviθūššu				veviθuši̯āḥ	veviθuši̯āi̯u	veviθuši̯āhu
dat	biβiθuštei̯	veviθušmō	veviθušmuš				veviθuši̯āi̯i	veviθuši̯āma	veviθuši̯āmuš
ins	biβiθuštōi̯	veviθušmō	veviθušmuš				veviθuši̯å	veviθuši̯āma	veviθuši̯āmuš

Comparatives in -yos-

Many (but not all) adjectives formed comparative forms with the suffix -i̯ōs- ~ -i̯os- ~ -iš-. Unlike the perfect active participle, the comparative form does not have a distinct feminine form; otherwise, the distribution of strong and weak forms of the stem are exactly the same.

It should be noted that the -yos- adjectives can lean more towards the sense of "quite so", rather than "more so" than a particular object compared to. Thus, for certain adjectives, two separate comparatives with contrastive meanings are in use, e.g. i̯əu̯u̯ā̊ "quite young, younger" vs. i̯uterōḫ "the younger of two siblings". Where an adjective implies a definite comparative standard, the forms in -ter- are more often encountered.

	m. and f. xrači̯ā̊, "more powerful" = κρείττων			n. xratiš, id
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	xrači̯ā̊	hu̯āzi̯oha	hu̯āzi̯ohiš	xratiš	hu̯āzi̯ohī	hu̯āzi̯oha
voc	xrači̯ōḫ		hu̯āzi̯ohiš
acc	xrači̯aham		hu̯āzi̯ahəṇġ
gen	sūdišōḫ	sūdišōš	sūdišõ	= m.
loc	sūzi̯ahi	sūdišō	sūdišu
dat	sūdišei̯	sūdihmō	sūdihmuš
ins	sūdišōi̯	sūdihmō	sūdihmuš

r/n-stem

This class of adjectives were principally derived from the heteroclitics neuter nouns. The neuter singular was identical to the collective of the heteroclitic noun, while the neuter plural was formed by adding athematic endings to the collective stem. The masculine was formed as an n-stem, while the feminine was formed as with the suffix -ih₂ from the zero-grade of the collective stem. In the following example, the neuter singular pei̯å "fat" is from PEE *piH-wor- ~ piH-ur-; the masculine was from *piH-won- ~ piH-un-, and the feminine *piH-ur-ih₂- ~ piH-ur-i̯eh₂-.

	m. pei̯u̯ą̄, "fat" = fat			n. pei̯u̯å, "fat"			f. pīə̄rī, "fat"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	pēu̯ą̄	pēu̯ōnōi̯	pēu̯ōniš	pēu̯å	pēu̯ōrīḥ	pēu̯ōr	pu̯iu̯urīḥ	pu̯iu̯urīi̯a	pu̯iu̯urii̯āḫ
voc	pēu̯on		pēu̯ōniš				pu̯iu̯urīḥ		pu̯iu̯urii̯āḫ
acc	pēu̯onām		pēu̯onāṇġ				pu̯iu̯urii̯ām		pu̯iu̯urii̯āṇġ
gen	pu̯iu̯unōḫ	pu̯iu̯unōš	pu̯iu̯unõ	pu̯iu̯urōḫ	pu̯iu̯urš	pu̯iu̯urõ	pu̯iu̯uri̯āu̯s	pu̯iu̯uri̯āu̯us	pu̯iu̯uri̯ą̄̊
loc	pu̯iu̯on	pu̯iu̯unō	pu̯iu̯uŋhu	pu̯iu̯uron	pu̯iu̯urō	pu̯iu̯urhu	pu̯iu̯uri̯āḥ	pu̯iu̯uri̯āu̯u	pu̯iu̯uri̯āhu
dat	pu̯iu̯unei̯	pu̯iu̯unmō	pu̯iu̯unmuš	pu̯iu̯uron	pu̯iu̯urmō	pu̯iu̯urmuš	pu̯iu̯uri̯ai̯i	pu̯iu̯uri̯āma	pu̯iu̯uri̯āmuš
ins	pu̯iu̯unōi̯	pu̯iu̯unmō	pu̯iu̯unmuš	pu̯iu̯urōi̯	pu̯iu̯urmō	pu̯iu̯urmuš	pu̯iu̯uri̯å	pu̯iu̯uri̯āma	pu̯iu̯uri̯āmuš

mahiš

	m. mahiš, "large"			n. maha, "large"			f. mahii̯āḫ, "large"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	mahiš	maɣā	maɣāḫ	maha	mahīḥ	mahīḥ	mahīḥ	mahīi̯a	mahii̯āḫ
voc	maɣā		maɣāḫ				mahīḥ		mahii̯āḫ
acc	maɣåm		maɣåṇġ				mahīi̯am		mahii̯āṇġ
gen	āmhōḫ	āmhōš	āmhõ	= m.			āmjii̯āu̯	āmjii̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ā
loc	āmha	āmhō	āmhšu				āmjii̯ā	āmjii̯āu̯u	āmjii̯āhu
dat	āmhei̯	āmhmō	āmhmuš				āmjii̯ai̯i	āmjii̯āma	āmjii̯āmuš
ins	āmhōi̯	āmhmō	āmhmuš				āmjii̯å	āmjii̯āma	āmjii̯āmuš

	m. mahii̯āu̯, "larger"			n. mahii̯ōḫ, "larger"			f. mahii̯ahīḥ, "larger"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	mahii̯āu̯	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ohiš	mahii̯ōḫ	mahii̯ohī	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ahīḥ	mahii̯ahīi̯a	mahii̯ahii̯āḫ
voc	mahii̯ōḫ		mahii̯ohiš				mahii̯ahīḥ		mahii̯ahii̯āḫ
acc	mahii̯āham		mahii̯ohāṇġ				āmjii̯ahīi̯am		āmjii̯ahīi̯aṇġ
gen	āmjihōḫ	āmjihōš	āmjihõ	= m.			āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ahi̯ą̄̊
loc	mahii̯ahi	āmjihō	āmjihššu				āmjii̯ahi̯āḥ	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯u	āmjii̯ahi̯āhu
dat	āmjihei̯	āmjihmō	āmjihmuš				āmjii̯ahi̯ai̯i	āmjii̯ahi̯āma	āmjii̯ahi̯āmuš
ins	āmjihōi̯	āmjihmō	āmjihmuš				āmjii̯ahi̯å	āmjii̯ahi̯āma	āmjii̯ahi̯āmuš

poluš

	m. poluš, "many"			n. polu, "many"			f. polūḥ, "many"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	poluš	maɣā	maɣāḫ	polu	mahīḥ	mahīḥ	polūḥ	mahīi̯a	mahii̯āḫ
voc	maɣā		maɣāḫ				polūḥ		mahii̯āḫ
acc	maɣåm		maɣåṇġ				mahīi̯am		mahii̯āṇġ
gen	āmhōḫ	āmhōš	āmhõ	= m.			āmjii̯āu̯	āmjii̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ā
loc	āmha	āmhō	āmhšu				āmjii̯ā	āmjii̯āu̯u	āmjii̯āhu
dat	āmhei̯	āmhmō	āmhmuš				āmjii̯ai̯i	āmjii̯āma	āmjii̯āmuš
ins	āmhōi̯	āmhmō	āmhmuš				āmjii̯å	āmjii̯āma	āmjii̯āmuš

	m. mahii̯āu̯, "more"			n. mahii̯ōḫ, "more"			f. mahii̯ahīḥ, "more"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	mahii̯āu̯	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ohiš	mahii̯ōḫ	mahii̯ohī	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ahīḥ	mahii̯ahīi̯a	mahii̯ahii̯āḫ
voc	mahii̯ōḫ		mahii̯ohiš				mahii̯ahīḥ		mahii̯ahii̯āḫ
acc	mahii̯āham		mahii̯ohāṇġ				āmjii̯ahīi̯am		āmjii̯ahīi̯aṇġ
gen	āmjihōḫ	āmjihōš	āmjihõ	= m.			āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ahi̯ą̄̊
loc	mahii̯ahi	āmjihō	āmjihššu				āmjii̯ahi̯āḥ	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯u	āmjii̯ahi̯āhu
dat	āmjihei̯	āmjihmō	āmjihmuš				āmjii̯ahi̯ai̯i	āmjii̯ahi̯āma	āmjii̯ahi̯āmuš
ins	āmjihōi̯	āmjihmō	āmjihmuš				āmjii̯ahi̯å	āmjii̯ahi̯āma	āmjii̯ahi̯āmuš

Numerals

1 – 4

Cardinal numbers one through four are declinable as athematic adjectives of various declensional patterns, agreeing with the nouns (explicit or implicit) they modify in gender, case, and number. Of course, "one" is only inflected in the singular, "two" in the dual, and "three" and "four" in the plural. Numbers five and above are indeclinable.

	"one"			"two"			"three"			"four"
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nominative	hā̊	hõm	hámīḥ	dvō	duịīḥ	dvóịīḥ	θráịi̯āḫ	θrī́ḥ	θrišríš	koδvóriš	kótar	kotušriš
Vocative	hõm		hámīḥ				θráịi̯āḫ		θrišríš	koδvóriš		kotušriš
Accusative	hə̄m		hámīi̯am				θrī́		θrisérə̄ṇġ	koδvórāṇġ		kotušárəṇġ
Locative	himi		hmi̯āi	duō		θvāu̯u	θrišū		θrižərəžū	koδvərəžū		kotušštū
Dative	hmei̯		hmi̯āi	dumā́		θvāma	θrimuš		θrižərəmuš	koδvərəmuš		*koδvərəzərəmuš
Ablative	hmōḫ		hmi̯āu̯	dumā́		θvāma	θriβi̯ō		θrižərəβi̯ō	koδvərəβi̯ō		kotušūβi̯ō
Genitive	hmōḫ		hmi̯āu̯	duōš		θvāu̯uš	θri̯õm		θrišrõm	koturõm		kotušrõm
Instrumental	hmōi̯		hmi̯å	dumā́		θvāma	θrišūr		θrišra	kotura		kotušra

"One" is a root noun with a stem ending in -m. As with other stems ending in -m, the accusative preform *sem-m̥ would by regular phonetic change become *sēm, i.e. the same as nominative *sēm, because the PEE ending *-m̥ regularly absorbs the previous resonant, hence also nom. zi̯ōš < *dyou-s but acc. zi̯ā̊ < *dyēm < *dyew-m̥; in the number, -əm is often but not always restored. In the oblique cases, the stem is in zero grade and appears as hm- < *sm-. The feminine forms are a regular development from the familiar -īḥ suffixation.

"Two" is only declined in the dual number. There are two stems in use: the monosyllabic dvō- and the dysyllabic duo-. It is not certain why the stem scans as two syllables in the neuter forms.

"Three" is a regular PX i-stem noun and is only declined in the plural. Nom. θráịi̯āḫ shows regular development of *e > a after yod and attraction of the previous front vowel. <ị> is inserted by Runic writers. As with other PX nouns of animate gender, the accusative plural has a zero-grade suffix followed by a zero-grade ending; *tri-ns > θrī́. The feminine forms employ the feminizing infix -sr-, which is always found in the zero grade, and take regular athematic endings. There is also a specific personal form if three women are specifically spoken of, which is θrei̯štar θrišrōḫ < *trey-sr̥ *tri-sr-os.

"Four" behaves like most athematic nouns and also employs the feminizing infix -sr- for its feminine forms. Note however that the ablauting element was the second syllable of the stem -twor-, which in zero grade appears would be PNN *-tur-. Which of the two resonants vocalize depends on the phonetic environment. Where the suffix stands alone the *-w- gives rise to a-vocalism in auslaut, such as in the neuter nominative hotār < *kʷetw̥r. But where an obstruent follows the suffix it is the *-r- that becomes syllabic, as in koδvərəmuš < *kʷetwr̥mus. There was also a singular form koδvā̊ < *kʷetwōr = Acrean quattuor.

The hypothetical dative feminine for "four", hoδvərəzərəmuš is for *kʷétwr̥sr̥mus. This word is syncopated in various ways by the ancients owing to the unusual sequence of four consecutive similar and unaccented vowels. Such a word would have been metrically unusable. Nevertheless, the hypothetical form is posited by all authorities to account for all the syncopated variants attested in literature.

5 and higher

Pronouns

First person

	sing		du		pl
	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic
nom	áhō		vṓ		vōi̯
acc	ammṓi̯	mi	āŋhō	nō	aŋhmṓi̯	nā̊́ḫ
gen	mémi	moi̯	nō		āŋhér-
dat	máji̯o	moi̯	nanā́		āŋhméi̯

Second person

	sing		du		pl
	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic
nom	tū́		yṓ		yā̊́ḫ
acc	svō	ti	ūšō	vō	ušmé	vā̊́ḫ
gen	téve	toi̯	wō		yuštr-(I/II)
dat	tévi̯ō	toi̯	wanā́		ušmḗ

Demonstrative

	Singular			Dual			Plural
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nominative	ha	taṯ	hā	tō	toī	tāī	toy	tā	tāy
Accusative	tõm	taṯ	tāmam	tō	toī	tāī	tṓn	tā	tā́s
Locative	tohme		tesi̯āi̯	tṓu̯			toisu		tēsu
Genitive	tohi̯ō		tezās	tṓmōuš			toiom		tēom
Dative	tohmoi̯		tesi̯åi̯	tṓzmā			toiomus		tēmus
Instrumental	toi̯		toi̯	tṓzmā			toiomus		tēmus

Indefinite article

The Northian indefinite article, which introduces an indefininte noun phrase, is derived from the PEE root *oiwos, meaning "one". Note that the endings are those of demonstratives.

	"a, an"
	M. and F.	Neut.
Nominative	aẹ̄ụu̯ōḫ	aẹ̄ụu̯õm
Vocative	aẹ̄ụu̯ōḫ
Accusative	aẹ̄ụu̯õm
Locative	aẹ̄ụu̯ōi̯
Dative	aẹ̄ụu̯oōi̯
Ablative	aẹ̄ụu̯ōṯ
Genitive	aẹ̄ụu̯ōi̯š
Instrumental	aẹ̄ụu̯ā̊

Demonstratives

Verb classes

Athematic present

The shapes of the stem in the Erani-Eracuran parent language decides the resulting forms in Northian:

VC—these take the short (regular) endings.
VH—these take the short (regular) endings in the strong forms and long (augmented) endings in the weak forms, with any laryngeal-colouring effects visible on both stem and endings which interface with the stem-final laryngeal.
VCH—these take the long (augmented) endings, with any laryngeal-colouring effects visible on endings which interface with the stem-final laryngeal.

Aside from the shape of the stem, there are two accentual patterns found in present stems:

Mobile accent—this pattern is found within all stem-classes and is the most common by far; the accent is on the stem in the singular active and on the ending in all other forms.
Persistent accent—some root stems take this accent pattern, and the accent is on the stem in all cases; the singular indicative and imperfect active usually has a lengthened vowel, in contrast to the short vowel of all other forms. The injunctive can sometimes have short vowel throughout, but this is completely unpredictable. The 3 pl form, which is sensitive to ablaut, takes the zero grade form.

Root with mobile accent

genmi, gānté, "to strike"

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	gén-mi	igḗn	gḗn	ah-ō	gān-i̯ą̄m	—	gān-ūm	igun-ūm	gān-ūm	gén-ą̄m	jñ-īma	—	—
2 sg	gáŋ-hi	igḗn	gḗn	-ehi	-i̯āu̯	gān-θī́	-šθoi̯	-šθo	-šθo	-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	gān-švō	gān-θitoṯ
3 sg	gén-ti	igeṯ	ge-ṯ	-eti	-i̯āṯ	-itū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	gāŋ-víñi	iguŋ-vo	gāŋ-ivó	-ou̯iñi	-īu̯o	—	gāŋ-vózθa	iguŋ-vóθa	gāŋ-vóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	gān-tāḫ	igun-θõm	gān-θõm	-étāḫ	-ītõm	-θāḫ	jñ-ātiθai̯i	igñ-ātiθa	jñ-ātaθa	-ētaθai	-ītaθa	jñ-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-θą̄m	-θą̄m	-étiš	-ītąm	-θés	-ātāi̯i	igñ-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	jñ-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	-míñi	-mo	-mo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	gān-mózθa	igun-meθa	gān-meθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-θé	-θé	-θe	-éti	-īte	gén-θi	-šθve	-šθve	-šθve	-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	jñ-énθi	igñ-éṯ	jñéṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	jñ-énθu	jñ-énθroi̯	igñ-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-nθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

ahmi, šté, "to be". This verb of singular importance has a rather opaque stem owing to the vagaries of *s in various phonetic positions. In principle, when *s precedes *m, *u̯, or a back vowel and when it stands in initial position and precedes any vowel, it becomes h; then any front vowel which borders h becomes a. Before a voiced consonant, *s becomes z. Thus the a-vocalism of hánθi "they are" is due to the colouring effects of h and not an Erani-Eracuran laryngeal, and so the subjunctive endings beginning in e are not coloured to a. ahmi has no attested middle voice.

	active						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	áh-mi	ā̊s-am	áh-am	áh-ō	h-i̯ą̄m	—	—
2 sg	é-si	ā̊s	es	es-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	z-θī́	z-θitoṯ
3 sg	és-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	es-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	s-itū́	s-toṯ
1 du	h-víñi	āh-vo	h-vó	áh-ou̯iñi	s-īu̯o	—	—
2 du	s-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	s-tõm	es-étāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-toṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	es-étiš	-ītąm	-tés	-toṯ
1 pl	h-míñi	āh-mo	h-mo	áh-omiñi	-īmō	—	—
2 pl	s-té	ēs-té	s-te	es-éti	-īte	és-ti	-toṯ
3 pl	h-ánθi	ēs-éṯ	háṯ	áh-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	h-ánθu	h-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās

Root with persistent accent

āhmi, asti, "to dwell". A small but important class of root present verbs have persistent accent. Thus, rather than having an accent that shifts to the endings in the non-singular active and the entire middle, the accent persists on the root syllable; many, but not all, such verbs will have a lengthened vowel in the singular active. The 3 pl form takes the zero grade in all cases because the accent persists on the root.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	ā̊s-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	āh-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	āh-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Root with long endings

ánaēmi, ānité, "to breath". Owing to the effects of an interconsonantal laryngeal, some roots were synchronically analyzed as taking a set of endings augmented with a vowel between the stem and ending proper, though historically the augmentation is part of the stem and not of the ending. These endings are analogous with the ṣet roots in the Tennite language, while those taking the short (normal) endings are analoogus to aṇit roots. Since there is an Erani-Eracuran laryngeal on the stem-ending border, any ending which begins with *e (bolded) is liable to be coloured by this laryngeal; in the example below the laryngeal is *h₁ and so does not colour the ending. This colouring effect may be seen as the analogue to the ending augmentation where the laryngeal is not preserved between consonants.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	án-aēmi	aán-ą̄m	án-ą̄m	án-ō	ān-i̯ą̄m	—	ān-ūm	au̯un-ūm	ān-ūm	án-ą̄m	ān-īma	—	—
2 sg	án-iši	-iš	-iš	-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	āniθī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-išθo	-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	ān-išvō	ān-iθitoṯ
3 sg	-iti	-it	-it	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	-itū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-ito	-étoi̯	-īto	-ito	-itoṯ
1 du	ān-ivíñi	au̯un-ivo	ān-ivó	-ou̯iñi	-īu̯o	—	-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	-itāḫ	-itõm	-itõm	-étāḫ	-ītõm	-itāḫ	-ētiθai̯i	-ētiθa	-ētaθa	-ētaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ētaθa	-itoṯ
3 du	-ités	-itą̄m	-itą̄m	-étiš	-ītąm	-ités	-ētāi̯i	-ētā	-ētā	-ētāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ētā	-itoṯ
1 pl	-amíñi	-amo	-amo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	-amózθa	-ameθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-ité	-ite	-ite	-éti	-īte	án-iti	-išθve	-išθve	-nušθve	-ésθve	-īšθve	-iθve	-itoṯ
3 pl	ān-énθi	-éṯ	ān-éṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	ān-énθu	-énθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo	-inθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Of a similar construction are those verbs whose historic stems terminated in *-h₂ and *-h₃, giving rise to a and o respectively, in all the bolded positions.

Root with long ending and persistent accent

While there is no obvious reason why such a combination cannot exist, there are no known roots which take both long endings and a persistent accent.

Vowel-final stems

paēmi, pité, "to protect, apologize, propitiate (middle)". In partial distinction to the situation above, stems which had a laryngeal in final position result in a lengthened vowel in the singular active. For paēmi this vowel is ā, but as in other cases the vowel becomes ē or ō. In the active optative, the initial consonant is a phonetic combination of *py-.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	p-aḗmi	ep-ą̄m	p-ą̄m	p-ā̊	f-i̯ą̄m	—	p-ā́m	ep-ā́m	p-ā́m	p-ą̄m	p-īma	—	—
2 sg	p-ā́hi	epā-š	-iš	-ā̊i̯i	-i̯āu̯	piθī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-išθo	-ásθoi̯	-īšθo	p-išvō	p-iθitoṯ
3 sg	-ā́ti	epā-t	-it	-ā̊i̯	-i̯āṯ	-itū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-ito	-átoi̯	-īto	-ito	-itoṯ
1 du	p-ivíñi	ep-ivo	p-ivó	-ou̯iñi	p-īvo	—	-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	-itāḫ	-itõm	-itõm	-átāḫ	-ītõm	-itāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	-ātaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ātaθa	-itoṯ
3 du	-ités	-itą̄m	-itą̄m	-átiš	-ītąm	-ités	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ātāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ātā	-itoṯ
1 pl	-amíñi	-amo	-amo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	-amózθa	-ameθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-ité	-ité	-ité	-áti	-īté	pā́-ti	-išθvé	-išθvé	-išθvé	-ásθve	-īšθve	-iθve	-itoṯ
3 pl	p-ánθi	ep-áṯ	p-áṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	p-ánθu	-ánθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo	-inθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

néu̯ ~ nu

hšnéu̯u̯i, hšnuθvé, "to sharpen". Present stems which vary with a nu suffix (néu̯ in strong forms) are treated as a special class as the endings are liable to become muddled with the stem-final consonant. Fundamentally, these verbs are still of the VC type and all have mobile accent. Syllabification rules in Northian requires the u in the weak form of the suffix to become a consonant in the presence of a following vowel, which in turn causes the n before it to mutate to ŋ. This ŋ may itself be syllabified in response to the want of a preceding vowel, as Northian prohibits four consecutive consonants in anlaut.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	hš-néu̯u̯i	ekš-neu̯õ	hš-ną̄m	hš-neu̯ō	hš-nui̯ą̄m	—	hš-nūm	ekš-nūm	hš-nūm	hš-neu̯ą̄m	hš-āŋvīma	—	—
2 sg	hš-náōši	-neu̯š	hšneu̯š	-neu̯ehi	-nui̯āu̯	hš-néu̯	-nušθoi̯	-nušθo	-nušθo	-neu̯esθoi̯	-āŋvīšθo	hš-nušvō	hš-nuθitoṯ
3 sg	hš-néu̯ždi	-neu̯	-neu̯	-neu̯eti	-nui̯āṯ	-nutu	-nutoi̯	-nuto	-nuto	-neu̯etoi̯	-āŋvīto	-nuto	-nutoṯ
1 du	-nuu̯íñi	ekšnuu̯o	hšnuu̯o	-neu̯ou̯iñi	hš-āŋvīu̯o	—	-nuu̯ózθa	-nuu̯óθa	-nuu̯eθa	-neu̯ou̯ozθa	-āŋvīu̯óθa	—	—
2 du	-nutāḫ	-nutõm	-nutõm	-neu̯ótāḫ	-āŋvītõm	-nutāḫ	-āŋvātiθai̯i	-āŋvātaθa	-āŋvātaθa	-neu̯ātaθai	-āŋvītaθa	-āŋvātaθa	-nutoṯ
3 du	-nutés	-nutą̄m	-nutą̄m	-neu̯ótiš	-āŋvītąm	-nutíš	-āŋvātāi̯i	-āŋvātā	-āŋvātā	-neu̯ātāi̯i	-āŋvītā	-āŋvātā	-nutoṯ
1 pl	-numíñi	-numo	-numo	-neu̯omiñi	-āŋvīmō	—	-numózθa	-numeθa	-numeθa	-neu̯omozθa	-āŋvīmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-nuté	-nute	-nute	-neu̯óte	-āŋvīte	-nute	-nušθve	-nušθve	-nušθve	-neu̯esθve	-āŋvīšθve	-nuθve	-nutoṯ
3 pl	hš-ŋvónθi	ekš-ŋvóṯ	hš-āŋvóṯ	-neu̯onθi	-āŋvi̯āṯ	-āŋvónθu	-āŋvónθroi̯	-āŋvónθro	-āŋvónθro	-neu̯onθroi̯	-āŋvīnθro	-āŋvunθo	-nunθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Aorist

Root aorists

esedām, esdté

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	esed-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	est-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	est-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Split aorists

dēkšam, esdté

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	esed-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	est-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	est-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Thematic endings

dēkšam, esdté

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	esed-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	est-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	est-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Perfect

Reduplicated

tetóna, tetné "to be long".

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	plpf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	tetón-a	etetón-ą̄m	p-ą̄m	teten-ō	tetn-i̯ą̄m	—	p-ā́m	ep-ā́m	p-ā́m	p-ą̄m	p-īma	—	—
2 sg	-θa	etetṓn	-iš	-esi	-i̯āu̯	tetun-θī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-išθo	-ásθoi̯	-īšθo	p-išvō	p-iθitoṯ
3 sg	-i	etetṓṯ	-it	-eti	-i̯āṯ	-tū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-ito	-átoi̯	-īto	-ito	-itoṯ
1 du	tetun-vo	etetun-vo	p-ivó	-ou̯iñi	-īvo	—	-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	tetn-itā	-θõm	-itõm	-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	-ātaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ātaθa	-itoṯ
3 du	-itṓ	-θą̄m	-itą̄m	-átiš	-ītąm	-tés	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ātāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ātā	-itoṯ
1 pl	-mé	-mo	-amo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	-amózθa	-ameθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-é	-θé	-ité	-áti	-īté	-ti	-išθvé	-išθvé	-išθvé	-ásθve	-īšθve	-iθve	-itoṯ
3 pl	-ṓ	-áṯ	p-áṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	tétn-unθu	-ánθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo	-inθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Root

u̯ōi̯da, vidé "to know" is the only member of the perfect conjugation that, as a condition with good history, does not have reduplication. There are other perfect stems which do not have reduplication in Northian but do in other branch of the language; these are usually regarded as Northian innovations on the pattern of u̯ōi̯da. It has the peculiarity of forming a full-grade root in the 3 pl, which also puts the ending in zero grade -ūš. It is as yet not known whether this feature is inherited, as it has been argued to be introduced from the root aorist injunctive, which in this form also shows full grade in the root.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	plpf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	fut imp
1 sg	u̯ṓi̯d-a	etetón-ą̄m	p-ą̄m	teten-ō	tetn-i̯ą̄m	—	p-ā́m	ep-ā́m	p-ā́m	p-ą̄m	p-īma	—	—
2 sg	u̯ṓi̯š-θa	etetṓn	-iš	-esi	-i̯āu̯	tetun-θī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-išθo	-ásθoi̯	-īšθo	p-išvō	p-iθitoṯ
3 sg	u̯ṓi̯d-i	etetṓṯ	-it	-eti	-i̯āṯ	-tū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-ito	-átoi̯	-īto	-ito	-itoṯ
1 du	vis-vo	etetun-vo	p-ivó	-ou̯iñi	-īvo	—	-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	-tā	-θõm	-itõm	-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	-ātaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ātaθa	-itoṯ
3 du	-tṓ	-θą̄m	-itą̄m	-átiš	-ītąm	-tés	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ātāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ātā	-itoṯ
1 pl	-mé	-mo	-amo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	-amózθa	-ameθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	vid-é	-θé	-ité	-áti	-īté	-ti	-išθvé	-išθvé	-išθvé	-ásθve	-īšθve	-iθve	-itoṯ
3 pl	u̯ṓi̯d-ūš	-áṯ	p-áṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	tétn-unθu	-ánθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo	-inθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

The other perfect verbs that fail to show reduplication are:

u̯ṓi̯a, vii̯á "to fear"
mṓna, mné "to recall"

It has been noted that most verbs which fail to reduplicate are verbs of internal states or emotions.

Thematic conjugation

Present

vēθō act "I trust"

	Indicative	Imperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	vēθō	evēθõ	vēθõ	vēθō	vēθīm	—	—
2 sg.	vēθēši	evēθiš	vēθiš	vēθēši	vēθīs	vēθi	vēθetoṯ
3 sg.	vēθei̯	evēθiṯ	vēθiṯ	vēθēi	vēθīṯ	vēθetu	vēθetoṯ
1 du.	vēθou̯éi̯ñi	evēθowi	vēθowi	vēθōu̯iš	vēθīu̯ō	—	—
2 du.	vēθétas	evēθetõ	vēθetõ	vēθētas	vēθītõ	vēθetas	vēθetoṯ
3 du.	vēθétiš	evēθetą̄m	vēθetą̄m	vēθētiš	vēθītąm	vēθetiš	vēθetoṯ
1 pl.	vēθomái̯ñi	evēθomi	vēθomi	vēθomiš	vēθīmō	—	—
2 pl.	vēθéti	evēθeti	vēθeti	vēθéti	vēθīti	vēθeti	vēθetoṯ
3 pl.	vēθōi̯	evēθenṯ	vēθenṯ	vēθō	vēθīn	vēθenθu	vēθetoṯ
inf vēθetiš, vēθetuš, ptcpl vēθå, vēθōnθō; vēθāṯ, vēθōnθō; vēθenθī, vēθenθi̯ās

	Indicative	Imperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	kārnām	ekārnūm	kārnūm	kārneu̯ōm	kārninīma	—	—
2 sg.	kārnušθoi̯	ekārnušθo	kārnušθo	kārneu̯esθoi̯	kārninīšθo	kārnuhvō	kārnutoṯ
3 sg.	kārnutoi̯	ekārnuto	kārnuto	kārneu̯etoi̯	kārninīto	kārnuto	kārnutoṯ
1 du.	kārnou̯enθa	ekārnou̯eθa	kārnou̯eθa	*kārneu̯ou̯osθa*	kārninīu̯eθa	—	—
2 du.	kārnnātaθai	ekārnnātaθa	kārnnātaθa	kārneu̯ātaθai	kārninītaθa	kārnnātaθa	kārnutoṯ
3 du.	kārnnātāi̯i	ekārnnātā	kārnnātā	kārneu̯ātāi̯i	kārninītā	kārnnātā	kārnutoṯ
1 pl.	kārnumenθi	ekārnumeθa	kārnumeθa	kārneu̯omosθa	kārninīmeθa	—	—
2 pl.	kārnušθve	ekārnušθve	kārnušθve	kārneu̯esθve	kārninīšθve	kārnuθve	kārnutoṯ
3 pl.	kārnnenθroi̯	ekārnnenθro	kārnnenθro	kārneu̯onθroi̯	kārninīnθro	kārnnunθo	kārnunθoṯ
inf kārnuθi̯ō, kārnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl kārnūmnō, kārnūmnōi̯o; kārnūmnõ, kārnūmnōi̯o; kārnūmnā, kārnūmnās

Aorist

	Indicative	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	ekorum	korum	korō	kāri̯ām	—	—
2 sg.	ekōr	kōr	korei	kāri̯ās	kor	kortoṯ
3 sg.	ekord	kord	korei̯	kāri̯āt	kārto	kārtoṯ
1 du.	ekurōs	kārōs	korou̯ō	korīu̯ō	—	—
2 du.	ekurtõ	kārtõ	koretas	korītõ	kārtas	kārtoṯ
3 du.	ekurtąm	kārtą̄m	koretíš	krītąm	kārtíš	kārtoṯ
1 pl.	ekurmō	kārmō	koromõ	korīmō	—	—
2 pl.	ekurte	kārte	korete	korīte	kārte	kārtoṯ
3 pl.	ekurenṯ	kārenṯ	koronθi	koriānṯ	kārenθo	kārunθoṯ
inf kāršiš, kāršuš, ptcpl korå, kronθō; korāṯ, kronθō; korunθī, krāŋθi̯ās

	Imperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	ekurma	kārma	korōm	krīma	—	—
2 sg.	ekursθo	kārsθo	koresθoi̯	krīšθo	kārhvō	kārtoṯ
3 sg.	ekurto	kārto	koretoi̯	krīto	kārto	kārtoṯ
1 du.	ekurreθa	kārreθa	korou̯osθa	krīu̯eθa	—	—
2 du.	ekurātaθa	kārātaθa	korātaθai	krītaθa	kārātaθa	kārtoṯ
3 du.	ekurātā	kārātā	korātāi̯i	krītā	kārātā	kārtoṯ
1 pl.	ekurmeθa	kārmeθa	koromosθa	krīmeθa	—	—
2 pl.	ekuršθve	kāršθve	koresθve	krīšθve	kārθve	kārtoṯ
3 pl.	ekurenθro	kārenθro	koronθroi̯	krīnθro	kārunθo	kārunθoṯ
inf kārθi̯ō, kārθi̯ōi̯o, mid ptcpl kārūmnō, kārūmnōi̯o; kārūmnõ, kārūmnōi̯o; kārūmnā, kārūmnās

Perfect

	Indicative	Pluperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	kokora	ekokorum	kokorum	kokorō	kokuri̯ām	—	—
2 sg.	kokošta	ekokōr	kokōr	kokorehi	kokuri̯ās	kokurθi	kokuštoṯ
3 sg.	kokoré	ekokošṯ	kokošṯ	kokoreti	kokuri̯āt	kokušto	kokuštoṯ
1 du.	kokurrō	ekokurre	kokurre	kokorou̯ō	kokrīu̯ō	—	—
2 du.	kokuré	ekokuštõ	kokuštõ	kokoretas	kokrītõ	kokuštas	kokuštoṯ
3 du.	kokrē	ekokuštą̄m	kokuštą̄m	kokoretiš	kokrītąm	kokuštes	kokuštoṯ
1 pl.	kokurmé	ekokušme	kokušme	kokoromō	kokrīmō	—	—
2 pl.	kokré	ekokušte	kokušte	kokorete	kokrīte	kokušte	kokuštoṯ
3 pl.	kokrār	ekokurent	kokurent	kokoronθi	kokrīenṯ	kokorunθo	kokorunθoṯ
inf kokuršiš, kokoršuš, ptcpl kokrå, kokrušiš; kokrōṯ, kokrušiš; kokrušī, kokruši̯ās

	Indicative	Pluperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	kokurma	ekokurma	kokurma	kokorō	kokrīma	—	—
2 sg.	kokursθo	ekokursθo	kokursθo	kokoresθoi̯	kokrīšθo	kokurhvō	kokuštoṯ
3 sg.	kokušto	ekokušto	kokušto	kokoretoi̯	kokrīto	kokušto	kokuštoṯ
1 du.	kokurreθa	ekokurreθa	kokurreθa	kokorou̯osθa	kokrīu̯eθa	—	—
2 du.	kokurātaθa	ekokurātaθa	kokurātaθa	kokorātaθai	kokrītaθa	kokrātaθa	kokuštoṯ
3 du.	kokurātā	ekokurātā	kokurātā	kokorātāi̯i	kokrītā	kokrātā	kokuštoṯ
1 pl.	kokurmeθa	ekokurmeθa	kokurmeθa	kokoromosθa	kokrīmeθa	—	—
2 pl.	kokuršθve	ekokuršθve	kokuršθve	kokoresθve	kokrīšθve	kokurθve	kokuštoṯ
3 pl.	kokrenθro	ekokrenθro	kokrenθro	kokoronθroi̯	kokrīnθro	kokrunθo	kokrunθoṯ
inf kokurθi̯ō, kokurθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl kokrūmnō, kokrūmnōi̯o; kokrūmnõ, kokrūmnōi̯o; kokrūmnā, kokrūmnās

Northian grammar

Overview

Ablaut

Nominals

Athematic

Thematic

Verbs

Stems

Primary and secondary athematic

Primary and secondary thematic

Imperative athematic and thematic

Perfect

Evolution

Nouns classes

Overview

Obstruent stems

t-stems

nt-stems

m-stems

ns-stems

n-stems

r-stems

s-stems

i-stems

u-stems

Laryngeal stems

ī-stems

ū-stems

Heteroclitics

ā-stems

o-stems

Acrean declensions

Hybridized paradigms

a-stems

ō-stems

Irregular nouns

Country names

Adjective classes

Classes

u-stem

Two-ending

Three-ending

i-stem

nt-stem (adjectives)

Present and aorist active participles in -nt-

es-stems

Perfect active participle in -u̯os-

Comparatives in -yos-

r/n-stem

mahiš

poluš

Numerals

1 – 4

5 and higher

Pronouns

First person

Second person

Demonstrative

Indefinite article

Demonstratives

Verb classes

Athematic present

Root with mobile accent

Root with persistent accent

Root with long endings

Root with long ending and persistent accent

Vowel-final stems

néu̯ ~ nu

Aorist

Root aorists

Split aorists

Thematic endings

Perfect

Reduplicated

Root

Thematic conjugation

Present

Aorist

Perfect

Notes