Nouns in Dhməħyēn are marked for number, case, and gender.
Number
Nouns in Dhməħyēn can be marked as singular or plural as part of the inflected ending.
ʔoyn-os ħen-os
one-nom.s lord- nom.s
one lord
penkwe ħen-ōs
five lord-nom.p
five lords
Case
Nouns in Dhməħyēn can perform different roles in a sentence. This is marked by both inflection and word order. The subject of a sentence is in sentence initial position and marked as nominative. An addressee is typically placed prior to the subject and marked with the vocative. The object comes between the verb and subject and is marked as accusative. Similarly some nouns preceding postpositions are marked with the accusative to indicate movement toward or duration in time. Other words preceding a postposition may be in the instrumental case to indicate means or manner, the ablative to indicate movement away or time within which an action takes place, or the locative to indicate point in space, point in time, or purpose. An indirect object or beneficiary comes before the direct object and is marked with the dative case. When a noun is placed prior to another noun and marked with the genitive it modifies the noun, indicating, among other things possession, composition, origin, participant in action (subjective or objective), reference, description, etc.
ghoyl-os kyelgtər-m kyelg-ti
man-nom.s beloved.one-acc.s love-indic.pres.act.3.s
The man loves the beloved.
kyelgtər-*, tuħm kyelgmi
beloved.one-voc.s 2.acc.s love-indic.pres.act.1.s
Beloved, I love you.
ħed ħlēw roɣ-bhos roɣeħ-m woreyē-smi
near water-abl.s shepherd-dat.s sheep-acc.s send-indic.aor.act.1.s
I sent the shepherd a sheep from near the water.
Noun Gender/Class
Dhməħyēn has a system of assigning nouns to distinct classes/genders, which are reified by agreement with adjectives. The genders are masculine, neuter, and feminine. In some declensions, each gender declines differently, most notably the first declension, where masculine and neuter nouns take a thematic vowel -o- and feminine nouns use the athematic endings with -eħ-. The neuter also shows no variation in inflection for the nominative, accusative, and vocative forms. However, most of the time the gender of a noun is not obvious and must be learned lexically.
Declension
Dhməħyēn noun stems show variations in one of four patterns which are identified as four separate declensions, when a variation pattern is shown it is ordered “strong stem” ~ “weak stem”. Strong stems are used when declining in the nominative or vocative or in the accusative singular, weak stems are used elsewhere:
- First Declension nouns have fixed stress and no morphological ablaut
- Second Declension nouns have an acrostatic stress pattern with ablaut between strong and weak cases, according to the pattern ˈo-*-* ~ ˈe-*-*
- Third Declension nouns have a proterokinetic stress pattern, with variations between strong cases with an e-grade vowel, an strong cases with an o-grade vowel. The pattern for this class is ˈe/o-*-* ~ *-ˈe-*
- Fourth Declension nouns have a hysterokinetic stress pattern *-ˈe-* ~ *-*-ˈe. In this class, the locative is declined with the strong stem.
Nouns also receive an inflection, which differs based don whether the noun is “thematic,” i.e. ending in an e or o, or “athematic.” These endings are given below:
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Athematic | Thematic | Athematic | Thematic | |
| Nominative | -s | -os | -es | -ōs |
| Vocative | -* | -e | -es | -ōs |
| Accusative | -m | -om | -ns | -ons |
| Nom, Voc, Acc Neuter | -* | -om | -ħ | -eħ |
| Instrumental | -eʔ | -ō | -bhi | -oybhi |
| Dative | -ey | -ōy | -bhos | -oybhos |
| Ablative | -s | -ōt | -bhos | -oybhos |
| Genitive | -s | -ī | -ōm | -ōm |
| Locative | -i | -oy | -su | -ōyu |
Modifiers
The order of a noun phrase in Dhməħyēn is:
dem num gen adj noun rel
All modifiers in a noun phrase, except numbers beyond four and genitives, must agree with the noun in case, number, and gender.
tōt unħugtey-ōm ħtēn-* ghoyl-ōt ħpo
dem.prox.abl.s.m mountain-gen.p old-abl.s.m man-abl.s from
away from this old man of the mountains
yons trey-m pol-ons ghy-oybhos mərtēr ħengt-um sħobheye-st
dem.obv.acc.p.m three-acc.p.m farmer-acc.p rel-dat.p.m warrior-nom.s meal-acc.s give-indic.aor.act.3.s
those three farmers to whom the warrior gave a meal
Possession
In Dhməħyēn, possession is primarily indicated using the genitive case on the possessor and is placed in its typical attributive position relative to the noun possessed.
mərstres udhemħyeħ
warrior-gen.s dog-acc.pl
the warrior’s dogs
ghoylōm ħenōy
man-gen.pl lord-dat.s
for the lord of the men
Noun Predication
When a sentence is used to equate two nouns in Dhməħyēn, the noun predicate may be indicated in several possible ways. Simple equivalence may be done by placing both nouns in the nominative case. When used to describe a state or ontological status, the copula stemyeti is used. When used to describe conditions or temporary states, the verb wiwryeti is used. To describe the end result of a change of state or process, the verb weryeti is used. Whichever of the three copulas is used, the predicate noun is declined in the nominative case.
ghoylos ħtonos
man-nom.s elder-nom.s
The man is an elder.
polos əlstēr stemyeti
farmer-nom.s thief-nom.s to.be-3s.pres.act.ind
The farmer is (inherently) a thief.
polos əlstēr wiwryeti
farmer-nom.s thief-nom.s to.be-3s.pres.act.ind
The farmer is a thief (because he has just stolen something).
polos əlstēr weryeti
farmer-nom.s thief-nom.s to.become-3s.pres.act.ind
The farmer is (now) a thief.