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There are three noun declensions.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erg. | Sg. | -Ø | -Ø | -Ø |
| Pl. | -ë | -a | -a | |
| Abs. | Sg. | -ö | -an | -tö |
| Pl. | -o | -ana | -to | |
| Adp. | Sg. | -a | -se | -skä |
| Pl. | -äa | -sen | -ssa | |
There's also a quasi-vocative case that's formed by following the ergative case form of the noun with the postposition `la', e.g. `Këtt la' (`O Keith').
The dative is formed from the adpositive case followed by the postposition `önä'. Using the ergative case with the very same postposition forms the genitive case.
The definite articles are modified forms of the demonstratives. They're `ërel' (`this'), `ahlar' (`that') and `nal' (`yon'). There are no indefinite articles; nouns are indefinite by default. The article follows its noun, e.g. `alsen nahlo' (`towards the/yon house'). Use of `nal' can imply the future. They're not used quite as often as in, say, English but
alsen nal-o house.ERG yon.to
Postpositions are used with either the ergative case or the adpositive case. The general rule is that to imply motion, the ergative case is used (`towards'), whilst the adpositive case is used otherwise (`to').
Where there's an article, the postposition becomes part of the article. This causes sound changes in the article where the postposition starts with a vowel.
l -> hl r -> l
The same sort of elision doesn't occur with nouns.