Accusative case

An accusative case is a case that marks the direct object, or more precisely the most patient-like argument of a transitive clause (the P-argument).

Examples

Latin Marcu-s rosa-m vidit [Marcus-NOM rose-ACC saw] ‘Marcus saw a rose’.

Synonyms

• objective case

Origin

Latin casus accusativus is a loan translation of Greek ptoosis aitiatikee. It is generally regarded as an infelicitous translation, because Greek aitiatikee seems to have been intended as meaning ‘relating to causing’, not ‘related to accusing’ (the Greek word is polysemous).

See also

• accusative alignment
• differential object marking

Other languages

• German Akkusativ
• Swedish ackusativ
• Russian аккузатив = винительный падеж
• Spanish acusativo