+------------------+--------------------+-------------------+----------------+ | | Maharastri Prakrit.| Apabhramsa. | Marathi. | | +--------------------+-------------------+----------------+ |Sing. | | | | | Nominative | gharam | gharu | ghar | | Dative | gharassa (genitive)| gharaho (genitive)| gharas (dative)| | Locative | ghare | gharahi (-hi) | ghari, ghara | | General oblique | gharassa (genitive)| gharaho (genitive)| gharas, ghara | |Plur. | | | | | Nominative | gharaim | gharai | ghare | | Locative | gharesu | gharahi (-hi) | ghari | | General oblique | gharana (genitive) | gharaha (genitive)| ghara | +------------------+--------------------+-------------------+----------------+ As already stated, in Prakrit the genitive is employed instead of the dative, and thus forms the basis of the Marathi dative singular. The genitive plural is not used as a dative plural in Marathi, but it is the basis of the plural general oblique case. The Marathi singular general oblique case is really the same as the Marathi dative singular, but in the standard form of speech when so used the final _s_ is dropped, _gharas_, as a general oblique case, being only found in dialects. This general oblique case is the result of the confusion of the various oblique cases originally distinguished in Sanskrit and in literary Prakrit. In Apabhramsa the genitive began to usurp the function of all the other cases. It is obvious that if it were regularly employed in so indeterminate a sense, it would give rise to great confusion. Hence when it was intended to show clearly what particular case was meant, it became usual to add, to this indeterminate genitive, defining particles corresponding to the English "of," "to," "from," "by," &c., which, as in all Indo-Aryan languages they follow the main word, are called "postpositions." Before dealing with these, it will be convenient to give the modern Marathi synthetic declension of the commoner forms of nouns. The only synthetic case which is now employed in prose is the dative, and this can always be formed from the general oblique case by adding an s to the end of the word. It is therefore not given in the following table.