I promised that the nouns would get easier and the last post on Accusative
wound up being one of the longest posts in the series, I know. But if you got
Accusative and Dative down, you're just a teensy bit away from having
Instrumental down.

> The more I go through Latvian, the more I think Instrumental is an important
> case to know. I'll be writing a Part II for this case eventually with some
> of the more interesting ways it can show up in the language.

* * *

I would say Instrumental is a "technical" case. "Technically" it is a case in
Latvian, it is taught in grammar books and schools, but realistically, it's
just a riff on accusative and dative plus a preposition. Don't get me wrong,
it is very important to know and understand, it's just that this case's
endings are not very unique.  
.  
What it is NOT is equivalent to the [Latin
ablative](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ablative_\(Latin\))
case. This really threw me when I started learning. So don't make that
mistake. If it was equivalent, it'd be called ablative instead of
instrumental. (And if you don't know what ablative is or why you should care,
then you'll be fine.) **Instrumental indicates _with what_ or _with whom_ an
action is performed.**  
.

> Okay, okay. The [Latin Instrumental
> Ablative](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ablative_%28Latin%29#Instrumental_ablative)
> subset somewhat corresponds to the Latvian Instrumental. This is as close as
> it gets, one subset out of fifteen (or more) for the Latin Ablative. Trust
> me, Latvian is MUCH easier than Latin on this point.

## Answering the Question

The instrumental case answers the question, " **Ar ko?** " which equates to "
**With whom?** " and " **With what?** ". Note the _ko_ , which directs you to
the _accusative_ and _ar_ which is the preposition meaning _with_. (Despite
the fact that this takes the dative in the plural, the question remains, " _Ar
ko?_ " regardless of whether you are asking about a singular or plural noun.)

_NB_ : **The instrumental is only for _ar_.** **It does not apply to _bez_.**
When using _bez_ ( _without_ ), the noun will take the genitive in the
singular and the dative in the plural, as it falls under the standard
prepositional rules. _This is a case where the negation does not fall under
the same rules._

## Usage

Usage is very straightforward. If you are **doing something _with someone_** ,
that's instrumental. If you are **doing something _with something_** , that's
instrumental too. Use it exactly as you would in English whenever you would
say _how something is done_ and use _with_ to describe it.

Viņš spēlē futbolu ar savām masām. -- He plays soccer with his sisters.

Es rakstu vēstules ar zīmuli. -- I am writing letters with a pencil.

Kaķis ķer peles ar nagiem. -- The cat catches mice with its claws.

> For some reason, the fact that Latvian doesn't seem to have separate words
> for nails, claws and talons depresses me.

Thanks to _ar_ , this case plays by the rules of prepositions, which means
**instrumental nouns will take the accusative in the singular** (remember the
ko!) and **take the dative in the plural** like almost every other preposition
in Latvian.

Which means… no new endings to memorize!

## How to Decline the Instrumental

The endings are as follows:

    
    
    vsk.   1. dekl. | 2. dekl. | 2. dekl. exc. | 3. dekl.
    Ar ko?    -u    |    -i    |    -i         |   -u 
    
    vsk.   4. dekl. | 5. dekl. | 6. dekl.
    Ar ko?    -u    |    -i    |    -i 
    
    dsk.   1. dekl. | 2. dekl. | 2. dekl. exc. | 3. dekl.
    Ar ko?    -iem  |    -iem  |     -iem      |   -iem 
    
    dsk.   4. dekl. | 5. dekl. | 6. dekl
    Ar ko?   -ām    |    -ēm   |    -īm 
    
    Red indicates potential palatalization changes.