In
Modern English, the system of declensions is so simple compared to some other languages that the term
declension is rarely used.
Nouns Most nouns in English have distinct
singular and
plural forms. Nouns and most noun phrases can form a
possessive construction. Plurality is most commonly shown by the
ending -s (or
-es), whereas possession is always shown by the en
clitic ''-'s
or, for plural forms ending in s'', by just an apostrophe. Consider, for example, the forms of the noun
girl. Most speakers pronounce all forms other than the singular plain form (
girl) exactly the same. By contrast, a few irregular nouns (like
man/men) are slightly more complex in their forms. In this example, all four forms are pronounced distinctly. For nouns, in general, gender is not declined in Modern English. There are isolated situations where certain nouns may be modified to reflect gender, though not in a systematic fashion. Loan words from other languages, particularly Latin and the Romance languages, often preserve their gender-specific forms in English, e.g.
alumnus (masculine singular) and
alumna (feminine singular). Similarly, names borrowed from other languages show comparable distinctions:
Andrew and
Andrea,
Paul and
Paula, etc. Additionally, suffixes such as
-ess,
-ette, and
-er are sometimes applied to create overtly gendered versions of nouns, with marking for feminine being much more common than marking for masculine. Many nouns can actually function as members of two genders or even all three, and the gender classes of English nouns are usually determined by their agreement with pronouns, rather than marking on the nouns themselves. There can be other derivations from nouns that are not considered declensions. For example, the proper noun
Britain has the associated descriptive adjective
British and the
demonym Briton. Though these words are clearly related, and are generally considered
cognates, they are not specifically treated as forms of the
same word, and thus are not declensions.
Pronouns Pronouns in English have more complex declensions. For example, the
first person "
I": Whereas nouns do not distinguish between the
subjective (nominative) and
objective (oblique) cases, some pronouns do; that is, they decline to reflect their relationship to a
verb or
preposition, or
case. Consider the difference between
he (subjective) and
him (objective), as in "He saw it" and "It saw him"; similarly, consider
who, which is subjective, and the objective
whom (although it is increasingly common to use
who for both). The one situation where
gender is still clearly part of the English language is in the pronouns for the third person singular. Consider the following: The distinguishing of neuter for persons and non-persons is peculiar to English. This has existed since the 14th century. However, the use of
singular they is often restricted to specific contexts, depending on the dialect or the speaker. It is most typically used to refer to a single person of unknown gender (e.g. "someone left their jacket behind") or a hypothetical person where gender is insignificant (e.g. "If someone wants to, then they should"). Its use has expanded in recent years due to increasing social recognition of persons who do not identify themselves as male or female (see
gender-nonbinary). The
singular they still uses plural verb forms, reflecting its origins.
Adjectives and adverbs Some English adjectives and adverbs are declined for
degree of comparison. The unmarked form is the
positive form, such as
quick. Comparative forms are formed with the ending
-er (
quicker), while superlative forms are formed with
-est (
quickest). Some are uncomparable; the remainder are usually periphrastic constructions with
more (
more beautiful) and
most (
most modestly). See
degree of comparison for more. Adjectives are not declined for case in Modern English (though they were in Old English), nor number nor gender.
Determiners The demonstrative determiners
this and
that are declined for number, as
these and
those. The
article is never regarded as declined in Modern English, although formally, the words
that and possibly
she correspond to forms of the predecessor of
the (
sē m.,
þæt n.,
sēo f.) as it was declined in Old English. ==Latin==