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# vocative

«vocative» in Mova's school dictionary: **the word or name used to speak directly to someone, as in…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (the vocative, vocatives); adjective (vocative)

### meaning for a pupil

1) In grammar, the vocative is the word or name used to speak directly to someone, as in «Tom, come here!». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#m1)

2) In some languages (Latin, Ukrainian, Polish), the vocative is a special case: the name changes its ending when you call someone (Ukrainian «Ivan» becomes «Ivane»). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In English grammar lessons, a vocative is set off with a comma («Thank you, Mum.»); in Latin and Ukrainian lessons, the vocative case has its own ending; the famous joke: «Let's eat, Grandma!» vs «Let's eat Grandma!» shows why the comma matters.

### examples

- In «Hurry up, Sam», «Sam» is a vocative. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#x1)
- Use a comma before the vocative: «Thanks, Dad.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#x2)
- «Let's eat, Grandma!» — the comma saves Grandma. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#x3)
- In Ukrainian, «mama» becomes «mamo» in the vocative. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#x4)
- «O Lord» is an old vocative used in prayers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/#x5)

### note

English has no special vocative ending, only commas: always separate the name you are calling from the rest of the sentence with a comma. Do not confuse with «vocabulary».

### In the corpora

- [Ukrainian has seven cases; the vocative is the case for calling someone, so you call your mum "Мамо!".](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/40-the-big-language-quiz/13/)
- [BAbusyu! is the calling form of BAbusya: what you shout to call Granny; this special form is called the vocative.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/7-calling-mum-and-granny-one-to-eight/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «vocative» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vocative/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.