three noun classes. The first class are nonhuman nouns of the first declension. Number is only distinguished in the absolutive case, though verbal agreement may distinguish number when these nouns are in the ergative. The second class are proper names and kin terms for elders. They are second declension, and distinguish number in the ergative, locative, and lative cases, as well as the absolutive. The third class are the other human nouns; they may be either first or second declension. Case roles The absolutive case is the citation form of a noun. It is used for the argument ("subject") of an intransitive clause and the object of a transitive clause, for "syntactic possessives", and for the vocative. The ergative is used for the agent ("subject") of a transitive verb, as an instrumental case, and as the argument of an antipassive clause. The locative is used for position and direction (essive and lative cases), as well as arguments which are "driven away", e.g.: The dative is used for recipients, benefactors, directional objects (allative case), and subjects of experiential verbs Lative is used for motion toward a goal Prolative is used for movement along and movement from (perlative and elative cases) Equative is used with the meanings 'like X', 'as X', usually with verbs like 'to become', 'to turn into', 'to work as,' etc. Contactive is used for objects that make contact Causative is used for noun phrases that cause or motivate an action Comitative is used for ... . It is primarily used with high-animacy referents. Associative is used for secondary or passive accompaniment. It is only attested in the declension of nouns of the first declension, usually inanimate. Grammatical person Grammatical first and second person suffixes on nouns are used to equate a noun with participants in the discourse. They only appear in the absolutive, with an intervening j on nouns ending in a vowel and an i on nouns ending in a consonant. …ʡopta am-ʡujamtawilʔ-ə-muru "yes we the people" japlə=q ʡujamtawilʔ-iɣəm "and I'm a man" Numerals Alyutor has simple numerals for the numbers one to five, ten, and twenty. All other numbers are compounds based on these numerals. Verbs There are finite (conjugated) and non-finite verbs. There are several conjugations. Polypersonal conjugation Finite verbs agree in person and number with their nuclear arguments; agreement is through both prefixes and suffixes. Transitive verbs agree with both arguments (ergative and absolutive),