Votian/Abessive

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Abessive ^[1]

	Singular	Plural
Abessive marker	-tta	-itta

Pronunciation of abessive suffixes varies according to vowel harmony e.g. iлmā leivä-ttä ('without bread' singular abessive ), iлmā minu-tta ('without me' singular abessive ), iлmā pillī-ttä ('musical instruments' plural abessive ), iлmā лahjoi-ttā ('musical instruments' plural abessive ).
The final vowel of abessive suffixes may be omitted depending in it's position in a sentence (especially in Jõgõperä and Mati dialect) e.g. jaлkoi-t̄ (" without legs "), arvàme̮-t̄ (" without guessing " Jõgõperä dialect).

Singular abessive is usually in a grade opposite to singular nominative, caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g. leipä ('bread' singular nominative) vs. iлmā leivä-ttä ( singular abessive ).
A plural stem is usually in the strong grade, if there is such a grade available e.g. jaлkoi-t̄ (" leg " plural abessive) vs. jaлga-D (plural nominative) .

Abessive expresses being without something and is used generally with a preposition iлmā - e.g. iлmā minutta siä et ̮ tunne̮ mennä ('You cannot find your way without me .'), jäin iлmā pillīttä (' I lost my (musical) instruments .'), tanttsi iлmā rivatta (' She danced barelegs (with no gaiters).')