Sanskrit nouns are gendered (masculine, feminine, and neuter), numbered (singular, dual, and plural) and declined in eight cases. The eight cases, which in Sanskrit are simple named by their ordinal number (first, second, etc.), are:

1. Nominative (प्रथमा): Subject of verbs, predicate adjectives and nouns.
2. Accusative (द्वितीया): Direct objects of verbs and destination (“to”) for motion verbs.
3. Instrumental (तृतीय): Expresses instrumentality by which the verb is accomplished, “by means of,” as well as accompaniment.
4. Dative (चतुर्थ): Indicates the indirect object: “She gave the flower to him.”
5. Ablative (पञ्चम): Indicates origin or source, usually translated as “from,” or comparative “than”
6. Genitive (षष्ठ): Indicates possession usually translated as “of” or “’s” (apostrophe-s). Sometimes used for indirect objects.
7. Locative (सप्तम): Expresses place in which something is or occurs. Also the place into which the action of the verb occurs.
8. Vocative (अष्टम): Used for addressing someone: “Hey you, come here!”

Below are more detailed discussions of each case with examples. In the examples below, some of the sandhi combinations have been expanded to make the case uses stand out more clearly.