-am

See also: Appendix:Variations of "am"

Azerbaijani

Suffix

	preceding vowel
	a / ı / o / u	e / ə / i̇ / ö / ü
postconsonantal	-am	-əm
postvocalic	-yam	-yəm

-am

1. Postconsonantal form of -əm after the vowels A / I / O / U.

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin -āmen, variant of -men, a noun-forming suffix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈam]

Suffix

-am m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ams)

1. (often pejorative) indicates a collectivity

   ‎mosquit (“mosquito”) + ‎-am → ‎mosquitam (“swarm of mosquitos”)

   ‎trast (“piece of junk”) + ‎-am → ‎trastam (“junk”)

Derived terms

Catalan terms suffixed with -am

bestiam

brancam

budellam

clavegueram

fustam

mosquitam

ollam

rocam

trastam

Related terms

• -im
• -um

Further reading

• “-am”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

Esperanto

Etymology

Initially, the correlatives for time ended with -an instead of -am: kian, tian, ian, ĉian, nenian instead of the modern kiam, tiam, iam, ĉiam, neniam. Zamenhof left a one-year period (from Esperanto's creation in 1887 to 1888) during which changes to Esperanto could be proposed. After that year, the only change that was made was changing the time correlatives from -an to -am due to the risk of confusion with correlatives ending with -a + the accusative ending -n. The forms with -an are no longer used, but they can be found in a few older texts from that one-year period. This is the only reform proposal that has ever been successfully implemented into Esperanto.

Suffix

-am

1. suffix for correlatives of time

Derived terms

• ĉiam (“always”)
• iam (“sometime”)
• kiam (“when”)
• neniam (“never”)
• (nonce) aliam (“(at) another time, sometime else”)
• tiam (“then”)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɒm]

Etymology 1

Suffix

-am

2. (possessive suffix) my (first-person singular, single possession)

   ház (“house”) → a házam (“my house”)

Usage notes

• (possessive suffix) Variants:

  -m is added to words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.

  ‎hajó (“boat”) + ‎-m → ‎a hajóm (“my boat”)

  ‎kocsi (“car”) + ‎-m → ‎a kocsim (“my car”)

  ‎palota (“palace”) + ‎-m → ‎a palotám (“my palace”)

  ‎érme (“coin”) + ‎-m → ‎az érmém (“my coin”)

  -am is added to some back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎ház (“house”) + ‎-am → ‎a házam (“my house”)

  -om is added to the other back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎kor (“age”) + ‎-om → ‎a korom (“my age”)

  -em is added to unrounded (and some rounded) front-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎kert (“garden”) + ‎-em → ‎a kertem (“my garden”)

  ‎fül (“ear”) + ‎-em → ‎a fülem (“my ear”)

  -öm is added to most rounded front-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎öröm (“joy”) + ‎-öm → ‎az örömöm (“my joy”)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -a-, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	-am	—
accusative	-amat	—
dative	-amnak	—
instrumental	-ammal	—
causal-final	-amért	—
translative	-ammá	—
terminative	-amig	—
essive-formal	-amként	—
essive-modal	-amul	—
inessive	-amban	—
superessive	-amon	—
adessive	-amnál	—
illative	-amba	—
sublative	-amra	—
allative	-amhoz	—
elative	-amból	—
delative	-amról	—
ablative	-amtól	—
non-attributive possessive – singular	-amé	—
non-attributive possessive – plural	-améi	—

Etymology 2

Suffix

-am

2. (noun-forming suffix) Added to a noun or a verb to form a noun. A final single -l may become long -ll-.

   ‎áll (“to stand”) + ‎-am → ‎állam (“state”)

   ‎dal (“song”) + ‎-am → ‎dallam (“tune”)

   ‎hoz (“to bring”) + ‎-am → ‎hozam (“yield”)

   ‎tart (“to hold”) + ‎-am → ‎tartam (“span as in lifespan”)

Usage notes

• (noun-forming suffix) Variants:

  -am is added to back-vowel words

  -em is added to front-vowel words

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	-am	-amok
accusative	-amot	-amokat
dative	-amnak	-amoknak
instrumental	-ammal	-amokkal
causal-final	-amért	-amokért
translative	-ammá	-amokká
terminative	-amig	-amokig
essive-formal	-amként	-amokként
essive-modal	-amul	-amokul
inessive	-amban	-amokban
superessive	-amon	-amokon
adessive	-amnál	-amoknál
illative	-amba	-amokba
sublative	-amra	-amokra
allative	-amhoz	-amokhoz
elative	-amból	-amokból
delative	-amról	-amokról
ablative	-amtól	-amoktól
non-attributive possessive – singular	-amé	-amoké
non-attributive possessive – plural	-améi	-amokéi

Possessive forms of -am

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	-amom	-amaim
2nd person sing.	-amod	-amaid
3rd person sing.	-ama	-amai
1st person plural	-amunk	-amaink
2nd person plural	-amotok	-amaitok
3rd person plural	-amuk	-amaik

Derived terms

Hungarian nouns suffixed with -am

állam

dallam

folyam

futam

hajlam

hozam

huzam

roham

szólam

tartam

See also

• Category:Hungarian noun forms
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

Latin

Alternative forms

• -ã (scribal abbreviation)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈãː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈam]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂m (accusative singular of *-éh₂). Cognate with Old Church Slavonic -ѫ (-ǫ).

Suffix

-am

1. accusative feminine singular of -us
2. accusative singular of -a

Etymology 2

A conjugated form of -ō (suffix forming third-conjugation verbs).

Suffix

-am

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of -ō (third conjugation)

Ojibwe

Final

-am

1. act on by mouth or teeth

Derived terms

• dakwam
• wiikwam

See also

• asham
• -doon

References

• The Ojibwe People's Dictionary https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/word-part/am-final

Suffix

-am

1. A suffix that acts as transitive inanimate verb (vti) class marker

Usage notes

-am appears on Type 2 animate intransitive verbs (vai2).

See also

• -an

References

• Ojibwe People's Dictionary
• Anishinaabemodaa
• Ontario Ministry of Education Resource Guide, Native Languages, p. 51

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əβ̃/, [aβ̃]

Suffix

-am m

1. broad form of -em

   ‎oll (“great, vast”) + ‎-am → ‎ollam (“master, expert”)

Phalura

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-am/

Suffix

-am

1. Oblique plural suffix (with a-declension nouns)

Alternative forms

• -óom (With accent-shifting nouns)
• -éem (With ai-ending nouns)
• -úum (With accent-shifting nouns in Biori)

References

• Henrik Liljegren; Naseem Haider (2011), “-am”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[2], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-am/

Suffix

-am

1. Instrumental suffix (with a-declension nouns)

Alternative forms

• -óom (With accent-shifting nouns)
• -úum (With accent-shifting nouns in Biori)

References

• Henrik Liljegren; Naseem Haider (2011), “-am”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[3], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese -an, from Latin -ant. Compare Galician and Spanish -an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɐ̃w̃/

Suffix

-am (non-lemma form of verb-forming suffix)

1. a suffix indicating the third-person plural present indicative of -ar

   ‎amar (“to love”) + ‎-am → ‎amam (“[They] love”)

   ‎cantar (“to sing”) + ‎-am → ‎cantam (“[They] sing”)

Usage notes

For verbs without any vowels in the root, -ão is used instead. (i.e. dar > dão).

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

• -eam (after a slender consonant)

Etymology

From Old Irish -imm. The spelling indicates that the m was broad before the loss of the broad/slender distinction in labial consonants; this pronunciation arose by leveling of this ending with the broad m found in first-person singular prepositional pronouns such as agam, asam, thugam etc. Compare the Ulster pronunciation of Irish -im (first-person singular present indicative and imperative) as /əmˠ/.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əm/

Suffix

-am

1. first-person singular imperative ending of verbs

Volapük

Suffix

-am

1. Used to form a verbal noun.

Derived terms

Volapük terms suffixed with -am

balam

balatam

dunam

klubam

kronam

prodam