Marathi is a highly inflected language, like the other ancient Indo-European languages such as its own mother [[Sanskrit]]. While English uses prepositions, in Marathi, such functions are indicated through the use of case-suffixes. These are referred to as ''vibhaktii pratyay''. There are eight such ''vibhaktii'' in Marathi. The form of the original word changes when such a suffix is to be attached to the word, and the new, modified root is referred to as ''saamaanya ruup'' of the original word. For example, the word {{Unicode|''ghodaa''}} ("horse") gets transformed into {{Unicode|''ghaudyaa-''}} when the suffix ''-var'' ("on") is attached to it to form {{Unicode|''ghaudyaavar''}} ("on the horse").
