Essive case (abbreviated as ESS) is the grammatical case used to describe state of noun or pronoun. It is marked with clitic postposition “-si” for both declension classes. Its most common function in Nûrlâm is to make comparisons, while in other languages it has much broader use (like marking time-related nouns in Finnish, or to express antipassive in dead Hurrian language). So Essive case of Nûrlâm is closer to Equative, Associative, Similative (Similaris), Comparative, Identical cases of other languages. Essive case transforms nouns and pronouns from subject or object into adjectival or adverbial phrase. It may also be a part of complex predicate (predicative). Typical applications of Essive case in Nûrlâm include:

• To compare similarity:
  • To make description of subject or object by comparing it with noun or pronoun. It is similar to adding English clitic particle “-like” (“This animal is wolf-like”, “I'm tired of this pig-like person”)
  • To compare adjective with noun (e.g. “slick as an eel”), paired with preposition “oth” (as, like, similar to): “ translation needed”
  • To express close similarity or equality of two objects, using additional preposition-like adjective “zash” (same): “This ring is the same as one that I gave you a year ago”
  • To compare two objects using some adjective: “He is as tall as a giant”
  • To compare some quality of an action: “He is working like an ox” = “He works as hard as an ox”, “Run like rabbit” = “Run as fast as rabbit”. Similar to next example but expression is figurative.
• To express title or appointments, similar to previous and next examples: “He works as a doctor”, “As a ruler of Mordor I order you to conquer Gondor”.
• To express state (temporal or stable), connected to time, age or quality: “I knew him as a child” = “I knew him when he was child”, “As your friend I advice you not to go there”.