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In grammar, the sociative case is a grammatical case in Uralic languages such as Finnish language and Hungarian; as well as Tamil language, and Malayalam languages that can express the person in whose company (cf. Latin socius) an action is carried out, or to any belongings of people which take part in an action (together with their owners). In other words, it is a case "that typically marks accompaniment or association."
In 19th Century textbooks, sociative case is mentioned as having existed in English grammar, but in Modern English language, the speaker must use context to convey the tone of the message of pejorative association, as in the lyrics of Invisible Sun by The Police: "I face the day with my head caved in: Looking like something that the cat brought in."Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (known as Sting) (2025). 9780307421999, Random House. . ISBN 9780307421999
The use of the sociative case kölyköstül ("with her kids") signifies the speaker's contempt. The case appears also in some commonly used expressions, which survived the general obsolescence of the sociative case:
It is related to the instrumental case but not identical to it. In contrast to the sociative case, the instrumental case usually denotes the means of action and takes the ending -ஆல் ().
Harold F. Schiffman noted the similarities between the sociative cases of Tamil and Hungarian.
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