Did the English language in its early form ever have declensions, in the same way as Latin or other languages?

Question

To attempt clarification, in Latin for example, nouns decline in Nominative, Genative, Dative, Accusative, and Ablative (as well as a Vocative) case. They also decline according to gender and number. However, I draw little parallel into English, which I find weird. In my experiences in Sanskrit, Latin, and French, I wondered if English, perhaps in an earlier form, ever had anything similiar.

Answer 1

Yes, Old English had a set of declensions much like Latin, etc. However, in the Germanic languages the declension system was starting to break down and be levelled out. English continued that process as did several of the other Germanic languages. German has the most complete modern system, but it is clearly also breaking down and levelling out.

Answer 2

It does - he, his, and him, she, hers, and her, who, whose, and whom..... it is just not as obvious in English. Most of the words do not decline, but the concept has carried over to a minimal extent. The majority of English words depend on word order within the sentence to establish their function.

Answer 3

I believe that Old English had some declinations
example: thou, thoust and thine.

Answer 4

If you'll allow me to link to wikipedia, it explains it much better than I could:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_declension