Latin

	1st declension		2nd declension
	-a		-us		-um (neuter)
	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
nominative	puell-a	puell-ae	serv-us/ puer	serv-ī	bell-um	bell-a
genitive	puell-ae	puell-ārum	serv-ī	serv-ōrum	bell-ī	bell-ōrum
accusative	puell-am	puell-ās	serv-um	serv-ōs	bell-um	bell-a
dative	puell-ae	puell-īs	serv-ō	serv-īs	bell-ō	bell-īs
ablative	puell-ā	puell-īs	serv-ō	serv-īs	bell-ō	bell-īs

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The Ablative Case

The ablative is the Modal case (Wikipedia) (or to define it more clearly the case of Circumstances which modify the predication adverbially). Besides its proper ablative functions (taken in Greek by the Genitive), it comprises those of the Primitive Instrumental (partly taken in Greek by the Dative) and most functions of the Locative Case.

Its uses may be conveniently taken in the following order:

1. Instrumental ablative: comprising Cause; Instrument; Agent; Price; Matter
2. Locative Ablative: comprising Respect; Difference; Manner; Condition; Quality; Time When; Place Where and by Which.
3. Ablative Proper: comprising Place Whence; Separation; Origin; Thing Compared.

The different uses of the ablative will be dealt progressively. For a summary of all forms of the ablative, please consult the Appendix.

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Grammar Part 5: The Power of the Ablative Case

Ablative generally indicates position in time and/or space (i.e. when and where). It can also indicate the idea of ways of getting to a location, abstractly or concretely.

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Ablative of Means

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Exercise

How would you translate "I made the toga by hand"?

• Hint: You would not (and should not) use the genitive. The case you are studying right now can be used by itself for this goal.
• Hint: Remember that you won't need to use the pronoun "I," since Latin is based not on word order, but on the endings!
• Glossary:
• : "to make" - Facio ("I make"), facere ("to make"), feci ("I made"), factus ("made")
• : "toga" - Toga, togae feminine
• : "hand" - Manus, manus feminine (This is fourth declension)

Answer

Answer: Togam manu feci.

In this case, the word "manu" is in the ablative (see fourth declension list) and thus means "by hand."

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Exercise

I have my wisdom by means of my teacher.

• 'Glossary:
• : "wisdom" - Sapientia, sapientiae feminine
• : "to have" - Habeo ("I have"), habere ("to have"), habui ("I had"), habitus ("had")
• : "teacher" - Magister, magistri masculine (This is a second declension word, despite the 'r' at the end, like puer.)

Answer

Answer: Habeo sapientiam magistro.

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Ablative of Time

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Exercise

How would you say: I will arrive at the 5th hour.

'at the 5th hour' is indicating position of time. 'the 5th hour' is extraneous. You could say 'I will arrive' as its own clause (it stands by itself). The ablative tells us that the concept to which the ablative case refers (the 5th hour) is outside, and different from the (accusative) direct object or the (nominative) subject.

In general, therefore, in order to say "In the morning", "At nine O'clock," or "In the tenth year," use ablative. It is generally used to refer to a specific time in which something has, does, or will occur.

Example: I will leave in the night.

Hint: Future tense can be looked up in the appendices of this Wikibook!

Hint: to leave- discedo, discedere; night- nox, noctis(This is a third declension word!)

Answer

Answer: Discedam nocte.

Note the simplicity in which Latin translates the six words into simply two. The ending based language completely negates the need for the words "I," "will," "in," and "the."

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Ablative of Place Where

Naves navigabant mari. The ships were sailing on the sea.

The ablative is also useful for showing the location of things, in general where you would use the words on, in, or at. There is an exception for the slightly more archaic locative, which is used with the words domi (from domus, domus, f., home), ruri (from rus, ruris, n., country as opposed to city), and Romae (from Roma, Romae, f., Rome), as well as with the names of towns, cities and small islands.

Latin has its own way of handling prepositions depending on the nouns and their cases in the sentence, including the versatile in, which can take many different meanings depending upon the case of the object.

Here are a few prepositions that can take the ablative:

Latin	English
inMeans "into" or "against" when it governs the accusative	in, on
a/ab	from
de	down from, concerning
e/ex	out of, out from
cum	with
sine	without
pro	on behalf of, in front of
superHas static meaning when it governs the ablative but connotes motion when it governs the accusative	upon, above, beyond
subUsually means "up to" or "up to the foot of" when it governs the accusative	under, beneath

As a general rule, when motion is implied, use the accusative, but when location is implied



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Example 3

Servus ex agris venit.

"The slave came from the fields."

Note: Ager (ager, agri, m., field) must take an ablative suffix to match the preceding preposition, in this case e/ex.

Incidentally, both ager and campus mean "field," but ager, like its English derivative "agriculture", connotes a farming field, while campus (think "college campus" or "Champs-Elysees") means "open field." The Campus Martius was a large field in Rome used for military training.

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Grammar Part 6: 3rd, 4th, and 5th Declension Nouns

We will now complete the table of nouns with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th declensions. These declensions are more difficult to work with because their nominative and accusative plural forms are identical, as are their dative and ablative plural forms. To distinguish the cases, you must use a very simple key: context. Context will tell you the meaning.

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3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine (each word has a set gender): rēx, m.

3rd declension nouns (like the 2nd declension noun ager) not analogous at all -hieronymous85--> have two stems: The nominative and vocative singular stem and the stem used for all other cases. Both stems have to be memorized for each noun. Feminine and masculine forms are indistinguishable.

3rd Declension	Singular	Plural
nominative	rēx	rēg-ēs
accusative	rēg-em	rēg-ēs
genitive	rēg-is	rēg-um
dative	rēg-ī	rēg-ibus
ablative	rēg-e	rēg-ibus

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3rd Declension Neuter i-stem: mare

3rd Declension Neuter	Singular	Plural
nominative*	mare	mar-ia
accusative	mare	mar-ia
genitive	mar-is	mar-ium
dative	mar-ī	mar-ibus
ablative	mar-ī	mar-ibus

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4th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender) gradus, m.

4th Declension	Singular	Plural
nominative	grad-us	grad-ūs
accusative	grad-um	grad-ūs
genitive	grad-ūs	grad-uum
dative	grad-uī	grad-ibus
ablative	grad-ū	grad-ibus

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4th Declension Neuter: cornū

4th Declension Neuter	Singular	Plural
nominative	corn-ū	corn-ua
vocative	corn-ū	corn-ua
accusative	corn-ū	corn-ua
genitive	corn-ūs	corn-uum
dative	corn-ū	corn-ibus
ablative	corn-ū	corn-ibus

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5th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender; most are feminine): rēs, f.

5th Declension Feminine/Masculine	Singular	Plural
nominative	r-ēs	r-ēs
vocative	r-ēs	r-ēs
accusative	r-ēm	r-ēs
genitive	r-ēī	r-ērum
dative	r-ēī	r-ēbus
ablative	r-ē	r-ēbus

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Exercises

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Exercise 1

Translate the following:

Hodiē militēs ad villam meī amīcī mittō. Meō amicō, Marcō Tulliō nomine, mē in Senatū maledicere placet, quā rē istum interficere volō.

Vocabulary:

• villa -ae f., farmhouse
• mittō mittere mīsī missus, to send
• nomen nominis n., name
• maledicō -dicere -dīxī -dictum, to insult
• placet placēre placuit placitus + dative, it pleases
• quā rē, on account of which
• iste ista istud, that damn (man/woman/thing)
• interficiō -ficere -fēcī -fectus, to kill
• volō velle voluī --, to want

For extra credit, who in the late Republic might have said such a thing?

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Exercise 2

Translate the following:

Eheu! Mūs meum pānem mandit. Nunc nihil habeō. Me miserum!

Vocabulary:

• mando mandere mansi mansus'', to chew on

For learning Latin Category Uncategorized Level Unspecified Second language English Created Aug 01, 2008 16:46 Views 1089 Share:

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