A review of cases

What are declensions? A declension is really just a big word for a group. Each declension has its own pattern of case endings. This means that it’s important to know what declension a noun belongs to; that way you know what pattern of endings to expect.

So what are the cases? As mentioned there are six cases in total. These are: Nominative Vocative Accusative Genitive Dative Ablative The cases will always be listed in this order if you want to look them up in the back of the book.

A way of remembering the order of cases Never (Nom) Vomit (Voc) After (Acc) Gobbling (Gen) Down (Dat) Apples (Abl)

Nominative The Nominative is case is primarily used for the SUBJECT of the sentence. i.e. the person or thing who is doing something in the sentence. The dog is eating the dinner. canis cenam consumit. Nominative because he is performing the action of the verb

Vocative The vocative cased is used when addressing someone or something. Example ‘Oh dogs you are beautiful’ ‘O canes pulchri estis’ Vocative

Accusative The Accusative case is used primarily for the Object of the sentence. i.e. the person or thing who is having something done to them. Example The boy carries the dog puer canem portat The dog is accusative because it is being carried. In the sentence it is not doing anything.

Genitive The primary use of the Genitive case is for possession or saying who something belongs to. Often translated using the word of Example The home of the dog domus canis Here the genitive is used because the it is the dog’s home.

Dative The primary use of the dative case is when something is being given to someone or when something is done for someone. Examples: He gave a gift to the dog. donum cani dedit He bought a present for the dog donum cani emit.

Ablative The Ablative is primarily translated by adding the words by, with or from Examples I was greeted by the dog cane salutata est I walked with the dog cane ambulavi I ran from the dog. cane cucurrit.

Quick Quiz Write down the uses of all six cases on a rough piece of paper. Starting now you have until this slide changes….

So what are the endings? Nominative 1 st declension 2 nd declension 3 rd declension Singular-a-us-? Plural-ae-i-es

Vocative 1 st declension 2 nd declension 3 rd declension Singular-a-e-? Plural-ae-i-es

Accusative 1 st declension 2 nd declension 3 rd declension Singular-am-um-em Plural-as-os-es

Genitive 1 st declension 2 nd declension 3 rd declension Singular-ae-i-is Plural-arum-orum-(i)um

Dative 1 st declension 2 nd declension 3 rd declension Singular-ae-o-i Plural-is -ibus

Ablative 1 st declension 2 nd declension 3 rd declension Singular-a-o-e Plural-is -ibus

A reminder There is no easy way round the fact that different cases have different endings. You just have to learn them. Part of your prep is to learn the endings of the first three declensions (puella, servus and mercator p114)

Some Simple Sentences To get you thinking about case endings here are some simple sentences to translate INTO LATIN. In each case I have given you the vocabulary (all nouns are in the nominative singular) you just need to change the endings so that they have the correct case ending… You do not need to do anything to the verbs.

Sentences 1.The boy greets the girl (puer, puella, salutat) 2.The slaves give the money to the master (servus, dant, pecunia, dominus) 3.The merchant dines with friends (mercator, cenat, amicus) 4.The slave’s tunic (servus, tunica) 5.The girls sing for the merchants (puella, cantant, mercator)

Answers 1.puer puellam salutat. 2.servi pecuniam domino dant. 3.mercator (cum) amicis cenat. 4.tunica servi. 5.puellae mercatoribus cantant.