a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb directly, without a preposition it answers the one-word question
what? or whom?

The god loves the nymph.
The god loves whom? answer: the nymph
The nymph is the direct object
The girl sees the bull.
The girl sees what? answer: the bull
The bull is the direct object

Never assume that a word is the
direct object. Always ask the oneword question.
The girls work well.
The girls work whom?
The girls work what?

a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb indirectly, through the preposition to or for it answers the two-word questions
to whom? or for whom?
to what? or for what?

The boy gives a present to his mother.
They boy gives his mother a present.
The boy gives a present to whom? answer: to this mother his mother is the indirect object
The farmer did a favor for me.
The farmer did me a favor.
The farmer did a favor for whom? answer: for me
me is the indirect object

Activity 1: Underline all indirect objects and circle direct objects
1. I sent Mark and Rachel a card for their anniversary.
I sent a card to Mark and Rachel for their anniversary.
2. At Thanksgiving, I gave a basket of fruit and some flowers to my aunt.

3. Please lend Allison your sheet music for that chorus.
Please lend your sheet music to Allison for that chorus.
4. Peter assigned me the role of secretary.
Peter assigned the role of secretary to me.
5. My veterinarian gave a fuzzy new toy to my cat.

6. Clarence built a tree house for his older sister’s children in the backyard.
7. Worrying about his college entrance exam gave Alex headaches.
Worrying about his college entrance exam gave headaches to Alex.
8. The chef ordered everyone bread, cheese and fruit after dinner.
The chef ordered bread, cheese and fruit for everyone after dinner.

9. I picked my mom a bouquet of flowers for her birthday.
10. Derrick offered tickets to three of us for the school play.

Dative Case
Look at the following sentences:
Mandata servis dabat.
He was giving orders to the slaves.
Omnia Marco explicavit.
He explained everything to Marcus.
Cornelius fabulam uxori narravit.
Cornelius told the story to his wife.

There are some verbs in Latin that will take its
object in the dative case rather than the accusative case.
appropinquo, appropinquāre, appropinquavi, appropinquatus + dat.
Cornelii urbi appropinquabant.
The Cornelii were approaching the city.

Pronouns singular nominative dative ego mihi tu is tibi ei ea id
Quis?
ei ei
Cui?
plural nominative nos vos ei eae ea
Qui?
dative nobis vobis eis eis eis
Quibus?

Activity 2: Write the dative singular and plural for each word
1. viator, viatoris
2. fabula, fabulae
3. ager, agri
4. auxilium, auxilii
5. lectus, lecti
6. homo, hominis dative singular dative plural
________________ _______________
________________ _______________
________________ _______________
________________ _______________
________________ _______________
________________ _______________
7. hospes, hospitis ________________ _______________
8. iter, itineris
9. cena, cenae
________________ _______________
________________ _______________

Activity 3: Underline the word or words in the dative case and translate the sentence.
1.
Patruus pecuniam pueris dat.
2.
Ancilla invita cauponi scelesto cibum tradit.
3.
Omnia patri meo semper dico.
4.
Nihil legato principis dixit.

5.
Cornelius epistulam Tito misit et omnia ei explicavit.
6.
Marcus, “Tace, Sexte!” inquit. “Nobis non licet hic clamāre.”
7.
In somnis Aulus amico Septimo apparuit.

8.
Dum Cornelii urbi appropinquabant, Titus omnia eis parabat.
9.
Apollodorus Corneliis cubicula monstrat.
10. Servi alium lectum Aureliae paraverunt.

Nouns: Dative or Ablative:
You will have noticed that the dative and ablative cases often have identical endings, e.g. servo, puellis, militibus. How are you to tell which case is used in a particular sentence? The Latin will usually provide clues to help you decide correctly.
1.
2.
Is the noun preceded by a preposition? If it is, the noun will be in the ablative case because no preposition governs the dative case.
If there is no preposition, does the noun refer to a person?
If it does, it will normally be in the dative because nouns referring to persons are usually governed by prepositions if they are in the ablative. If the noun refers to a thing, it is more likely to be ablative rather than dative.

Activity 4: Identify each as dative or ablative and then translate the entire sentence:
1. Septimus omnia de Aulo mortuo civibus explicavit.
2. Mihi necesse est equis meis cibum dāre.
3. Marcus ramo lupum repellit.

4.
Raedarius habenis equos devertebat.
5.
Nos bonam cenam hospitibus paravimus, domine.
6.
Media nocte Aulus somno amico suo apparuit.