Use of noun cases:
Nominative: the nominative case is used to indicate the subject of a verb.
Genitive: The idea most commonly conveyed by the genitive is possession. The general meaning of the genitive can
be ascertained by translating it with the preposition of. A Latin noun/adjective in the genitive case usually follows the
noun it modifies. For example: filius agricolae = son of the farmer
Dative: Indirect object, or the person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb. It is often translated by
placing to/for before the word in the dative case. For example: The poet is giving roses to the girl.
Accusative: The accusative case is used for two purposes. It can be used (most commonly) as the direct object of the
verb, and the object of a preposition. ad, to, toward, at, near in, into, post, after, per, through, prope, near
Ablative: The ablative case is used to modify or limit the verb. For this reason, it is called the adverbial case. The
Romans used the ablative case with and without a preposition. The most common prepositions with the ablative case
include: (ab, by; cum, with; de and ex, from; in, in, on).
Vocative: used to address someone directly. Often used with the interjection Ō, typically offset by commas, Nouns
look like the nominative case. Exception, 2nd declension nouns ending in –us become –e; -ius become -i
Noun declension endings:
First declension
(Feminine)
Second declension Masculine & Neuter
(Masculine)
Sg.
Sg.
Endings
Nom.
–a
-us/-er
-um
Gen.
–ae
-i
-i
Dat.
–ae
-o
-o
Acc.
–am
-um
-um
Abl.
–a
-o
-o
Pl.
Endings
(Neuter)
Endings
Sg.
Pl.
Endings
Pl.
Endings
Endings
Nom.
–ae
-i
-a
Gen.
–arum
-orum
-orum
Dat.
–is
-is
-is
Acc.
–as
-os
-a
Abl.
–is
-is
-is
By memorizing the endings for each noun declension above, and using it in the manner that we construct English
sentences, you should be able to translate sentences. Remember that English has a very strict word order. English
requires the subject to appear first, followed by the verb and direct object. The ending on Latin words tells you what
the subject is, what the direct object is, and what the indirect object is. Therefore you do not need to put them in
order.
For example:
1. Otium est bonum = Leisure is good.
Here, otium, -i, neuter, means peace or leisure. Otium is the subject. We know this because its ending is –um,
which is the nominative singular ending for a 2nd declension neuter noun (see the paradigm above). We also
know this because est is 3rd person singular and must take a noun in the nominative singular case. This is
necessary since the subject must be in the nominative case. The verb est is a linking verb, joining otium and
bonum. The verb “est” means “is”. This works as an explanation of the subject. Good describes leisure. This
would apply if the subject was a person. Joe is tall. Tall is actually an adjective describing Joe. Because of this, the
adjective/noun which comes after est is called the predicate nominative. It must be in the same case, number,
and gender as the subject because it describes it.
2. In magno periculo sumus.
Here, we have a verb and a prepositional phrase. We know that the phrase is ablative because in takes the
ablative and the following words end in –o. We have preposition + adjective + noun = in + magno + periculo. = In
great danger. Sumus = our subject and verb. Sumus is 1st person plural = “We,” and sumus means “are”
Translated = We are in great danger.
3. Vir filium amici laudat.
Here vir is in the nominative case, so we know it must be the subject. If there was no subject in the sentence,
then we would look at the verb like we did with sumus in the previous sentence. If vir is the subject, and it is
nominative singular, then we must find a singular verb. In this sentence, laudat is 3rd person singular, so the
subject could either be “he” or a noun in the nominative singular case. Since vir is nominative singular, it agrees
with the verb laudat. This is called subject verb agreement. Now we need to look at the remaining words. Filium
ends in –um we know that it comes from filius, -i m. meaning friend, a second declension noun. So, if we look at
our chart of endings, we know that is accusative singular, which means it must be the direct object of the verb. So
we would translate the subject Vir = The man, the verb laudat = praises, and the direct object = the son. Now we
have amici, from amicus, -i m. friend. The form is amici, which means it is genitive singular. It comes directly after
filium, which means it more than likely goes with filium. So we put “of” before amici (as we do with genitives) and
translate it after filium. The translation would be: The man praises the son of (his) friend.