Lesson VIII Guided Notes
Objectives:
1. Students will read and write in Latin using the ablative of means/instrument construction (1.1,
1.2)
2. Students will read and write in Latin using adjectives similarly to nouns (1.1, 1.2)
3. Students will use the ablative of means in a writing activity where they must come up with a
solution to a particular problem or obstacle (1.1, 1.2)
Review:
1. The nominative case of Latin nouns is used for ______________ and
__________________.
2. The genitive case of Latin nouns is used to show _______________________.
3. The dative case of Latin nouns is used to show ________________________; dative
nouns can also follow certain __________________________.
4. The accusative case of Latin nouns is used to show ______________________;
accusative nouns can also follow certain ________________________.
5. Ablative case nouns can also follow certain ____________________________.
6. Adjectives must agree with a noun in _____________, ______________ and
_________________.
7. When an adjective is _____________ or _____________ it uses endings from the 2nd
declension; when an adjective is ____________________ is uses endings from the 1st
declension.
8. Complete the endings charts for 1st and 2nd declension noun endings.
1st Declension Singular Plural
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
Ablative
2nd Declension Singular Plural
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
Ablative
Ablative of Means or Instrument
In Lessons I and VI, we learned that the ablative case of nouns is used when a noun
follows certain prepositions.
Example: The Gauls are fighting with the Romans. – Galli cum Romanis pugnant.
Example: Gaul is in Europe. – Gallia est in Europā.
Another way to use the ablative case is when you wish to show that you are using a thing
to perform an action. This is called the ablative of means or instrument. Here’s an English
example of a sentence where the ablative of means would be used.
Example: You have a load of dolls to carry from your workshop to a nearby village. What
would you like to use to carry the dolls?
I carry the dolls with a cart. OR I carry the dolls by cart.
Notice that we can express the same idea two ways – with or by.
Here’s the same sentence in Latin.
Pupas carro porto.

Which Latin word is “I carry”? __________________________________

Which Latin word is “dolls”? __________________________________

Which Latin word is “with a cart”? _______________________________
“But wait a minute,” you may be asking yourself – “isn’t the word for with in Latin cum?” It is.
“So why isn’t cum in the sentence,” you may follow. Good question! Here’s a sentence where
we would use cum.
Example: We will sail with the sailors. – Cum nautis navigabimus.
Look at these two sentences side by side now:


I carry the dolls with a cart. – Pupas carro porto.
We will sail with the sailors. – Cum nautis navigabimus.
What do you think the difference is between “cart” and “sailors” in the two sentences (no, “one is
singular and one is plural” isn’t the answer)?
________________________________________________________________________
So here are our rules of thumb:
1. With + a person = Cum + an ablative noun (Ablative of Accompaniment)
2. With + a thing = an ablative noun (Ablative of Means/Instrument)
Practice Look at the following English phrases and decide whether or not the Latin translation
would use cum. Then write the Latin for the phrase in the line next to the phrase.
1. With the queen ____________________________________.
2. With water ______________________________________.
3. With food ________________________________________.
4. With the slaves ___________________________________.
5. With the friend ____________________________________.
6. With punishments __________________________________.
Substantive Adjectives
As we learned in Lesson II, adjectives modify, or tell more about, nouns. We’ve seen
nouns for colors (ruber), numbers (unus), qualities (bonus) and sizes (magnus). We also know
that adjectives agree, or match, with their nouns in case, number and gender. Sometimes, though,
the noun that we are modifying isn’t given. So what do we do then?
Example: Bona
Take a look at this adjective?

What is its gender? _______________________

What is its case? ________________________

What is its number? _______________________

What does the adjective bonus-a-um mean? _________________
Since we don’t know what its noun is, we can make something up to go with bona. We usually
go with something generic that obviously goes with the adjective’s gender. So, what would be a
noun in English that would obviously fit well with bona as it is written here?
___________________________________
Another way this can be used is when using an adjective that means “of or from ______”. An
example of this kind of adjective is Gallus-a-um from our current lesson. These are often used by
themselves in the plural, and the meaning is simply the name of the people, “_____________s” or
“the _________________s”
By this reasoning, what would Galli mean when by itself? ________________________
What would Romani mean? _________________________
What would Britanni mean? _________________________
What would Germani mean? __________________________
What would Americani mean? __________________________
Practice Look at each of the following adjectives. Determine number and gender for each one;
then, translate the adjective into English and add an English noun that fits with the gender. All
adjectives will be nominative.
Example: Malum – a bad thing (um in the nominative would be neuter, and neuter adjectives
usually get paired with “thing”).
1. Malus _______________________________
2. Amici ________________________________
3. Gratae ________________________________
4. Parva ________________________________
5. Magnum ______________________________
So What Did We Learn?
1. When we talk about using a thing to do an action, the noun for that thing is written in
the ______________________ case, and this is called the _________________________
_____________________.
2. When we talk about doing something with somebody, the noun for that is written in the
_____________________ case and we put the Latin preposition ____________ in front
of it; this is called the ______________________________________________.
3. If we have a Latin adjective with no noun next to it, we can make up a noun an
English; we choose a generic one that fits well with the adjective’s _________________.