[Ora Maritima: Sonnenschein (1902); note: you have read the first three parts of this text, the fourth part is omitted and we move to part 5]
Note the endings in bold.
5. Lȳdia quoque, consōbrīna mea, apud amitam meam nunc habitat. Lȳdia columbās cūrat: cūra columbārum Lȳdiae magnam laetitiam dat. Tū, Lȳdia, cum apud magistram tuam es, linguae Francogallicae et linguae Anglicae operam dās; sed ego linguīs antiquīs Romae et Graeciae operam dō. Saepe cum Lȳdiā ad silvam vel ad ōram maritimam ambulō. Interdum cum nautā in scaphā nāvigāmus. Quantopere nōs undae caeruleae dēlectant! Lȳdia casās agricolārum cum amitā meā interdum vīsitat. Vōs, fīliae agricolārum, Lȳdiam amātis, ut Lȳdia vōs amat. Ubi inopia est, ibi amita mea inopiam levat.
Vocabulary
apud: preposition + accusative case; it has several meanings depending upon context, one of which is, literally, in the presence of (a person); it often translates as ‘at the house of’ i.e like French chez
apud amitam meam habitat: She is living with my aunt i.e. at my aunt’s house (Fr. chez ma tante)
apud magistram tuam es: You are at your teacher’s house; you are with your teacher (i.e. in the same place as the teacher is)
columba: dove
cūrāre: to care for; take care of; look after
cūra: care (noun)
laetitia: happiness
lingua (Francogallica; Anglica): (French; English) language
operam dāre: give attention
inopia: want (noun); poverty; need (noun); scarcity
levāre: to relieve; alleviate
Notes
[1] cum: this word deserves careful attention; it has two meanings: [i] as a preposition + ablative meaning ‘(together) with’ and [ii] as a conjunction meaning ‘when’; you need to check whether …
[i] ‘cum’ is followed by a noun e.g. Interdum cum nautā in scaphā nāvigāmus. Sometimes we sail with the sailor in the small boat
[ii] ‘cum’ is working with a verb: Tū, Lȳdia, cum apud magistram tuam es. You, Lydia, when you are at your teacher’s house …
[2] Dative case
There is one other case to deal with, namely the locative case. However, the locative case is only used in special circumstances and is not listed as a main case unless it applies to a particular noun. The dative case is, effectively, the last case to be introduced.
Look at this extract from the text:
Cūra columbārum Lȳdiae magnam laetitiam dat: Taking care of the doves gives Lydia great happiness = ... gives great happiness to Lydia
The proper noun ‘Lydia’ is the indirect object of the sentence. You are not giving Lydia to anyone, but happiness is being given to Lydia.
I give the girl a book = I give a book to the girl. In Latin, ‘to the girl’ is in the dative case and you have already seen the endings elsewhere because they are used in other cases.
[i] The dative case singular of 1st declension nouns is -ae
Nominative: puella
> Dative: puellae i.e. it is the same as [a] the nominative plural and [b] the genitive singular
Magister puellae [dative] ¦ librum [accusative] dat. The teacher gives (to) the girl [indirect object = dative]¦ a book [direct object = accusative]; The teacher gives a book to the girl.
Tū … linguae Francogallicae et linguae Anglicae operam dās. You … give attention to the French language and (to) the English language.
[ii] The dative case plural of all 1st and 2nddeclension nouns is -īs
Nominative plural: puellae
> Dative plural: puellīs i.e. it is the same as the ablative plural
Ego linguīs antiquīs [dative plural] ¦ Romae et Graeciae [genitive singular] operam dō. I give attention to the ancient languages ¦ of Rome and Greece.
Do not be influenced by English usage: ‘to’ in the sense of, for example, going to a place is expressed by ad + accusative e.g. Ad macellum properat. He hurries to the market. The dative case is used when, for example, you give something to somebody or you say something to somebody.
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