The identical text from the last post but, this time, we’ll briefly review other aspects of the language covered in previous posts. I will only focus on [i] the uses of the cases that are in the text and [ii] briefly on adverbs.
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Intereā in vīllā Corneliānā
omnēs strēnuē labōrant. Aurēlia tunicam et stolam et
pallam gerit. Ancillam iubet aliās tunicās et stolās et pallās in
cistam pōnere. Mārcus et Sextus tunicās et togās praetextās gerunt quod initinere et
in urbe togās praetextās libērī gerere solent. Servus aliās
tunicās et togās praetextās in cistam pōnit. In cubiculō Gaiī servus
togās virīlēs in cistam pōnit quod Gaius in urbe togam
virīlem gerere solet. Gaius ipse togam virīlem induit.
Dāvus, quī ipse omnia
cūrat, ad iānuam stat. Servōs iubet
cistās ē cubiculīs in viam portāre. Baculum habet
et clāmat, "Agite, servī scelestī! Dormītisne? Hodiē,
nōn crās, discēdimus."
Mārcus quoque servōs
incitat et iubet eōs cistās in raedam pōnere.
Servus quīdam, nōmine Geta, cistam Sextī arripit
et in raedam iacit.
"Cavē, Geta!" exclāmat Sextus sollicitus. "Cūrā cistam meam! Nōlī eam iacere!" Tandem omnēs cistae in raedā sunt. Ascendunt Mārcus et Sextus. Ascendit Eucleīdēs. Ascendit Aurēlia. Gaius ipse ascendere est parātus. Syrus, raedārius, quoque ascendit et equōs incitāre parat. Subitō exclāmat Aurēlia, "Ubī est Cornēlia?"
Eō ipsō tempore in viam currit Cornēlia. Eam Gaius iubet in raedam statim ascendere. Statim raedārius equōs incitat. Discēdunt Cornēliī.
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Case Usages
[1] Nominative: the subject of
the sentence; the person or thing performing the action
- Dāvus … ad iānuam stat. │ Davus … is standing at the door.
- "Ubī est Cornēlia?" │ Where is Cornelia?
- Togās praetextās libērī gerere solent. │ Children usually wear the toga praetexta.*
- Discēdunt Cornēliī. │ The Cornelii [i.e. the whole Cornelius family] depart.
*toga praetexta: a
type of white toga with a purple border that was worn by freeborn boys and some
freeborn girls, before they came of age. However unpleasant it may sound, one
of the reasons was to ward off sexual predators and keep the youngsters safe
from immoral influence.
[2] Vocative: there is
little that needs to be said about this case; it is used when addressing
people directly e.g. ‘Hi, John!” In almost all instances, the
nominative and the vocative case are the same.
- "Cavē, Geta!" │ “Be careful, Geta!”
- "Agite, servī scelestī!” │ “Get a move on, wicked slaves!”
The reason why it’s listed
as a separate case is because masculine nouns ending in -us change to -e:
- Mārcus > Salvē Mārce! │ Hello, Marcus!
And you will see it with
masculine nouns in -ius > -ī:
- Iūlius > Salvē, Iūlī! │Hello, Julius!
- meus fīlius: my son > Ō mī fīlī! │ Oh, my son!
The text itself does not
give examples of that change.
When I list tables, I don’t
include the vocative unless there is a change because, beyond the limited
changes I’ve mentioned here, it’s always the same as the nominative. There’s no
purpose in thinking that there is an entire set of endings under the heading of
‘vocative’ that need to be studied.
[3] Accusative
[i] the direct
object of the sentence; the person or thing that is being affected by
the action
- Aurēlia [nominative] tunicam [accusative] et stolam [accusative] et pallam [accusative] gerit. │ Aurelia is wearing a tunic, a dress and a shawl.
- Raedārius [nominative] equōs [accusative] incitat. │The coachman spurs on the horses.
- Servōs [accusative] iubet ... │ He orders the slaves
- Servus [nominative] tunicās [accusative] et togās [accusative] … in cistam pōnit. │The slave puts the tunics and the togas into the chest.
- Baculum habet. │ He has / holds a stick.
- "Cūrā cistam meam! Nōlī eam iacere!" │ Look after my chest! Don’t throw it!
- Iubet eōs [accusative] cistās [accusative] in raedam (see note [ii] below) pōnere. │ He orders them to put the chests into the carriage.
[ii] used with certain prepositions
ad + accusative: at /
towards
- Dāvus … ad iānuam stat. │ Davus … is standing at the door.
in + accusative: into /
onto
- Servus … togās [accusative; direct object] ¦ in cistam [preposition in + accusative] pōnit. │ The slave puts the togas ¦ into the chest.
- Cistam [accusative; direct object] Sextī arripit et in raedam [preposition in + accusative] iacit. │ He snatches Sextus’s chest and throws (it) ¦ into / onto the carriage.
- Iubet eōs [accusative] cistās [accusative] ¦ in raedam. [preposition in + accusative] │ He orders them to put the chests ¦ into the carriage.
- In viam currit Cornēlia. │ Cornelia runs into the street.
[3] Genitive: possession;
the “owner” of the thing, like English ‘John’s book’
- In cubiculō ¦ Gaiī [genitive]│in Gaius’ bedroom [literally: in the bedroom of Gaius]
- Cistam ¦ Sextī arripit. [genitive] │ He seizes Sextus’ trunk. [literally: the trunk of Sextus]
[4] Ablative
This case has many uses
which have been discussed along the way since the group started. You cannot
learn all the uses at the same time because there are simply too many. I will
refer to the ones here, two of which are very common:
[i] preposition in +
ablative; this is different from in + accusative referred to
in [2](ii) above:
in + accusative: into /
onto something i.e. movement from one place into another
in + ablative: in i.e. no
movement; it refers to the location
- in vīllā │ in the villa
- in urbe │ in the city
- in itinere │ on the journey (when travelling)
- in cubiculō [ablative] Gaiī [genitive] │in Gaius’ bedroom [literally: in the bedroom ¦ of Gaius]
- Omnēs cistae in raedā sunt. │ All the chests are in / on the carriage.
[ii] preposition ē /
ex: out of
- Servōs iubet cistās ¦ ē cubiculīs ¦ in viam portāre. │ He orders the slaves to carry the chests ¦ out of the bedrooms ¦ into the street.
[iii] multiple uses almost
all of which function as adverbial phrases i.e. expressing, for example, how
something was done or when it was done or what was used to do it or for what
reason. The ablative can’t be explained in a handful of words, but it is giving
additional information to whatever the main point is.
Servus quīdam, nōmine Geta
│a certain slave by the name of Geta [i.e. called Geta]
- eō ipsō tempore │ at that very time
*** The dative case
is not used in this text, and so I will review that separately. ***
[iv] Note! There is a
difference between what we classify as an adverb and an adverbial phrase:
In English an adverb is a
single word, and there are examples in the text
[i] Many adverbs in Latin
are formed from the adjective
strenu¦us, -a, -um:
strenuous; active > strēnu¦ē
- Omnēs strēnuē labōrant: everybody is working actively.
[ii] Latin also has a large
number of adverbs which, like English, have their unique forms; many adverbs
and adverbial phrases refer to time (in grammar they’re called temporal adverbs)
- crās: tomorrow
- hodiē: today
- intereā: meanwhile; in the meantime
- quoque: also
- statim: immediately
- subitō: suddenly
- tandem: at length; finally
[iii] But, as mentioned in
the ablative notes, the ablative can create many phrases which
have an adverbial function i.e. the individual words are not adverbs but, when
combined, form a phrase that has that function:
- eō ipsō tempore │ at that very time (an adverbial phrase; temporal i.e. referring to time)
[iv] One more small point to
“throw in” which hasn’t been mentioned in earlier posts:
- "Cavē, Geta!" exclāmat Sextus sollicitus. │ “Be careful, Geta!” shouts Sextus, worried.
sollicitus, -a, -um: disturbed; worried;
anxious, an adjective describing Sextus. Latin sometimes uses adjectives to
describe the emotion of the person performing the action
which, more naturally in English translation, would become an adverb describing
the emotion of the way it was done; of course, ‘… shouts a
worried / concerned Sextus’ is grammatically correct but,
depending on context, can sound a bit clumsy. In situations like that, the
sentence could be reworked:
“Be careful,” shouts Sextus
¦ who is anxious, or, better I think, “Be careful,” shouts Sextus anxiously.
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