28.05.25: Level 1; readings [12] - [15]: review (3); possessive adjectives

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Latin_for_beginners_(1911)/Part_II/Lesson_XIV

[i] This is my shield.

[ii] This shield is mine.

In the first sentence my is a possessive adjective; in the second mine is a possessive pronoun, for it takes the place of a noun, this shield is mine being equivalent to this shield is my shield. Similarly, in Latin the possessives are sometimes adjectives and sometimes pronouns.

Images #1 - #3: the possessives my, mine, your, yours, etc. are declined like adjectives of the first and second declensions.

Singular

meus, mea, meum: my, mine

tuus, tua, tuum: your, yours

eius: his, her(s), its

suus, sua, suum: his (own), her (own), its (own)

Plural

noster, nostra, nostrum: our, ours

vester, vestra, vestrum: your, yours

eōrum, eārum: their(s)

suus, sua, suum: their (own), theirs

Notes: 

[i] meus has the irregular vocative singular masculine mī, as mī fīlī, O my son.

[ii] When your, yours, refers to one person, use tuus; when to more than one, vester:

Lesbia, your wreaths are pretty │ Corōnae tuae, Lesbia, sunt pulchrae

Girls, your wreaths are pretty │Corōnae vestrae, puellae, sunt pulchrae

[iii] the possessives, as in, for example, French, German and Russian, agree with the name of the thing possessed in gender, number, and case. Compare the English and Latin in:

Sextus magistrum suum videt. │ Sextus sees his teacher.

Iūlia magistrum suum videt. │ Julia sees her teacher.

suum agrees with magistrum, and is unaffected by the gender of Sextus or Julia

[iv] Suus is a reflexive possessive and regularly refers back to the subject.

Vir suōs servōs vocat │ The man calls his (own) slaves.

Here his (suōs) refers to man (vir), and could not refer to any one else (see [v] below).

[v]

eius: his / her(s) / its; eius does not change according to gender or case

eōrum [masculine / neuter]; eārum [feminine]: their(s); it also does not change according to case

Compare the difference in usage from [iv] above:

Vir suōs servōs vocat │ The man calls his (own) slaves.

Vir servōs eius vocat │ The man calls his (somebody else’s) slaves.

[vi] Possessives are used much less frequently than in English, being omitted whenever the meaning is clear without them. When translating from Latin into English, the inclusion of his, her etc. may often be necessary even if the original Latin does not use the equivalents. This is especially true of suus, -a, -um which, when inserted, is more or less emphatic, like our his own, her own, etc.

Vocabulary

auxilium, auxiliī [2/n]: help, aid 

castrum, -ī [2/n]: fort; (plural) camp 

cibus, -ī [2/m]: food

cōnsilium, cōnsiliī [2/n]: plan 

dīligentia, -ae [1/f]: diligence, industry

magister, magistrī [2/m]: master, teacher

aeger, aegra, aegrum: sick

crēber, crēbra, crēbrum: frequent

miser, misera, miserum: wretched, unfortunate

Exercise

Translate the following sentences:

1. Mārcus amīcō Sextō cōnsilium suum nūntiat.
2. Est cōpia frūmentī in agrīs nostrīs.
3. Amīcī meī bonam cēnam ancillae vestrae laudant.
4. Tua lōrīca, mī fīlī, est dūra.
5. Scūta nostra et tēla, mī amīce, in castrīs Rōmānīs sunt.
6. Suntne virī patriae tuae līberī? Sunt.
7. Ubi, Cornēlī, est tua galea pulchra?
8. Mea galea, Sexte, est in casā meā.
9. Pīlum longum est tuum, sed gladius est meus.
10. Iūlia gallīnās suās pulchrās amat et gallīnae dominam suam amant.
11. Nostra castra sunt vestra.
12. Est cōpia praedae in castrīs vestrīs.
13. Amīcī tuī miserīs et aegrīs cibum et pecūniam saepe dant.
14. Magister noster dīligentiam Mārcī laudat.
15. Fīlius meus Sextus praedam suam in castra Rōmāna portat.
16. Puellae tuae bonae aegrīs et miserīs auxilium dant.
17. Sunt proelia crēbra in vīcīs nostrīs.
18. Ubi, mī fīlī, est cibus lēgātī?
19. Castra sunt mea, sed tēla sunt tua.