For the forms of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in the various cases,
numbers, and genders, consult the back of this semester's textbook, or
your beginning Latin text (Wheelock or whatever you have) or any
first-year Latin text or comprehensive Latin grammar, most of which can
be navigated by table of contents or index. The morphological
analysis tool available on the Perseus website can help
identify the forms of specific words or
phrases.
As for what stands below, it is not comprehensive, but is intended to
cover the commoner
forms of
case usage, in particular those which I think we see, and speak
of, during the second year of Latin study.
For some cases, usage is simple,
and single:
Vocative:
for direct address only (greetings, friend!
= salve, amice!)
Locative: for stationary location only (living in
Rome / at home = vivere Romae
/ domi )
Nominative and accusative case
usage is only slightly more complicated:
Nominative (no preposition) for
the subject of a finite verb, or any word in agreement with it.
Subject: someone is
or does something = aliquis aliquid agit
Predicate nominative: someone is/becomes/is
considered a friend =
aliquis est / fit / putatur amicus
Accusative (with or without a preposition): designates
the object of an action or a movement.
Direct object of a verb (no preposition): touch the table,
see the light = tangere mensam,
videre lucem
Goal of motion (with preposition normally, but none
before city names and a few common nouns): go to Rome/ to town = ire Romam/ad
urbem
The supine in the accusative to express purpose
after a verb of motion (no preposition): come to see = venire visum
Duration of time or extent of space (no
preposition): walk for
three miles = ambulare tria milia passuum, or for three days = ambulare
tres dies
Genitive case usage is basically
adjectival -- the genitive almost always limits the sense of a noun or
pronoun (no preposition):
Possession ("possessive genitive") is the fall-back
identification for genitive case usage -- the commonest, used wherever
the word the genitive limits the sense of in any sense "belongs" to the
word in the genitive: the boy's book / friend / pain = pueri
liber / amicus / dolor
Description: man of
great wisdom = vir magnae sapientiae
Partitive, or "genitive of the whole" (where the
word the genitive limits the sense of represents a subsection of a
larger whole named in the genitive): part of the city, ten
thousands of the citizens
= pars urbis, decem milia civium
Dative with/completing the sense of an intransitive verb (used to help speakers of English recognize that the indirect object may occur with a verb which has no direct object): please someone = placere alicui, or trust a friend = credere amico
Dative with a compound verb (the compound verb may or may not take a direct object as well): yield to someone = concedere alicui, or prefer money to wisdom = sapientiae pecuniam anteponere
Reference:
"dative of reference" is the most general term to describe how the
dative limits the sense of a verb, adjective, or adverb.
Subcategories of the dative of reference are:
Dative of possession (especially with the verb esse): a son exists to me (more normal English: I have a son) = mihi filius est
Dative of purpose (someone or something is or does something for some purpose): children are for a concern (more normal English: children are a cause of concern): liberi curae sunt
Double dative (possession and purpose combined, usually with the verb to be): my son is (for) a concern to me = filius mihi curae est
Dative of agent with the passive periphrastic conjugation: something is to be done with reference to us (more normal English, by us) = aliquid faciendum est nobis
Ablative case usage is complicated by the
fact that the ablative has taken over the function of several cases
either lost or moribund in Latin -- the associative and instrumental,
and the locative. Ablative usage is accordingly best thought of
in four categories:
Separation
(with or without preposition): Subcategories include
Motion from (usually with preposition, but none appears before city names and a few common nouns): depart from town / from Rome = discedere ex urbe / Roma
Cause (no preposition): die from fright = mori metu
Agent (with the preposition a/ab): something was done by
someone = aliquid factum est ab aliquo
Comparison (no preposition): this child is older than that
(one) = hic puer maior est illo
Association
(with or without preposition): Subcategories include
Accompaniment (with the preposition cum): talk with a friend = loqui cum amico
Manner (with or -- if an adjective appears along with the noun
-- without the preposition cum):
fight with courage = pugnare cum virtute, or fight with much courage = pugnare multa (cum) virtute
Description (no preposition -- used when the ablative
limits the sense of a noun): soldier with
a
wounded hand = miles saucia manu
Ablative absolute (no preposition -- used when a
noun and participle appear together in the ablative,
describing circumstances under which action of the finite verb take place): sleep with the window open =
dormire fenestra aperta, or sleep with the sun rising (more normal English while the sun is rising) =
dormire sole oriente
Instrument (no
preposition): Subcategories include
Means: kill the soldier with
a sword = militem gladio occidere
Degree of difference: older by much
/ by three years = multo
/ tribus annis maior
Price: buy something for (by means
of) a penny = aliquid asse coemere
Route: depart along / by / via this road
=
discedere hac via
Location (with
or without preposition): Subcategories
include
Place where/ stationary location in space (usually with a preposition, especially in):
sleep in the bedroom = dormire in cubiculo
Time when/ stationary location in time (no preposition): This happened on the first day= hoc factum est primo die
no preposition; note that the supine in the ablative case operates under this heading):
Respect or "specification" (used when the ablative limits the sense of an adjective --
soldier wounded in the hand = miles saucius manu, or something easy to do = aliquid facile factu