Grammar: Cases, Uses, Constructions, and Misc. - LATIN 111

What letters are “missing” from the Latin alphabet?

no j or w

What are the ways to represent long vowels?

• long vowels given a macron (what we use now)

• long vowels written larger than other letters

• long vowels written twice

• long vowels given an apex (looks like an acute accent)

long vs. short vowels is an important distinction in Latin!

What kind of letter is the letter y?

a vowel, imported from the Greek upsilon; makes a sound between u and i, as in the German ü

Latin diphthongs and sounds

ae/ai = ai (aisle)

au = ou (house)

ei = ei (reign)

eu = e + u (not an English sound)

oe = oi (oil)

ui = u + i (gooey)

What sounds does the letter b represent?

usually a b sound

when bs or bt, a p sound (ps or pt)

What sound does the letter c represent?

k sound (hard c)

(the letter k itself is rarely used)

What sound does the letter g represent?

always a hard g (not a j sound)

before n, a nasalized ng sound

What sound does the letter h represent?

a breathing sound/aspiration (basically the typical h sound)

What sound does the letter i represent?

a vowel

• when not a consonant, a vowel

a consonant

• before a vowel at the beginning of the word, a y sound (yes)

• between two vowels, forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel and acts as the consonant y for the second vowel

consonantal i becomes “j” later on

What sound does the letter q represent?

always followed by consonantal u; kw sound

What sound does the letter r represent?

always trilled

What sound does the letter s represent?

voiceless

What sound does the letter t represent?

always t as in tired, never sh or ch sounds

What sound does the letter v represent?

w sound (used to also represent the u sound, but u was later introduced as a letter and will be used for our purposes as a separate letter from v)

What sound does the letter x represent?

ks sound, not gz sound

What sound does the letter ch represent?

ckh sound (blockhead; comes from the Greek letter chi), not ch sound (church)

What sound does the letter ph represent?

ph sound (uphill; comes from the Greek letter phi), not f sound

What sound does the letter th represent?

th sound (hothouse; comes from Greek letter theta), not th sound (thin)

Syllabic Division

• # of syllables = # of vowels/diphthongs

• single consonant between two vowels goes with the 2ND vowel

• two or more consonants between two vowels, generally ONLY the LAST consonant goes with the 2ND vowel (the rest tag onto the 1st)

  • Exception: a stop (p, b, t, d, c, g) + a liquid (l, r) count as a single consonant and BOTH would go with the 2ND vowel

  • Exception: qu, ch, ph, and th are all considered single consonants and BOTH would go with the 2ND vowel

Syllable Length/Quantity

• Long by Nature: long vowel/diphthong

• Long by Position: short vowel followed by 2 or more consonants (pronounced separately) or x (a double consonant)

  • basically, when you break the word into syllables, if any consonants follow the vowel and are part of the syllable (not pushed into the beginning of the next syllable), that vowel is long by position

• Short: short vowel followed by no consonants, one consonant, or consonants pronounced together

Accent

• a stress accent

• 2 syllable word

  • accent always falls on PENULT (aka first syllable)

• 3 or more syllable word

  • Penult is LONG: accent falls on PENULT

  • Penult is NOT LONG: accent falls on ANTEPENULT

• different from Greek accent!

• very regular rules for accentuation, so accent marks (as opposed to macrons) are not ordinarily included when writing Latin

Word Order (a basic guide)

• subject and its modifiers

• indirect object and modifiers

• direct object and modifiers

• adverbial words or phrases

• verb

*adjectives and genitive nouns commonly FOLLOW the words they modify

*in general, though, due to the power of declining, word order is pretty flexible

Nominative Case

• most commonly indicates the SUBJECT of a finite verb

• also employed with forms of “to be” and other linking verbs, as a PREDICATE NOMINATIVE

Genitive Case

• a noun that modifies/limits another noun

• commonly conveys POSSESSION

• “of” or apostrophe (‘s or s’) are commonly supplied in translating a genitive

• usually FOLLOWS the noun it modifies

Genitive of the Whole

genitive = the whole of some thing or group

NO PREPOSITION

• used after a word designating a part of that whole

• also called “partitive genitive”

translate as “of”

• also used with mīlia (not mīlle)

• also used after the neuter nominative and accusative of certain pronouns such as:

  • aliquid, quid, multum, plūs, minus, satis, nihil, tantum, quantum

The genitive of the whole may itself be the neuter singular (genitive) of a SECOND declension adjective.

• acting as a substantive

• ex: multum bonī (much good)

translate without a preposition (understood “of”) in English

• ex: decem mīlia virōrum = 10,000 men

Dative Case

• commonly marks the thing or person indirectly affected by the action of the verb (INDIRECT OBJECTS)

• “to” or “for” are commonly supplied in translating a dative

Accusative Case

• indicates the DIRECT OBJECT of the verb (person or thing directly affected by the verb’s action)

• can be the OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION, with certain (not all) prepositions

Ablative Case

• sometimes called the “adverbial case”

• used to modify, or limit, the verb by such ideas as means, agent, accompaniment, manner, place, and time

• often employed as the object of a preposition

• when a preposition is not used, typically “by,” “with,” or “from” should be supplied in translating to English

Ablative of Means or Instrument

noun or pronoun that answers the question “by means of what (instrument)?/by what?/with what?” the action of the verb performed

• NO PREPOSITION

translate as “by (means of), with”

*can be used with passive verbs

Ablative of Accompaniment

noun/pronoun (usually a person), that answers the question “in whose company/with whom is the action performed”

• uses the preposition CUM

translate as “with”

Ablative of Manner

noun (regularly an abstract noun) that answers the question “how/in what manner” the action is performed

• uses the preposition CUM

translate as “with/-fully/-ly”

Ablative with Cardinal Numerals

expresses the idea of the whole

• with cardinal numerals (other than mīlia)

• with quīdam (a certain one)

• sometimes with paucī

construction: EX/Ē or DĒ + ablative

translate as “of”

Ablative of Time When or Within Which

time when or within which an action occurred

• always involves some noun indicating a unit of time

• NO PREPOSITION

translate as “at,” “on,” “in,” or “within”

Ablative of Personal Agent

the personal agent by whom the action of a passive verb is performed

construction: Ā/AB + ablative

translate as “by”

*used with passive verbs

Passive Verbs - Ablative of Personal Agent vs. Ablative of Means

What was the subject of an active sentence becomes in Latin an ablative of AGENT, if a PERSON, or an ablative of MEANS, if a THING in the passive sentence.

Ablative of Place From Which

regularly involves a verb of active motion from one place to another

construction: AB, DĒ, or EX + ablative

• usually

translate as “away from,” “down from,” or “out of”

Ablative of Separation

implies only that some person or thing is separate from another

*no movement from one place to another

• sometimes NO PREPOSITION

  • PARTICULARLY with certain verbs meaning “to free,” “to lack,” and “to deprive,” which commonly take an ablative of separation

no “added” words needed in translation (typically)

Vocative Case

• addresses or calls on a person or thing directly

• used with the interjection Ō

• typically separated from the rest of the sentence by commas

• with one major exception, the vocative has the same form as that of the nominative

Suppletion

the use of one word as part of the form set of another, though the two are not cognate

Defective Verb

a verb many or most of whose conjugational forms were rarely employed

• ex: coepī

Collective Noun

a plural noun that has a singular meaning denoting a singular group of plural things (a collective)

• Example: the enemy (plural) vs. the individual enemy

Agreement with Relative Pronouns

- agrees with antecedent for GENDER and NUMBER

- CASE determined by function of relative pronoun in the relative clause

Relative Clauses

• introduced by a relative pronoun

• adjectival function, providing descriptive information about the antecedent

• referring back to an antecedent (noun/pronoun)

  • which typically appears before the relative pronoun

• antecedent may be omitted and implied by the relative pronoun

Transforming the Active Sentence into a Passive Sentence

• direct object becomes the subject

• subject becomes ablative of agent (if a person) or ablative of means (if a thing)

• active verb form becomes passive verb form (with appropriate person, number, and tense)

Distinguishing Between the Interrogatives and Relative Pronoun

*other than quis and quid. the interrogative pronoun, interrogative adjective, and relative pronoun can only be distinguished by their FUNCTION and CONTEXT, NOT by their FORMS

Interrogative Pronoun

• asks a question about the identity of a person or thing

• NO ANTECEDENT

• often introduces a sentence with a question mark at the end

Interrogative Adjective

• asks for more specific identification of a person or thing

• both PRECEDES and AGREES IN GENDER, NUMBER, and CASE with the NOUN it is ASKING ABOUT

Relative Pronoun

• usually introduces a subordinate clause

• HAS AN ANTECEDENT

• does NOT ask a question

  • rather, it ANSWERS a question, in the sense that relative clauses are adjectival and provide further information about their antecedents