Grammar: Nouns and Noun-Adjacent - LATIN 111

What does a noun do?

“names” or identifies a person, place, or thing, either generally or specifically

can be abstract or concrete

decline nouns (and adjectives) by adding the ending to the base

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

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

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

Preposition

usually “positioned before” a noun or pronoun (its “object”), forming with that object a prepositional phrase that modifies either a noun, a verb, or some other word in the sentence

What cases do prepositions generally take as objects?

ablative case or the accusative case, though a few can take both cases (with different shades of meaning, though)

Grammar Entries for Nouns and Adjectives

Noun: nominative and genitive singular forms

Adjective: masculine, feminine, and neuter nominative singular forms

How to find the base of a noun or adjective

Noun: drop the GENITIVE ending

Adjective: drop the FEMININE ending

Gender of First Declension Nouns

most are feminine, but there are a few nouns denoting individuals engaged in what were among the Romans traditionally male occupations, and these nouns are masculine

Gender of Second Declension Nouns

regularly either masculine or neuter

Subgroups of Masculine Second Declension Nouns

• Most second declension masculines have a nominative singular ending in -us, while a few end in -er.

• Masculines in -er

  • some retain the -e- in the base

  • most drop the -e-

  • pay attention to the genitive!

• Unique -ir masculine vir, virī, m.

• only in the singular of -us nouns and adjectives of the second declension does the vocative ever differ in spelling from the nominative!

• Nouns in -ius and the adjective meus have a single ī in the vocative singular!

What is an adjective? What do attributive adjectives do?

a word that “adds” information about, or “modifies” a noun or pronoun

describe “attributes” of the nouns (simple modifiers)

In what ways do adjectives and verbs agree with nouns?

Adjectives: agree with the noun in gender, number, and case

Verbs: agree with the noun in person and number

If an adjective modifies more than one noun, which noun does it “agree” with?

usually agrees in gender with the nearest one, though sometimes the masculine predominates

Adjective Positioning

• usually positioned next to its noun

• typically FOLLOWS the noun

  • Exceptions: adjectives denoting size or number (beFOUR), demonstratives (this, that), and adjectives which the speaker wants to emphasize

  • These exceptions PRECEDE the noun (as opposed to following it)

Declensions Used for Adjectives

Masculine endings: second declension masculine

Feminine endings: first declension

Neuter endings:

How do you describe the syntax of a given noun or adjective?

state its form, the word on which it most closely depends, and the reason for the form (grammatical use or function in the sentence)

Articles in Latin

there are none

Apposition

• appositive: a noun that is “positioned next to” another noun as an explanatory equivalent

• nouns in apposition always agree in case, usually in number, and often in gender!

• an appositive is commonly separated from the preceding noun by commas

“Order” of Cases

nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative

First Declension Singular Endings

-a, -ae, -ae, -am, -ā, -a

First Declension Plural Endings

-ae, -ārum, -īs, -ās, -īs, -ae

Second Declension Singular Endings (masculines in -us)

-us, - ī, -ō, -um, -ō, -e

*nouns in -ius and the adjective meus (my) have a single -ī in the vocative singular! (replaces all of -ius/-eus)

Second Declension Plural Endings (masculines in -us)

-ī, -ōrum, -īs, -ōs, -īs, -ī

Second Declension Singular Endings (masculines in -er)

-er, -ī, -ō, -um, -ō, -er

Second Declension Plural Endings (masculines in -er)

-ī, -ōrum, -īs, -ōs, -īs, -ī