Questions tagged [case]

For questions about grammatical cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative and vocative). Consider also using the tags 'declension' and 'morphologia'.

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Why "quod" and not "quo" is used here?

In chapter XXII of Lingua latina per se illustrata: Colloquia Personarum, I have read the following sentence (emphasis mine in the word I find difficult to understand): Hic anulus ex auro puro factus ...
Charo's user avatar
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6 votes
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What's the role of the pronoun "iis" in this context?

In lines 48-52 of chapter XVI of Lingua latina per se illustrata. Familia Romana one can read: Merīdīes dīcitur ea caelī pars ubi sōl merīdīe vidētur; pars contrāria septenriōnes appellātur ā septem ...
Charo's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
279 views

What's the grammatical role of "mille passus" in this sentence?

In chapter XII of the 2003 edition of Lingua latina per se illustrata, one can read the following sentence (lines 93-94): Aemilius in castrīs habitat mīlle passūs ā fīne imperīi. I understand its ...
Charo's user avatar
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About "nōn uidēmus manticae quod in tergō est"

In the famous latin expression "nōn uidēmus manticae quod in tergō est". We see the word manticae. I always considered that this word must be the direct object of the sentence, however, if ...
Ergative Man's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
52 views

Can I say "soni sensi" for "of the felt sound"?

So "sonus" + "sentire" would be "sound" + "to feel". And "sonus" + "sensus" (past perf. part of "sentire") would be in agreement. ...
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10 votes
4 answers
955 views

Is any word attested in both vocative and locative?

Both the vocative and the locative are pretty rare cases, and not found in all kinds of words. Is there any word that is attested in both cases in classical Latin? I prefer the vocative to be distinct ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Are the cases in Latin always six?

In a book about linguistics I've read this sentence: Each word has up to six different such 'cases', and each case has distinct endings for singular and plural. Now I'm pretty sure that when I ...
Enlico's user avatar
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Why is 'cum' followed by the dative in this sentence?

Look at the following sentence from Orberg's Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata - Familia Romana (ch. 18). Consonans per se syllabam non facit, sed semper cum vocali in eadem syllaba iungitur. The word ...
Thomas Wening's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
142 views

Translation check: "prō amōre signī"

What would people take "prō amōre signī" to mean in English? Also, is the use of ablative case for "amōre" correct) required following the preposition "prō", and how ...
mangobrain's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
66 views

Can There Be Multiple Subjects in a Clause Where One Is the Subject of Another Clause

I want to construct "I like learning, but learning from a book only can be boring": "Discere amo, sed discere a libro ipso sit taediosum." I was wondering if you can omit "...
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De passiva voce cum verbis quae casum dativum postulant

Quaestio mihi fuit dum scribebam sententiam quandam. Si vero verbum (quod deponens non est) postulat casum dativum (e.g., ignoscere), quomodo rectius scribitur in passiva voce? Exempli gratia, Nemo ...
Nacib Neme's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
209 views

Where does the ablative go in a Latin sentence ? Does it even matter?

I'm learning Latin on my own with the book "Beginner's Latin" by Collar & Daniell, I recently reached Chapter IV where the ablative is introduced with the preposition In, my problem with ...
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11 votes
2 answers
1k views

Gen. 1:20 is reptile ablative?

In Genesis 1:20 in the Vulgate: Dixit etiam Deus : Producant aquae reptile animae viventis, et volatile super terram sub firmamento caeli. why is it not reptiles animas?
Stephen Perencevich's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
524 views

Why is there no case agreement between "magni" and "poetae"?

Shouldn't "magni" be "magnae" as it is modifying "poetae"? Fīliae vestrae dē libris magnī poētae saepe cogitābant. The quote is from Wheelock's Latin, chapter 6.
Antichrist's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
752 views

Is it grammatically correct to attributively use nominative forms of nouns in New Latin?

There are some muscle names in New Latin that seem to be nouns as far as I can tell, such as flexor and extensor. However, according to several Wikipedia articles for these muscles, they behave as if ...
Vun-Hugh Vaw's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
225 views

Accusative case marking of subjects in infinitival clauses

The present question is based on a previous discussion with Draconis and on a previous question raised by Joonas. The Accusativus cum Infinitivo (AcI) construction is often regarded in linguistics as ...
Mitomino's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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How to you convert a Latin word, such as voluntas, into a name, specifically a surname?

I've been wondering how to properly convert Latin words into names to signify the importance of certain concepts to a person, and met conflicting information online. My default assumption would be to ...
Thomas's user avatar
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2 answers
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Is "mihi audi!" incorrect?

I'm currently doing Latin in high school, and there's one thing which I can't get my head around in a recent test I got back. I translated the command "Listen to me!" as "mihi audi!&...
pigeonburger's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
218 views

"Condere vaginae gladium" – locativus?

Salvete congerrones eruditissimi, modo legi in lexico Latino-Germanico a Henrico Georges confecto (opus Germanicum illi a Lewis & Short conscripto simile atque satis compar) sub lemmate «vagina» ...
Sebastian Koppehel's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
307 views

Can "celare" take an accusative?

This came up in Duolingo: the sentence "The girl is hiding cookies under her dress" is translated by the app as "Puella crustula sub stola celat". However the question has been ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
326 views

The interjection "o" with different cases

I recently came across o beatum te in a letter and I was surprised that accusative was used instead of vocative. Lewis and Short indeed indicate that the interjection o can be used with vocative, ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
173 views

Case of "machina" in "Deus ex machina"?

According to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/machina#Declension the case of "machina" only can be nominative, vocative or ablative. As the meaning of the phrase is "god descended on the ...
Martín-Blas Pérez Pinilla's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
1k views

Use of accusative instead of ablative with 'pro'

I saw written in a coat of arms "PRO MARE NOSTRVM", but we all know that the preposition "pro" takes ablative, so the right form would be "PRO MARI NOSTRO" wouldn't it? I ...
Ergative Man's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
297 views

Correct pronunciation of full Latin dates

What is the correct Latin pronunciation of modern full dates, where the word 'anno' is omitted e.g. 'die 24 Augusti 1954 nata'? In which case stands the numeral of the year? Is the word 'anno' ...
Ben A.'s user avatar
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3 answers
542 views

What case does 'plus' take?

I don't have any information about what case to use with 'plus' (or 'magis'). In dictionaries usually only prepositions take some case, and it is showed in parentheses. In my language, 'more' takes ...
TrmIntrs2's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Sentence which includes an example of each case

I'm looking for a sentence which includes the usage of each case of Latin. For example, a student could mark each word in the sentence to indicate its case and function for ease of learning. Extreme ...
Adam's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
843 views

Ave Verum Corpus: why ablative?

Ave Verum Corpus ("Hail, true Body!") is a short Latin poem that was set to music by Mozart. For most of it, the language is quite plain and straightforward. However, there's a bit in the middle ...
Draconis's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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difference between Impleo (+acc) and Impleo (+abl)

I found two instances in Augustine's Confessions: "... caelum et terram ego impleo" (book 1, cap. 2) and: "et quo refundis quidquid impleto caelo et terra restat ex te?" (book 1, cap. 3) I ...
d_e's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
370 views

Appropinquare: difference in the meaning according to the case?

Is there a difference in the meaning, between "appropinquare" + dative, and "appropinquare" + ad + accusative? Dictionaries are not very clear about it. https://outils.biblissima.fr/fr/collatinus-...
Quidam's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
41 views

What order of the cases did the Romans use when declining nouns? [duplicate]

In modern books, two orders of the cases can be found: nom, gen, dat, acc, abl, and nom, acc, gen, dat, abl. Which one did the Romans use? Or did they use some entirely different order?
Cerberus's user avatar
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1 answer
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What is the grammatical "logic" of ablative case in «Tuā et meā māximē interest tē ualēre» (Cic. Fam. 16.4)?

Assuming that ablative case is always a semantic case (see the typical lists of its associated meanings in Latin grammars), I was wondering if Latin speakers could still assign a synchronic more or ...
Mitomino's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
321 views

Why aren't cardinal numbers over three inflected?

I've been looking through some etymologies and it seems to me that cardinals past trēs aren't inflected. Is this correct, and if so, what's the logic in forming words with indeclinable numbers? Take, ...
user3353751's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
442 views

Are vestiges or influence of the instrumental case in any way identifiable in Latin and Greek?

I believe the instrumental case was absorbed by the ablative in Latin and by the dative in Greek. Is there any way at all in which influence of the old instrumental can be seen in Latin or Greek?—...
Cerberus's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
610 views

Why not "eminentissimus" and "reverendissimus"?

When they announce a new pope the "Habemus Papam" text says "eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Why is it? Why isn't "eminentissimus ac reverendissimus dominus ?
Ergative Man's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
156 views

How do you address someone in a case other than the vocative?

Suppose I'm talking to someone directly, and use a pronoun to refer to someone. I would use tu or vōs with an appropriate case based on its role in the sentence: for example, sciō tē adesse, "I know ...
Draconis's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
902 views

Differentiating possessive and non-possessive uses of the genitive

In English, genitives formed with " 's " often have a possessive meaning, while "of" may function to form a kind of "genitive" with a non-possessive meaning, e.g., compare "John's photo" and "a photo ...
Disenchanted Toad's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
133 views

Regarding the mode of "terram" in Deuteronomy 28:38

Deuteronomy 28:38 reads: Sementem multam jacies in terram, et modicum congregabis: quia locustæ devorabunt omnia. I think the first phrase before the comma has the following structure (but ...
luchonacho's user avatar
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21 votes
2 answers
3k views

What is the logic behind the order of the cases

Most English books of Latin use the order used by Charles E. Bennett: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Vocative, Ablative. But most French books use the following order: Nominative, ...
user16115's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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When to use "ac" instead of "et"?

What's the difference between the conjunctions: "et", and "ac"? Which one corresponds to what kind of situation? Allow me to elaborate for clarification, and to distinguish from similar questions. ...
voices's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
139 views

Translation verification

I’m wondering whether my translation is correct. I wrote: tempus fugit; sed muscae fugiunt etiam. I meant for this to mean: Time flies, but flies fly too. I really don't have any knowledge ...
Alex D's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
331 views

What case is virtutis in "prope virum summae virtutis sto"?

Consider the sentence, "prope virum summae virtutis sto." What case is virtutis and why? I'm pretty sure that it is genitive due to description, but I'm not sure. In case it helps, I translated it as,...
BlackCoffee's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

When and why did the ablative form?

When did the ablative originate? Additionally, I’d like to know which case was used before the ablative for adverbials. I think it replaced the dative, as I also study Ancient Greek. In that language, ...
TooMuchRAM's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

Which common nouns have a locative?

I recently mentioned to someone the mnemonic I'd learned for the locative: "cities, towns, islands smaller than Rhodes, and domus and rus". In other words, only the names of cities, towns, and small ...
Draconis's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Which case to use with posthinc?

L&S mentions that abhinc can be used with either accusative or ablative. But no use guidance is given for posthinc. Can I use both accusative and ablative to express the length of time, or only ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
2k views

Latin plural of Curriculum Vitae?

Curriculum vitae (often abbreviated CV) is a common Latin locution present in a high number of languages, including English. In English, as in other languages, how to pluralize these foreign locutions ...
Rafael's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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In the sentence "Glory is better than fame", is "fame" a predicate nominative?

With the intent of translating this sentence to Latin, what case is the word "fame"?
FieryPhoenix's user avatar