Schaum's Outline of Latin Grammar - Alan Fishbone [4]
The pig bites the dog.
In this sentence, the pig is the subject and the dog the direct object.
The dog bites the pig.
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CHAPTER 1 The Noun
Here the relationship has been reversed; the dog is the subject and the pig the direct object.
However, although their grammatical functions in the two sentences are different, the nouns pig and dog do not change their form to re¯ect such differences in meaning.
Latin nouns show these different kinds of meaning by changing their form, and the possible forms they can take are called cases.
Such a change in form to express meaning is called in¯ection, and Latin is an in¯ected language.
Latin has six cases. This is to say that there are six basic categories of meaning for nouns in sentences. They show these cases through their endings.
(The explanations that follow are merely a preliminary introduction. The cases will be treated more thoroughly in the sections on noun syntax.) The Nominative Case
A noun takes the nominative case when it is the subject of a sentence: The dog bites the pig.
If this sentence were translated into Latin, the noun dog would take the nominative case.
A noun also takes the nominative case when it is the predicate of a sentence. A predicate is a word linked to the subject in a kind of grammatical equation.
Wine is honey.
The verb acts as an equals sign, saying essentially X Y, where X is the subject and Y is the predicate.
If this sentence were translated into Latin, the noun wine would take the nominative case because it is the subject (X), and honey would take the nominative because it is the predicate (Y ).
The Genitive Case
This case does much the same work as the English preposition of.
The milk of goats is good.
Translated into Latin, the noun goats would take the genitive case. This case includes the meaning of the preposition of, so this word would not be translated.
The genitive case also shows possession. For example: the man's house
The possessive noun man's in Latin would take the genitive case.
The English form man's itself shows in¯ection through the ending 's. You could say that the form man's is the genitive case of the English noun man.
CHAPTER 1 The Noun
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The Dative Case
This case does much the same work as the English prepositions to1 and for. It expresses the person(s) or, less usually, the thing(s) affected by the sentence or some part of it:
The milk of goats is good for children.
Translated into Latin, for children would be expressed by the word children in the dative case. The preposition would not be translated since the meaning for is included in the dative case.
The dative case expresses the indirect object of a sentence.
I gave the money to Erskine.
In Latin Erskine would take the dative case.
The Accusative Case
The accusative case expresses the direct object of a sentence.
The pig bites the dog.
Porcus canem mordet.
Since it is the direct object, the noun dog takes the accusative case, canem. Pig takes the nominative case, porcus, since it is the subject.
The dog bites the pig.
Canis porcum mordet.
In this sentence it is the dog which takes the nominative case, canis, since it is the subject, and the pig, as the direct object, which takes the accusative case, porcum.
This grammatical relationship is visibly expressed through case. Therefore it is not the word order that tells you the meaning of the sentence but the endings of the words.
The accusative case is also governed by certain prepositions, particularly those with a sense of (motion) toward or against.
Against the heathens.
Into the sea
In Latin, heathens and sea will take the accusative case. (See Chapter 5.) The Ablative Case
This case does the work of the English prepositions from=with=in=by.
With malice
In agony
Hit by a car
1 To in the sense of ``He seems nice to me'' but not in the sense of ` Go to Paris.'
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CHAPTER 1 The Noun
All these nouns in Latin will take the ablative case.
This case has many uses, some of which