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Tag Archives: Latin grammar

Syntax: dative Posted by on Sep 13, 2012

Ostia (Rome). Picture by Lawrence OP.

Dative is the case of the indirect object. It  is used to designate the person or thing concerned by the verbal action. From this overall view we will explain the specific uses that we can find in Latin: dative of interest, dative of purpose and double dative. The dative does not only work as a …

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Syntax: accusative II Posted by on Aug 20, 2012

To read about nominative, vocative and other kind of accusative uses read our previous post. Extension accusative Accusative case can be used to express the extension in space and time. The accusative of extension in space, always in terms of extension (passus, pes …), can indicate distance traveled, distance between two points or dimensions of…

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Syntax: nominative, vocative and accusative I Posted by on Aug 13, 2012

Nominative Nominative is the case of subject’s personal verb forms, and therefore of everything concerning the subject. Caesar venit.             Puer est laetus.             Hannibal prīmus in proelium ībat. ITt serves to ‘name’ (nōmināre), the nominative is used in conjunction with de + ablative, for book titles: Bellum civīle.        …

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Non-personal verbal forms Posted by on Jun 15, 2012

The verb forms which do not have personal ending are known as non-personal verbs or noun-verbs. These verb forms simultaneously have nouns’ characteristics (they are nouns or adjectives) and verbs’ characteristics (tense, voice…). In Latin we have three verbal nouns (infinitive, gerund and supine) and two verbal adjectives (participle and gerundive). Morphology is as follows…

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Verbal morphology II Posted by on Jun 10, 2012

Active voice Time characteristics of time and mood for active personal forms are:   PRESENT TENSE Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Present 1st conjugation: -e- 2nd, 3rd, 4th conjugations: -a- Past imperfect -ba- -re- Future 1st & 2nd conjugations: -b- 3rd, 4th conjugations 1st singular person: -a- Rest of persons: -e-   The imperative has no temporal…

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Verbal morphology I Posted by on Jun 2, 2012

calamus and writing objects

General characteristics of the Latin conjugation Latin conjugation is distributed in two voices: active and passive. How to set out and how to determine the conjugations: The statement of a verb consists, in that order, of the following forms: First person singular indicative present. Second person singular indicative present. Present infinitive. First person singular indicative…

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Relative, interrogative-indefinite & other pronouns Posted by on Apr 26, 2012

Relative pronouns   Singular Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter Nominative qui quae quod qui quae quae Accusative quem quam quod quos quas quae Genitive cuius quorum quarum quorum Dative cui quibus Ablative quo qua quo quibus The relative pronoun’s only function is the phoric, as it always refers to the antecedent, with which…

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