AboutMichael Expertise Ph.D. Cand. in Latin. Conversant with all forms of the language: classical, mediaeval, and modern. My purpose is to provide information on the Latin language of all periods. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT REQUESTS FOR TRANSLATIONS. If you need assistance for a translation projects, there are other resources that provide that service, such as Vivat Latina! at www.traditio.com/latin.htm.
Experience I have 45 years of teaching at all levels from public school through university postgraduate. I read, write, and speak Latin daily.
I'm in my Schools Latin class, and my teacher is always so busy i can't ask him for help... So I was hoping you could tell me what is the difference, and what it is, and what they are about the cases. I just can't understand them.
As in-
What are
Nominatives (sing. and plu.)
Genitive (sing. and plu.)
Dative (sing. and plu.)
Accusative (sing. and plu.)
Hope you can help me out,
Amber
Answer Cases are inflexions, or variations in the endings of words, that are used to show the relationship of words in a sentence. In English we have cases. For example, we can say "Me he hit" or "He hit me," and in either instance we know that "me" is the object of the hitting, as "me" is the accusative case, which denotes the object of an action.
The cases in Latin are more extensive, as what in Modern English (though not in Old English) we tend to expresse by prepostions, are expressed in Latin by changes in the ending of the word, as follows:
Nominative: the case denoting the subject, as Caesar
Genitive: the case denoting the possessor, as Caesaris (Caesar's)
Dative: the case denoting the indirect object, as Caesari (to Caesar)
Accusative: the case denoting the object of the action, as Caesarem
Ablative: the case denoting the source or agent of the action, as Caesare (from Caesar, by Caesar)
Of course, this is a very simplified explanation. The details will be found in your Latin grammar book.
Singular and plural are known grammatically as "numbers." As English, Latin has two: singular (for one person or thing), plural (for more than one). There are other forms (Caesares, Caesarum, Caesaribus, Caesares, Caesaribus, in the order of cases given above) to denote the plural.
To sum up, the case ending in Latin will tell you how that word is functioning in a sentence (subject, object, etc.) and whether one or more persons or things are being talked about. Latin succinctly does that all in one word, not like English, which often requires two or more words to express what Latin can do in one.
