Explanation of the Cases
In Latin, nouns, adjectives and verbs all have different endings that tell us specific information about how the word is being used in a sentence -- is a noun singular or plural? is it the subject or direct object? which word is my verb? All of these questions are answered by looking at the endings.
Latin nouns/adjectives will use different endings depending on how they are being used in a sentence. These are called "CASES". There are 6 Cases for any Latin noun and they function like this:
Nominative Case: this case is used for the Subject of the sentence (the person or thing performing the action)
Genitive Case: this case is often used to indicate possession, but it's easiest to translate it with the word "of"
Dative Case: this case is used for the "indirect object" of a sentence (most commonly with verbs of giving, showing, or telling). It's easiest to translate the Dative case with the words "to" or "for"
Accusative Case: this case is used for the "direct object" of the verb (the person or thing receiving the action of the verb). It is also used in certain prepositional phrases when expressing motion into, towards, or through.
Ablative Case: this is one of the most confusing cases in Latin because it has so many uses. In general, it is often used to show separation ("from" -- "I came from Europe"), accompaniment ("with" -- "He came with a friend"), or "how" something happened ("with" -- "I fought with a sword", "I kicked with my foot"). The Ablative case is also used with prepositional phrases when showing position or location ("in") or motion out of/away from something. When you take these all together, the Ablative Case is often translated in English with "by, with, from, in, on"
Vocative Case: this case is used when you are directly addressing someone. For example, "Hi, Mom!". In that sentence, "Mom" would be Vocative Case, since she is being directly called by name
Latin nouns/adjectives will use different endings depending on how they are being used in a sentence. These are called "CASES". There are 6 Cases for any Latin noun and they function like this:
Nominative Case: this case is used for the Subject of the sentence (the person or thing performing the action)
Genitive Case: this case is often used to indicate possession, but it's easiest to translate it with the word "of"
Dative Case: this case is used for the "indirect object" of a sentence (most commonly with verbs of giving, showing, or telling). It's easiest to translate the Dative case with the words "to" or "for"
Accusative Case: this case is used for the "direct object" of the verb (the person or thing receiving the action of the verb). It is also used in certain prepositional phrases when expressing motion into, towards, or through.
Ablative Case: this is one of the most confusing cases in Latin because it has so many uses. In general, it is often used to show separation ("from" -- "I came from Europe"), accompaniment ("with" -- "He came with a friend"), or "how" something happened ("with" -- "I fought with a sword", "I kicked with my foot"). The Ablative case is also used with prepositional phrases when showing position or location ("in") or motion out of/away from something. When you take these all together, the Ablative Case is often translated in English with "by, with, from, in, on"
Vocative Case: this case is used when you are directly addressing someone. For example, "Hi, Mom!". In that sentence, "Mom" would be Vocative Case, since she is being directly called by name
Noun Endings
Remember, all Latin nouns belong to ONE Declension (a group of nouns with the same set of endings). You can tell what Declension a noun belongs to by looking at the GENITIVE SINGULAR (the 2nd part of the noun listed) noun ending. Here is the pattern:
1st Declension = "-ae"
2nd Declension = "-ī"
3rd Declension = "-is"
4th Declension = "-ūs"
5th Declension = "-eī/ēī"
2nd Declension = "-ī"
3rd Declension = "-is"
4th Declension = "-ūs"
5th Declension = "-eī/ēī"