31 The Ablative Case

 

“There is another important Latin case, the last of the five common ones: the Ablative Case. The ablative case is used to indicate when, where, why, or how something is accomplished, or where it came from.”

“The Ablative Singular endings are very distinctive because they are all single vowels: ā, ō, e, ū, ē. All the vowels are long, except the e for the 3rd declension, which is short:”

Ablative Singular Endings (C)

1st declension-ā

2nd declension-ō

3rd declension-e

4th declension-ū

5th declension-ē

“This is what the complete declension of the singular cases looks like for the noun families:” 1st decl.2nd decl.3rd decl.4th decl.5th decl.

Nom. vi-ade-usvōxman-usr-ēs

Gen.vi-aede-īvōc-isman-ūsr-eī Dat.vi-aede-ōvōc-īman-uīr-eī Acc.vi-amde-umvōc-emman-umr-em Abl.vi-āde-ōvōc-eman-ūr-ē

“Now you can complete the declensions for these nouns in your grammar notes:” lifefriendSenatehopeking (D)

“An Ablative word is often, though not always, accompanied by a Preposition. These are the most common prepositions that go with ablative words to form Prepositional Phrases. Put these in your vocabulary:”

inin, on, in the case of

cumwith

sinewithout

ā, abaway from, from

dēabout, from

ē, exout of, from, based on

 

Why do some have different spellings? I asked.

 

“When the next word starts with a vowel or an h, Latin speakers use ab or ex. This keeps the vowel in the preposition from blending into the vowel of the noun. It’s just like ‘an’ in English, which replaces ‘a’ before a word that begins with a vowel: ‘a person’, but ‘an apple’.”

in urbein the city

in virōin the case of the man cum cōnsulewith the consul

sine timōrewithout fear

ā deōaway from god

ab urbeaway from the city

dē morteabout death

ex urbeout of the city

ē mōrebased on custom

 

“Notice that the Ablative often has a sense of separation. This is where it gets its name from: the Latin word ablātīvus, meaning ‘carried away from’.”

“When you Mark Up a sentence, underline the Preposition and the Ablative word, or the word the Preposition goes with in English.”

• With fear we change the Republic.
• With fear we (subj.) change (verb, 3s pres.) the Republic (obj.).
• Cum timōre mūtāmus rēm pūblicam. >>> Cum timōre rēm pūblicam mūtāmus.

 

Līberum cum amīcō vidēbāmus. (3)

Ego dē Rē Pūblicā et Senātū cōgitō, tū dē vītā. (4)

Virum sine spē amō, sine fīdē iaceō. (5)

I will need to move you away from the city. (6)

Based on a fear of freedom the consul gives me to death. (7)

There is madness in the voice of the king. (8)