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ABLATIVE ABSOLUTES
1. MEMORIZE THE ENGLISH SOUND OF SOME EXAMPLES:
a. “Since the boy was angry” = puerō irātō
b. “When the army was destroyed” = exercitū delētō “After the
little boy had been thrown out the window” = parvō puerō ē
fenēstā iactō
c. “Although the consuls were skilled” = consūlibus doctīs/perītīs
d. “If Caesar is dictator” = Caesare dictātōre
2. In Latin, ablative absolutes are clauses “loosely” related
(grammatically) to the rest of the sentence (i.e. the main clause).
a. AT LEAST 2 WORDS, both ABLATIVE
i. WORD #1: Always a noun
ii. WORD #2: Always either a participle, second noun or
adjective
1. Participles are most common
2. The perfect passive participle is the most common of
all participles used this way
3. the verb “to be” is understood when the abl. absolute
consists of a noun and an adj. or noun
b. Other words may appear too (not all necessarily in the ablative)
i. OTHER WORDS MAY CONSIST OF:
1. an adjective describing Word #1
2. a genitive noun qualifying Word #1
3. a prepositional phrases contained therein
4. etc.
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ABLATIVE ABSOLUTES
c. Latin doesn’t usually have a perfect active participle (the way
English does)
i. What is a perfect active participle? “Having (verb)ed” e.g.
“Having eaten the chicken” or “Having killed the blah
blah blah”
ii. Deponent verbs in Latin DO more or less have a perfect
active participle (because they’re crazy like that), but most
regular verbs have a perfect passive participle only.
1. deponent verb: locutus = “having spoken” (active)
2. regular verb: dīctus = “having been spoken” (passive)
d. The ablative absolute is Latin’s way of conveying the same
information English would convey using a perfect active
participle:
i. ENGLISH: “Having eaten much food, the children were
now sleeping heavily.”
ii. LATIN: “With much food having been eaten, the children
were now sleeping heavily.”
3. Translated into English, ablative absolutes are subordinate clauses
that provide “background” information. They:
a. set the temporal context (time) – “when...”
b. provide causal information (cause) “because/since....”
c. provide circumstantial information (condition) “when....”
d. concede a point (concession) – “although/while...”
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ABLATIVE ABSOLUTES
4. The generic preposition “with” works to start the translation of an
ablative absolute in most cases!
a. “with the army destroyed” (cause)
b. “with Caesar being consul” (time/condition/cause)
c. “with the rain all dried up” (cause/condition)
5. The subject of the main clause is NOT denoted in the Ablative
Absolute.
Latin to English Examples:
1. puerō necātō, parentēs miserī erant.
Because the boy had been killed, the parents were wretched/sad.
When the boy had been killed, (his) parents were miserable.

notice the tense of the translation of the perfect passive participle necātō, using “had” in English
because of the tense of the main verb (erant).

The ablative absolute could also sensibly be translated with “Since” or “After,” among other words.
2. epistulā mīssā, legātus ē patriā nōn discessit.
Since the letter had been sent, the envoy did not leave the country.

the tense of the translation of the perfect passive participle, mīssā, is dependent on the tense of the main
verb, discessit.

quite a few words could make sense for ablative absolute clause as well.
3. cōnsulēs Rōmānī, hostibus appropinquantibus, instruere exercitum
celeriter cōnstituērunt.
The consuls of Rome (“Roman consuls”) decided to draw up the army
quickly since the enemy was approaching.

The ablative absolute does not have to be in the beginning of the sentence, as shown in this example.

The tense of the participle appropinquantibus is present, yet the translation is imperfect due to the past
tense of the main verb cōnstituērunt.
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ABLATIVE ABSOLUTES
Practice Sentences – Translate these sentences into Latin using an ablative
absolute in the appropriate places:
1. Once the road had been shown, we knew how to find the next town.
2. If the teachers in his school are working diligently, you are going to
receive many challenges and important lessons.
3. Having eaten much food, the children were now sleeping heavily.
4. Since my mother was disturbed, I decided to stay home for a few hours
to comfort her.
5. Although their houses were burned, many citizens were hesitating to
leave the town.
6. With your teachers and friends as allies, you will surely overcome all
obstacles!
7. When Cicero was consul, Catiline tried to attack the Republic with his
band of bad men.
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