Download 1. Genitive singular

GENITIVE & DATIVE CASE
What is Possession?
One noun, the possessor, owns or possesses another noun (i.e. “the
possessed”). *This is grammatical possession. DO NOT confuse
grammatical possession with phrases that otherwise show only
“factual” (i.e. real-world) possession.
Only factual possession: “The boy has three dogs.”
“The subject verbs three objects” – NO grammatical
possession!
For now, only the genitive case shows possession that is
grammatical.
IN ENGLISH:
You can show (grammatical) possession in one of two ways:
1. Add apostrophe + “s” (_’s)
strong.
noun)
2. Use “of” followed by the
possessor noun
The girl’s love is strong.
The love of the girl is
(Girl is the possessor noun)
(Girl is the possessor
BUT IN LATIN:
You show possession one way – by using the Genitive case for the
possessor, i.e. the noun that owns or possesses the other noun.
There is no separate word for “of” in Latin.
Fīlius agricolae est laetus.
The farmer’s son is happy.
The son of the farmer is happy.
Translate this two ways:
GENITIVE & DATIVE CASE
Equus puerī in agrō ambulat. Translate this two ways:
The boy’s horse walks in the field.
The horse of the boy walks in the field.
Genitive Case is used for:
Possession – the word (noun, pronoun) that possesses another
noun in the same clause or sentence
Nota Bene: the genitive ending looks like other endings.
1. Genitive singular –ae of first declension looks just like:
a. the dative singular –ae
b. the nominative plural –ae
2. Genitive singular –i of both masculine and neuter second
declension nouns looks just like nominative plural –i of second
declension masculine nouns
**When you cannot decide whether or not a Latin word is in the
genitive case, analyze the rest of the sentence for clues; also run
through the various possibilities and choose the most sensible one.
Equī puellae sunt magnī et altī.
Identify the genitive word(s): puellae
Objective with the word “of” or “for” – the Objective Genitive
denotes the object of an action or feeling.
amor vītae
metus deōrum
cupiditās pecūniae
(“Love of life”)
(“Fear of the gods”)
(“Desire for money”
GENITIVE & DATIVE CASE
Other uses of the Genitive case:
Genitive of the Whole/Partitive Genitive – denotes the whole to
which a part belongs
pars virōrum
(“part of the men”)
prīma puellārum
(“the first of the girls”)
Genitive of Quality or Description – denotes a descriptive phrase
vir virtūtis magnae “a man of great courage”
Bottom line: the most common signal in English that you need a
genitive in Latin is the use of the word “of”
GENITIVE & DATIVE CASE
What is an Indirect Object?
While a direct object receives the action of the verb directly, an indirect
object also receives the action of the verb, but indirectly. An indirect
object explains “to whom/what” or “for whom/what” the action of the
verb is performed. The indirect object appears when the subject either
1) gives/shows/tells something to another word or
2) does something for another word
The indirect object is the word to which the subject gives/shows/tells
something or for which the subject does something.
IN ENGLISH:
The indirect object receives the action of the verb indirectly, often
through the prepositions “to” or “for.” The word (words) that is (are)
the indirect object will follow these prepositions in English.
He gives flowers to the girl.
(girl = indirect object)
He gives girl to the flowers.
(flowers = indirect object)
Sometimes prepositions “to/for” will not appear, but are understood.
Marcus told me a story.
To whom did Marcus tell the story?
Marcus told a story to me.
(“me” = indirect object in both)
Is there an indirect object in these sentences? If so, what is it?
 He asks many questions for his friend.
 The general ordered the men to seize the wide fields.
 Sing me a song, please.
 For the time being, we stayed at home.
GENITIVE & DATIVE CASE
BUT IN LATIN:
Again, word order matters less than the endings of the words. Indirect
objects will appear in the dative case.
For first declension nouns, these endings = –ae or –is depending on
whether the noun is singular or plural. For second declension, the
singular = –o and plural = –is. *Notice that the dative plural for both
declensions = –is.
puerī laetīs puellīs multōs flōrēs pulchrōs in Ītaliā dant.
What are the direct and indirect objects?
Dative Case is used for:
Indirect Object: the object of the verb that receives the verb’s
action (or is affected by the verb) indirectly, usually following the
prepositions “to” or “for” in English.
 The object to whom (if give/show/tell) or for whom the
subject performs the action of the verb.
 *To find the indirect object, first find the verb in the
sentence. Then ask the question “for whom” or “to whom.”
**Even if the words “to/for” are not expressed in the English
sentence, answering this question will reveal the indirect
object (if any exists).
Nota Bene: Not every verb will take an indirect object. Only when a
verb is expressing action done to or on behalf of someone/something
will there be an indirect object.
Furthermore, not every verb will take any object at all, direct or indirect.
Specifically, whether or not a verb takes any object or not depends on
what type of verb it is:
 Transitive: expressing an action carried from the subject to
the object; requiring a direct object to complete meaning.
Most, but not all, verbs fall under this category.
GENITIVE & DATIVE CASE
 Intransitive: designating a verb or verb construction that
does not require or cannot take a direct object, as is, snow or
sleep.
**Many verbs can be both transitive and intransitive depending on how
they are used. E.g. Walk
Intransitive: “We walk to the store.”
In this sentence, walk does not carry any action from the subject
(we) to an object. While the subject still performs the action of the
verb, there is no object to receive the action of the verb.
Transitive: “Go walk the dog.”
In this sentence, walk really means “take (object) for a walk.”