Download Latin I Concept Building TRANSPARENCY

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!
IN ENGLISH:
You can show (grammatical) possession in one of two ways:
Add apostrophe + “s” (_’s)
Use “of” followed by the
possessor noun
The girl’s love is strong.
(Girl is the possessor noun)
The love of the girl is strong.
(Girl is the possessor noun)
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.
Filius agricolae est laetus.
Translate this two ways:
The farmer’s son is happy.
The son of the farmer is happy.
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 = the dative singular –ae
and the nominative plural –ae of first declension.
2. Genitive singular –i of second declension masculine and neuter
nouns is the same as the 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
In prose, the genitive (the possessor) often follows the possessed:
Possessed possessor >>
_______ genitive
>>
Equī puellae
Objective with the word “of” – the Objective Genitive denotes the
object of an action or feeling.
amor vitae
metus deōrum
(“Love of life”)
(“Fear of the gods”)
Other uses of the Genitive case:
Genitive of the Whole/Partitive Genitive – denotes the whole to
which a part belongs
pars virorum
(“part of the men”)
prima puellarum
(“the first of the girls”)
Genitive of Quality or Description
vir virtutis 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”
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. When the subject either 1) gives/shows/tells something to
another word or 2) does something for another word, that word is the indirect
object.
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.
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.
laetīs puellīs multas florās magnas 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.
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.”